4 hrs, 4.5 kms

Actual date: May 20, 2015

Back in early 2008 I was busy cramming in as many towns as I could here in the Northeast USA before my "big move" to Morocco . In one day I explored Harper's Ferry... along with 4 other towns in three states. Harper's Ferry deserves a lot more focused attention than that, and I've been itching to come back and experience it properly.

We arrive at the spot where the Shenadoah and the Potomac--two of the Northeast's most legendary rivers--meet. Across the river is Harper's Ferry, and to our right is a jagged cliff, with a trail to the top. Up there is where we can get a good view of the panorama--something I completely missed on my last visit. Tim agrees to give it a try.

It is a bit of a climb (the trail goes up and then down again), but as soon as you reach the edge of the cliff, you know you made the right choice to climb up here. It think it's one of the best views in northeastern United States. You've got these two mighty rivers coming together... a town squeezed in between them that still looks much like it did 150 ago (except for a couple of cars) ... There are two railroad bridges which sort of symbolize the strategic importance of this place for industry and the expansion of the American Experiment... and yet despite the fact that this mighty, ambitious civilization has been growing and developing for some 400 years, here at this spot with the cliffs, hills and forests as far as the eye can see... you can still get a feel for what this land looked like before the Europeans arrived.

You know that there are highways, towns and developments all around--but they've been nicely masked and from here you mainly just seen the beauty of nature. I guess it kind of gives hope... hope that man and nature can get along and blend together.

Climbing along the edge of the cliffs, I find a cool pillar of rocks that I climb on to sing an anthem dedicated to this spot. Luckily this time I have a cameraman, so I can have my photo taken that I wouldn't be able to do with a 10 second timer.

Then we sit on the ledge and sing . Tim sings a poignant song "Life is more than we Deserve"... I feel inspired to sing a couple of my post-Apocalyptic songs, imagining what the world will be like after man's civilization reaches its demise. I guess seeing this old industrial town surrounded by so much nature makes me think of how fleeting the human footprint on this world really is... when you look at the bigger picture of the history of this planet.

Finally it's time to head down and explore the town a bit... duck into a couple of its many mini museums and displays. The most memorable ones are an old gun factory. "So here's where it all started..." I muse... Then there's a marker showing how high the water has come in the many floods that have swept through this town... Finally we pay our respects at the African American museum about the Storer College, a degree granting school that provided higher education for African Americans after the Civil War--in spite of opposition, insults and vandalism by the white locals...

I must confess, one of the main reasons I enjoy this town so much is that almost all these museums are free of charge...

I'd like to spend a bit more time here, but we still have many more miles to walk.