Hiding in the Valley of Rejuvenation

This weekend marks the beginning of the commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas. The battle actually took place August 28-30 so “real time” events will be happening on those days, but most of the bigger tours and commemorative activities will occur on the weekends. It turns out that I will not be at nearly as many of the events and tours as I had originally thought. Two key factors have contributed to an adjustment. The first is that I am starting school next week and my very first classes happen to fall on the 28^th and 29^th, just when some of the tours are occurring. The second is that the budget for overtime is not nearly as large as it was thought to be, which means that we are unable to do any overtime work during Second Manassas. This, in turn, means that we are restricted to only 40 hours on the clock during each week.  So we have had to get a bit creative in order to cover everything, and I am ending up with some pretty random days off.

Since I will be at the park this Saturday for an eight hour bus tour of the Confederate approach to the battle, I needed to have another day off somewhere during this week.  I was able to take that day this past Monday in order to give myself a three day weekend. It also happened that Alison’s manager approached her last week to ask if she could come in and work on Sunday, August 26. That meant that she too needed to take an extra day off during this week in order to keep her under 40 hours for the week. And thus she was able to get Monday off as well, which meant we found ourselves with a unique opportunity to enjoy a three day weekend together. 

Desiring to take full advantage of the extra time we worked to find a fun adventure for the weekend. We poured over our resources and narrowed our list of possibilities down into a doable plan centered on exploring the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley.

Thursday evening was spent at the grocery store acquiring food for the trip and then getting everything ready to go. In the morning I packed up everything except for the perishable food and Alison brought the ice chest along with her and met me out at Manassas. This gave us a nice jump start on the trip as I was able to leave work a little early and we departed from Manassas rather than McLean.

We wound our way to a small forest service campground very aptly identified as “hidden valley.”

It turned out to be a wonderful campground which was less than half full over the weekend, which allowed us a decent amount of independence and isolation. This was particularly significant when it came to the bathroom facilities, which were limited to pit toilets. Though this did present the usual challenges, it was a good deal more workable since the competition for access and usage was fairly low.

We had grand plans for our long weekend, which included a variety of outdoor activities and garnering an appreciation for the history of the region.  We began well, embarking Saturday morning on a splendid mountain biking adventure directly from our campsite.

Before we started the official trail we followed a gravel road to a beautiful Bed and Breakfast that bears a striking resemblance to Jefferson’s estate at Monticello.  http://www.hiddenvalleybedandbreakfast.com/

After appreciating the setting of the unique B & B we embarked on the trail. As Alison had never been mountain biking before I was a bit nervous about what we would face, but it turned out that the majority of our trail took us over an old road bed, which made it manageable, while still containing enough excitement to make it interesting.

The trail took us through nearly every plausible type of terrain and obstacle including grass, mud, sand, water, rocks, and logs.

The highlight of the trail, though, was unquestionably the suspension bridge we encountered about halfway through. It was so narrow we had to walk the bikes across.

But before we did that we couldn’t help but enjoy the suspended nature of the bridge by jumping and climbing on it!

We had hoped to connect to a different trail for our trip back, but after less than 100 yards we ran into a fallen tree, and the trail bore clear evidence of extensive damage. So we decided it really wasn’t a good option to continue on the bikes!

Saturday evening we enjoyed a short hike near our campsite which bore the mysterious  appellation “Lost Woman Trail.” Thankfully, though it was a near thing, I did manage to retain my woman and keep her from being permanently lost on the trail!

We also decided to take a drive down to the nearby town of Hot Springs, which is home to one of the more impressive hotel complexes I have ever encountered. Known as "The Homestead" its amenities include the main hall (pictured here) along with multiple other wings, a huge tower, cottages, a bowling alley, two golf courses, a shooting range, and who knows what else. It was a fun diversion, but we decided to stick with our campsite for the night!

We had grand plans in place for Sunday but awoke shortly after 6:00 am to what quickly turned into a thunderstorm. The rain just kept coming, making it impossible to be outside for more than a few seconds. Thankfully Alison had an umbrella in her bag in the tent and with that we were able to make a trip to the bathroom and move some food back into the tent with us. Apart from these excursions we remained confined to the tent until about 11:30, playing various games, reading, and eating a lovely breakfast of applesauce, granola bars, and pretzels. 

The rain finally began to fade and we emerged to find a rather swampy campsite. Logical people would probably have gone home or at least modified their plans since the sky threatened to reopen the floodgates at any moment. But we decided to have faith that the rain was finished and attempt an excursion to a nearby lake. With a name like "Lake Moomaw" how could we resist?

The rain held off and we were able to enjoy a lovely picnic alongside the lake after availing ourselves of the surprisingly nice bathroom facilities (the toilets even flushed, unlike the ones at our campsite!).

 

The sky continued to clear and the lake looked beautiful, and as we were amongst the very few people around we decided that it was the perfect time to take to the lake in our trusty raft.  

So we filled it up and launched out into the water! We had only used the raft one other time, and that was a year ago on the Shenandoah River. That really wasn't too difficult since the river's current did much of the work. It was a good deal harder to get around on a lake than it was on the river!

Even so, we enjoyed a lovely trip around the lake which included the circumnavigation of a fairly sizable island out in the center. It took a while, but we made it, enjoying splendid views all the while.

One of our more unique wedding gifts was a “Yosemite Smores Kit,” given to us at the wedding itself. We brought it all the way across the country and saved it for an appropriate occasion. We easily had enough for four people so we decided to split it into two separate occasions. We used it for the first time a few weeks ago in Catoctin Mountain park, and finished it off Sunday night around the campfire in Hidden Valley.

It started raining once again Sunday night, but we were able to make it into the tent before it got too heavy and it stopped during the night, making the next morning a good deal easier than Sunday had been. After packing up camp we decided that we needed to make a stop at the Jefferson Pools in Warm Springs, VA.

http://www.gristmillsquare.com/jefferson_pools.htm

The pools were only five miles from where we had been camping and our route took us right by them, so after reading about their history and healing prowess, we decided we needed to stop and take advantage of the opportunity to rejuvenate ourselves.

The pools are named after Thomas Jefferson because he availed themselves of their healing warmth and we figured he had pretty good taste, so we would do well to follow in his footsteps. 

The original pool first opened to the public on June 1, 1761, meaning that the pools predate the nation  (which I found pretty exciting). That pool was only for men, and it took nearly 75 years for a second, women's only, pool to open in 1836.

Today the pools are still usually segregated but for three hours each day they have "family time" where you can swim wherever you want. We deliberately went during that window so that we could soak together!

The pools did have a highly rejuvenating affect and we both felt like we had a new lease on life when we departed.

After our visit to the pools we headed toward home, but still had one last stop to make. Last summer we discovered a charming family owned creamery where they make their own ice cream. It was so good that we decided it was well worth the 15 mile diversion from our route home to pay another visit.

We partook of delectable peanut butter twix swirl and malted vanilla ice cream. Both were just as good as they sound, especially when washed down with some bottled root beer!

It was a fitting end to a fun weekend filled with both expected and unexpected opportunities for adventure.

An Olympic Endeavor

If there were to be a single theme in our lives for the last two weeks it would have to be the Games of the 30th Olympiad in London. As you may recall, we actually went camping in Catoctin Mountain Park the weekend of the opening ceremonies, which in years past would have meant that we had to miss out on the first several days of coverage. This we did not do, however, thanks to our living arrangement. Not only do we get to enjoy cable access as a part of our rent agreement, but we also recently discovered that we have our own DVR, which means we can actually record basically whatever we want. So for the past two weeks we have spent nearly every night watching at least a portion of the primetime coverage of the Olympics Games. However, try as we might, we never could make up the deficit of being gone for the opening weekend. In fact, we moved the other direction and still have the entirety of the last six days left to watch! The disadvantage to this approach is that we have inevitably found out some of the results before we actually got to see the competition, but we have still enjoyed watching and now we have the advantage of being able to extend the games out over another week after they have finished for everyone else!

These last two weeks have marked a return to school for most of you whose lives revolve around the world of education. I still have a slight reprieve, with exactly two weeks remaining before my first day of class. I was able to get the reading list for my class on the American Revolution and am already feeling overwhelmed by the 14 books I will be reading over the semester. The good news is that I have been able to find every single book at either the public or school library which means that I will not have to purchase any of them for that class. I am still waiting to receive more information about the other class, but one of my coworkers actually took that same one a couple years ago and has graciously offered to let me use her books. So it is looking like my textbook bill for my second semester of grad school will not break the bank after all!

If I were to identify an additional theme of these past two weeks it would be getting things done before I am consumed by school once again. Things like a trip to walmart to restock on necessary supplies like dish detergent, garbage bags, light bulbs, and propane. Things like getting a haircut after repeatedly being told by my wife that I looked ridiculous with what was becoming rather absurdly long hair. Things like taking my truck in to get the oil changed and getting it back without them telling me about anything else that was wrong. That is a significant achievement for my truck! It doesn't mean there aren't things that could use attention, but for a change there doesn't appear to be anything pressing.

Perhaps the most interesting task that was checked off the to do list last week, though, was successfully finding a donation center and giving blood once again. I haven't done so in a year after donating half a dozen times while living and working in DC. It turns out there is a Red Cross donation center not far off my route home that is open late enough for me to go after work. So I decided I could do my part and donate blood to help meet the current shortage. Well, when I called to make an appointment they were not only excited about my willingness to donate, but also immediately began to impress upon me the great need for platelets and, as I had donated them once before (almost exactly a year previously) I was a prime candidate.

Now when I donated platelets a year ago it did not go very well. In fact, in went rather poorly. So much so that later that night I basically collapsed and was rendered unsteady to the point that Alison had to drive me from her house back to where I was staying on my weekly visit from Shenandoah. The next morning I woke up at 5:00 am to drive back to the park in time for work at 8:30 and immediately realized there was no way I was doing any such thing. It was one of only two times that I have ever called in sick as a park ranger (the other being as a result of staying up nearly the entire night talking with Alison early on in our relationship).

So all that is to say that I was leery at best about the idea of donating platelets. Yet, when I arrived and easily passed all the tests and was subsequently again identified as a prime candidate for platelet donation, I let myself be convinced and settled in for what became a nearly three hour journey. Now, for those of you who have not experienced the wonderful world of apheresis, it bears little resemblance to whole blood donation. They are essentially sucking nearly all the blood out of your body, spinning it in order to break it into its different parts, and then putting most of it back in again. This takes a while and meant that  I had to have a needle in each arm, one to take the blood, and one to give it back. After about an hour and a half it lost its luster and started becoming less than fun. By the time I finished I was so weak that I literally couldn't get off the chair. I was so lightheaded that I could barely speak coherent words and felt a strange tingling spread throughout my body. It was simultaneously strange, unpleasant, and surreal, as if I were observing myself from a distant vantage point. I ended up having to stay there for quite a while after they pulled the needles out before I was coherent enough to speak in cogent sentences. I did regain enough strength to make it home, but it was not until four or five days later that I felt anywhere near normal and even then I continued to have moments of discomfort where the needles had been placed.

So I think I have decided that it really is not a very good idea for me to donate platelets. Regardless of their entreaties I think I will have to stick with a standard whole blood donation in the future!

Changing the Course of History

The summer of 1862 was a crucial one for the future of the United States of America. The Confederacy was in full scale rebellion and the Army of the Potomac was in retreat after failing to take the Confederate capitol in Richmond. But there was reason to hope. General John Pope had been called East to take command of a new army, and had begun to implement a policy of "total war" on the people of Northern Virginia. In response to these actions Robert E Lee sent "Stonewall" Jackson to deal with the man he referred to as that "miscreant." On August 9 Pope faced Jackson outside of Culpeper, VA at the Battle of Cedar Mountain. Pope's men fought well and nearly prevailed, but were ultimately defeated by the arrival of Confederate reinforcements.

After pulling back from Culpeper to positions near the Manassas railroad junction Pope's Union forces awaited the arrival of reinforcements from George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. In the next few weeks precious few of those reinforcements actually arrived on the field and Robert E Lee was able to join Jackson and defeat Pope's army soundly at the Second Battle of Manassas. After this defeat all the Union forces in Virginia (three separate armies) retreated to Washington and Lee took advantage of the momentum to cross the Potomac River, and for the first time in the war invade northern soil. The resulting campaign and battles could have ended the war. George McClellan, now commanding a combined force of all the Union forces that had gathered in Washington, advanced toward Frederick, MD in pursuit of Lee. In a stroke of luck unmatched in world history two Union soldiers came across an envelope in a farm field outside of Frederick. Contained within this envelope were two cigars and a copy of Special Orders 191.

This order was written from Lee's headquarters and detailed his plans to split his army into four separate forces in an attempt to capture Harpers Ferry while also continuing to threaten Washington and Baltimore. McClellan now knew, not only that Lee's army was split, but the precise locations of each of the separate forces. As he put it in a telegraph to President Lincoln: "I have all the plans of the rebels and will catch them in their own trap." So confident was McClellan in the advantage given him by finding these orders in fact, that he declared that, "Here is a paper with which, if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home." It was a truly remarkable opportunity.

Last Saturday I went to Monocacy National Battlefield in Maryland to photograph and document a special event. This ground is preserved as the location of a battle which was fought in 1864, but by chance also happens to contain the same farm field where Special Orders 191 was lost and subsequently found in September 1862. In commemoration of the sesquicentennial of this event a special exhibit was opened at the battlefield on Saturday. My task to was photograph the events of that grand opening.



The day began with a panel discussion at the Frederick Visitor Center of three expert historians about the lost orders and the impact it had on the Civil War, particularly in bringing about the Battle of Antietam on September 17. It was a fascinating discussion that opened my eyes to several different ways of looking at the ensuing events and the people who were involved. It would have been fascinating to simply be there as a visitor, but I also had the honor of capturing this discussion through pictures for future remembrance. Also present at this event were about 15 descendants of the two Union soldiers who found the order in the field. They had come from Indiana (where the two soldiers were from) just to be there for this event. It was very special to see them there, a tangible symbol of the lasting legacy of the actions of these men.



The day continued with the actual opening ceremony at the battlefield which included an address by the resident park expert, cake, and the opportunity for me to view the special exhibit.




This exhibit contained a number of objects loaned from the families including the sword one of the Union soldiers carried during the war and letters written home detailing the finding of the orders. The highlight of the exhibit is the actual copy of the lost orders. Knowing the significance of this piece of paper General McClellan held onto it, even after being relieved of command and it now resides with his papers at the Library of Congress. In recognition of the 150th anniversary of its finding LOC has loaned it to the Park Service for this special exhibit.



So I got to look at the actual piece of paper known as the famous "lost orders." It was an incredible opportunity to see something that helped to change the course of American History.

Discovering a Presidential Retreat

Before getting married Alison and I were able to get away on adventures on a pretty regular basis. Since the wedding, being married itself has been quite the adventure and circumstances have made it challenging for us to stray very far from home for more than a quick jaunt. This has been especially true this summer. Although we do not have my class schedule to contend with, I have had to be at special commemorative events (like Richmond and Manassas) a lot more on weekends.  Knowing that would be the case, at the end of May we sat down and looked at the calendar to try and figure out when we could potentially get away for a little adventure off the beaten path. We identified a grand total of three such opportunities. The first was our backpacking trip in Shenandoah over July 4. A second will come in the middle of this month, and the third was this past weekend.

As we worked to plan what we were going to do for our adventure we once again found ourselves needing to deal with car issues. My truck had been acting a bit strange for a few weeks then suddenly got worse. It was rapidly losing power and had a lot of difficultly accelerating. It was behaving differently than anything I had encountered before. So I gave in and took it in to a local mechanic, expecting that I was going to have to pay exorbitant fees for them to discern what was wrong and solve the issue.  Instead I encountered an incredibly helpful mechanic who came out and looked under the hood and then drove the truck around for a couple of minutes. After doing so he told me that the problem was due to misfiring amongst the spark plugs, which manifested itself differently than it normally might due to the manual transmission in my truck.

He then proceeded to tell me that they could definitely fix it, but that if I wanted to take on the project of replacing all of the spark plugs and wires it should solve the issue. He went on to show me some of the unusual things that would entail with an old Ford Ranger, and explained that it would not be a simple job. This was primarily because there are eight spark plugs in my truck, most of which are quite challenging to get to. Even so he encouraged me to do it on my own. So I decided to do exactly that.

After acquiring all the appropriate parts and tools at the local automotive store we tackled the project. It took a lot of sweat and time, got both of us (especially me) quite dirty, and took several internet searches, but in the end we succeeded. I learned  a great deal more about the details of how the spark plugs and wires are accessed and designed on a ’93 Ford Ranger, got several fun new tools, and successfully solved the problem thanks to the help of our friendly neighborhood mechanic. Guess who just earned out loyalty for future car problems?!

So back to the adventure….

We decided that, rather than driving down into southern Virginia we would instead drive north to explore Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland. This had the triple advantage of not being too far from home, being a new National Park site, and being the location of Camp David.



Since my truck has been problematic we decided to take the bug to go camping.  Shortly after we arrived, however, we discovered that the extreme heat of late had had a notably detrimental effect on the right rear tire and the drive up to Catoctin had pushed it over the edge so that it was starting to split. Picture a tire a few short breaths from shredding as you drive down the highway, and that is pretty much what we were dealing with.


Our tire looked similar to this picture but worse, and more flat

So a piece of our adventure consisted of figuring out how to change the tire on a VW Bug (something I had never tried to do before) and then having to stay beneath 50mph on the drive back to McLean. This was a bit challenging since a good chunk of the drive is posted at 65mph, which made it feel like we were hardly moving.  It certainly brought to light quite clearly the tendency of people in this region to drive faster than they should. Even in the areas that were posted as 50mph we were by far the slowest people on the road since we were actually locked in at the speed limit. We did make it back safely and found a new pair of tires (we decided we should replace the other rear tire as well as we had replaced the front two shortly after getting married) fairly easily as well. Yesterday we got them installed at….. you guessed it!... the same shop that had helped me with the spark plugs.

The remainder of our camping trip was fraught with significantly less peril. We discovered a lovely campsite in a fairly deserted campgrounds which even had a creek running nearby.



We enjoyed hiking around the park, finding a waterfall and a small lake, reading at the campsite, campfires and smores, playing cards games, and generally enjoying being in the mountains.



We also had a few interesting animal encounters. We saw park ranger capture a rattlesnake the size of a python which was making an attempt to storm the visitor center as well as a second rattlesnake curled up near one of the trails we hiked on. While in camp Friday night we were visited by a raccoon who was determined to get hold of our spicy doritos. We had left the open bag over in our chairs by the fire while we were sitting at the table about five feet away. Suddenly I caught sight of movement and saw a raccoon up on his hind legs with his hand in the chip bag. After that initial success he returned several more times, but was never able to secure any additional chips.


No raccoons in this picture, but you get a sense of where we were at the table and where the chips were by the fire

We also saw the site of an old saw mill



and walked an interpretive trail which demonstrated  how a collier used to make charcoal.


                    Me coming out of the collier hut in the same fashion as the one in the photograph

Perhaps our greatest discovery of the trip, though, was locating the site of Camp David. We couldn’t really see it (they make a point of keeping you from doing so), but one particular overlook faced directly toward it and had a line of trees been missing we would have looked right down onto it.


Imagine the line of trees in the middle of the picture not being there--Camp David lies just beyond them

We also clearly saw a fence with signs every 10 yards which made it very clear that you were not to cross it and even a couple of guard towers. It was fun to think that we were vacationing in the same place that presidents have been going since FDR first went there in the 1930s.

So now we have another fun place to visit in our backyard. And by backyard I mean a different state. It still amazes me sometimes how normal it is to switch states out here!

I Have a Pretty Neat Job

On Saturday, July 21 rain swept the fields of Manassas National Battlefield. It was a sharp contrast to the extreme heat that characterized the sesquicentennial of the First Battle of Manassas last year. Another sharp contrast from my vantage point is that I had a vantage point this year. Whereas last year I was unable to convince the powers at Shenandoah to allow me to be detailed to Manassas for the day, this year I was specifically instructed to be present at the anniversary events.



So I spent a rainy day traipsing around the battlefield photographing hikes, special talks, firing demonstrations, and general visitor involvement at the battlefield. I did the same on Sunday, though there were less programs and notably less rain which generally made for better pictures.

 

In addition to the pictures you see here, these links should take you to the two albums I posted on the Manassas facebook page...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.466001253417578.111924.175931589091214&type=3&l=89c3498598

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.466283210056049.112004.175931589091214&type=3&l=cea982c0a0

It is pretty neat to see one of my pictures as the cover photo for an NPS facebook page and to know that the images I captured are the ones that people will forever associate with this commemorative weekend.



Having now been an NPS photographer at three separate events at Richmond, several smaller events, and the 151st anniversary of Manassas, I am starting to get pretty good at capturing images that effectively tell the story.


I also get to have fun conversations with visitors including at least short instances of being able to talk about the history of the event. I think I have received more "you have the best job" kinds of comments working in this capacity than in anything else I have done with the Park Service. And I think I would have to agree. It's a pretty neat job.

Fireworks on Friday the 13th

We had intended on watching the DC fireworks show on the 4th of July. Since we live in the area, it seemed the logical choice. But having dealt with the crowds on the National Mall for the last two years, we decided that, instead of actually going into the city, we would watch the show from the Virginia side of the Potomac River. This view is quite different than being underneath the fireworks on the mall. In addition to being easier on the neck it also includes the landmark buildings/memorials on the mall which gives it a whole different feel. This picture (one I cannot claim credit for) gives you some sense of what I am talking about.



It sounded like a good plan, but as with many good plans, it looked better on paper than in real life. After our backpacking trip in Shenandoah we were tired, hot, and very sweaty and were late enough in the day that any parking at all close to where you can see the fireworks was long gone (people often camp out for most of the day). As we drove back toward DC the thought of fighting traffic, searching for a place to park, then walking (what would likely have been) a couple miles out in the heat to sit out in the heat and then have to fight traffic to leave and get back home late before going to work the next morning (Alison was opening at starbucks and had to be there at 5:00am) rapidly lost its appeal.

So instead we had a nice dinner, went back home, took soothing showers, and watched the Capitol Fourth (including the concert at the capitol and the fireworks show) on TV from our couch. It was a bit lame, but we both agreed it was good decision given the circumstances.

The decision was made better by an indirect result of the power outages from the storm I wrote about in my last post. Because they did not yet have power, the city of Gaithersburg, MD canceled their fireworks show on July 4. Since they already had everything ready to go they decided to do it on Friday the 13th instead. Alison got wind of it on the radio so we randomly drove up to Gaithersburg (north of DC) Friday evening and celebrated the fourth of July on the thirteenth. It was actually quite an impressive show, and was substantially better weather than the 4th had been. So, though a little delayed, it was a noble way to commemorate the birth of this nation.

I wanted to come up with a good reason why we celebrated Independence on July 13, but sadly have come up dry on that date. Independence was declared on July 2, the declaration itself was agreed upon on July 4, it was read publicly in Philadelphia on July 8, it was officially adopted by the New York delegation (who had abstained on July 4) on July 15, it arrived in Williamsburg (the capitol of Virginia) on July 19, was printed in the Virginia Gazette on July 20, and was officially signed by (most of) the delegates on August 2. But for all my efforts, I can find no direct connection to Independence on July 13, 1776.

My best option for an event which occurred on that day is the Birth of Caroline of Baden. Who is Caroline of Baden you ask? Well Caroline was the daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Caroline married the future Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1797, but kept her Protestant faith throughout her marriage. Besides being a twin herself, Caroline had two sets of identical twins. Among these daughters were two future Queens of Saxony and a Queen of Prussia. Aren't you glad you asked?

My best option for to connect to a spirit of American independence in general is that on July 13, 1865 Horace Greeley published his famous charge to "go west young man," thus beginning/encouraging significant migration into the western states/territories of the recently reunited nation.