Epic...

I'm finally putting this page together nearly a month after the trip, on the anniversary of the last day of fighting on these battlefields.  Even now my memory of the several days we spent here brings back the feeling of terrible loss that I felt looking at the monuments to the thousands of dead and wounded, and seeing first-hand the scope and magnitude of the battle-scape and the effort it must have taken to fight and to die here.

We took the Troop for a few days camping and historical sight-seeing.  We spent two long days hiking on the battle fields.  We got a small taste of what it must have been like.  Of course we didn't have nearly the same burdens.  Not least of which, no one was shooting at us...

6/11/09

Our visit started with our departure from Morgantown on June 11.  I went to the ATM at 7:48am to get some cash.  I wasn't sure what the trip would hold but wanted to be sure I had enough cash for food and stuff.  At 8:07am we went and had breakfast at Burger King.  From 8:11am - 8:52am we drove to the meeting place at the church where we usually meet.  There we greeted everyone and organized the gear.  We hit the road at 8:57am and drove until 10:20am when I stopped to get fuel off Exit 72 near Sideling Hill.  I got a call from one of our group to confirm our location and plans.  I passed on that I was planning to stop for lunch near Route 81 and would call when I had reached the location.

I got back on the road at 10:24am and drove until 10:50am when I reached Exit 24 that lead to the Pilot truck stop and Subway sandwich place.  I called and soon retrieved Alex who had already reached Route 81.  We got lunches and fuel and finished up at 11:27am and got back on the road and up Route 81 to reach Exit 16 (Route 30) at 12:00-Noon.  From there we drove to Gettysburg.  We reached the campground at 12:39pm.

From 12:40pm to 2:30pm we set up Camp.  The sites were very flat and clean.  Tom had set up the arrangements for the site through a lottery system that is run every spring, with our Troop being selected to get a site (Site 4) and camping for this trip.  With water and porta-johns, it's  a good compromise between true primitive sites and those with "everything".  As far as I was concerned, this site had everything we needed and more.  Later the campground would fill up completely with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.  We got lucky and had a wild group of Cubs next to us.

We finished setting up camp at 2:30pm and took the drive to the Visitor Center.  By 2:55pm everyone was there.  We stayed for quite some time, not leaving until we had taken in the museum, Cyclorama, and gift shop.  We finished up at 5:56pm and headed to the National Soldiers Cemetery, where we stayed until 6:51pm.  By 7:00pm we were back in Camp for the night.

6/12/09

We got up and had a nice breakfast.

By 9:03am we had left the Camp to drive over to the Visitor Center.  At 9:41am we had gotten everyone organized and started our first hike of the trip - a five-miler covering the northeast portion of the park.  Our first point of interest was the Soldiers National Cemetery.  We arrived at 10:09am.

From there we hiked a short distance up the road and crossed at 10:25am to the equestrian statue of Major General William S. Hancock.

 

From this site we had a good view of the Evergreen Cemetery.

We were following a self-guided tour described in the "Gettysburg Heritage Trail Guide" that provides a comprehensive trip through the battle fields and relates the events of the battles.

After a hot walk we reached the National Tower at 10:50am.  I recall visiting this tower at some time in the past during a previous visit to Gettysburg.  That trip did not give me anywhere near the understanding of this place that I would get over the next few days.

After climbing the tower and taking in the view, we took a back path down to the trails and by 11:39am had reached Spangler's Spring.

We spent quite a bit of time hiking the self-guided tour locating the different points of interest.  We came back out to Evergreen Cemetery.

 

 

We walked back through the National Soldiers Cemetery and reached the Visitors Center at 1:10pm.  From there we drove back to Camp, arriving at 1:25pm.  We got cleaned up and organized and left at 2:20pm to return to the visitors center at 2:33pm.  At 3:00pm we boarded a bus that took us to the Eisenhower Farm, arriving at 3:11pm. 

At 4:40pm we took the bus back to the Visitor Center, arriving at 4:45pm.  At 4:49pm we drove back to Camp, arriving at 5:01pm.  We got cleaned up and had some dinner, then sat around the fire until bedtime.

6/13/09

We got up and had breakfast, then packed up for a day-long hike.  The older kids would be hiking the entire eastern side of the battlefield after a walk across the field from Seminary Ridge to The Angle, where Pickett's Charge took place.  The younger group that I would be leading, would walk across at Pickett's Charge, then ride down to Round Top for a short climb, then meet the older group for lunch at Devil's Den.

We left Camp on foot at 9:23am.  We walked down to the site where Pickett's Charge started, arriving at 10:58am.

 

We started across at 10:10am - the last of us reached The Angle at 10:36am.

 

At 11:10am Dave Stanley arrived.  We herded up the younger group and headed out on our trip.  The first stop was a visit back to camp to pack up the food and get Tom's truck.  We got to Camp at 11:20am.  We left at 11:29am and headed for Round Top.

We got to the parking area near Round Top at 11:43am, and had lunch.  We finished lunch at 12:13pm and started our climb of Round Top.  We reached the top at 12:26pm.  Exploring the top, we found some monuments.

We hiked back down to the parking area, arriving at 12:40pm.  Just as we were leaving we got a call to meet the older group at Devil's Den, so we drove over, arriving at 12:44pm.

While the kids explored the rocks, Dave and I hiked up to the monument near Little Round top.  It was hot and sunny making me grateful for the fluids I had brought along.

One of the park signs showed how the soldiers reinforced natural elements to gain protection from fire.  In a period photo, it showed a natural rock formation.  A few feet away was the actual formation.  It was sobering to note that over one hundred and forty years later, this rock was still here bearing silent testimony to what went on during those battles.  Take a good close look at the rock in the color photo below, particularly the left most rock.  Note the shape and then locate it in the period black and white photo to the left.

We hiked back down to the parking area and arrived at 1:18pm.  The older group had just arrived, finding the truck unlocked and their lunch waiting for them.

The rest of the kid were still exploring the rocks.

I spent some time locating a couple Geocaches.

At 2:10pm we collected the younger group and Departed Devils Den, arriving at Eisenhower Tower at 2:20pm.

The kids were pretty tired so after a quick climb to the top, we headed back down and left at 2:31pm.  At 2:54pm we stopped at store for some things and reached Camp at 3:24pm.  We got the kids' swimming stuff and went off in search of the YMCA so we could get a shower and go swimming.  It turned out there was no YMCA but there was a YWCA so we took that with only minutes to spare.  We got there at 3:52pm, took a shower and had a swim, then left at 4:52pm for Camp.  We reached Camp at 4:55pm.  The YWCA closed as we were leaving so the older kids and their leaders missed out on the shower and swim.

After everyone got cleaned up we left at 6:11pm to go for dinner.  We arrived at Pickett's Buffet at 6:20pm.  They had reservations for us at 7:00pm so we took a walk and did some gift shopping.

We returned in time for our reservations and had a nice dinner.  At 8:23pm we left and arrived back at Camp at 8:32pm. 

6/14/09

We got up early and by 10:30 had packed camp and hit the road.  I was impressed that in the entire 10-site campground, nobody was left, and you would never have known that anyone had stayed there, it was so clean.

It was a great weekend that really gave us a better understanding of what happened here those hot July days.  It was made all the more understandable by walking around the battlefields and getting a sense of the size of the place.