Improvised MABDR trip

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2dub

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Aydlett, NC, USA
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Warren
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Workman
So this trip has become an improvised plan B trip...

My son, who is a senior at Appalachian State University, and I had planned and over-planned our fall break trip to do the western North Carolina portion of the Trans-America Trail since the summer because his fall break lined up with Columbus Day. Then Helene happened...

My son fared extremely well through everything. His apartment is at the top of a hill so flooding wasn't an issue, he lost power a few times, the first time was about 12 hours then no more than an hour or two each time after that. The water was out for a little while and when it came back he was on a boil first advisory for the first day or so. He still has no internet to his apartment and cellular/5G is spotty. His best friend didn't fare so well. Luckily she was already home for a family birthday, but her apartment flooded with the waterline being nearly 5 feet up the wall. Her roommate and many others in the complex had to be rescued by boat. All the cars in their parking lot were flooded and floated/washed and crashed up at the end of the parking lot and her building was condemned.

So obviously the NC TAT was out of the question. I originally told my son we'd just call the trip off and not go anywhere. But even a 20 y/o kid can pull at your heartstrings. He sounded very disappointed when I told him. So I started coming up with a plan B.

The MABDR was always on our list of trips to do. Originally I wanted to do the whole thing in one week-long trip, but now the plan is Friday we head East on 421 to I-77 then to I-81 North. Start near the PA/MD border and work our way south until either the route gets too rough to continue or time runs out and we need to head back for me to make it to work Tuesday.

Normally I'll do technical portions on a trail up to a 7/10 beyond that is beyond my comfort level, but given everything else I'll stop at 5/10 for this trip.

I've never done a multi-day trip with this little planning, but I do tend to over-plan. So far booking a campsite on recreation.gov I got the last site where we will camp Friday, then Sat & Sunday nights we'll just use iOverlander to find something or worse case we'll just sleep in the GX. But this will be an interesting experiment and will be a welcome escape for my son who has been dealing with a little too much reality.
 

John Bishop

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Harpers Ferry, WV, USA
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The route through the Harpers Ferry area passes about 5 miles from where I live. Don't know how many miles you plan on putting in when starting at the PA/ MD line, but it's pretty much all pavement until you get to western MD. There is a first come/ first serve campground at Sleepy Creek WMA in Hedgesville, WV and camping in Green Ridge state forest (MD). It's also first come/ first serve, but you have to stop at the forest office to get your site.
Once you're farther south into the national forests, there are dispersed sites. The farther south you get, the route gets to be less groomed gravel.
If you have time, stopping at the C&O canal tunnel in Paw Paw (MD side of the river) is worth a gander. Take a flashlight. :) The tunnel is about a mile long.

Have fun!
 
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2dub

Rank II

Enthusiast III

473
Aydlett, NC, USA
First Name
Warren
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Workman
@John Bishop

We ended up starting at Blue Ridge Summit, PA and worked south. We didn't get there until about noon so not much travel time on day 1. But coincidentally, that put our first night on the MABDR campsite at the Paw Paw Tunnel Campground. As a campground it sucked... But we didn't look for campsites until nearly sunset and it was right there. But as a trail it was awesome.

Right after we set up camp (using the term very lightly) we hit the trail. We started the tunnel right after sunset. Got to the other side and were going to try to make it to the river, but it started getting dark quickly so we turned around and went back to the camp.


The next night we camped in the George Washington National Forest and headed to Staunton and headed back home to make it to work Tuesday. We plan on picking the trail up from there and hopefully making it to Damascus as well as continuing North through PA in the not too distant future.


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Even though my son is 20 years old, naturally he had to climb up to the top of the tunnel entrance
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When we entered we could see light at the end of the tunnel
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By the time we got to the other side it was pretty dark. Much darker than this picture makes it appear.
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Coming back we couldn't see the end of the tunnel until we were nearly there.
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John Bishop

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Harpers Ferry, WV, USA
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John
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Bishop
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17942

Glad you had a good time, in spite of the camping area at Paw Paw. I think that camping area is intended for the through hikers/ cyclists doing the canal. But you are right, it's not very desirable.