The mysteriousness of a heavily fogged in morning.  It feels both calm and spooky, like something is about to happen.  Battlefields are especially moving in the early morning and add in the fog…well, walking through it, having it swirl around me and swallow me up…left me feeling as if I had entered a magical place where it was possible to transcend time.

Looking towards Schoolhouse Ridge

Sidekick Pauli walked with me this morning up the the hill from Schoolhouse Ridge.  I looked back at the car once finding it hard to see in the mist.  I looked back twice and it was gone.  A thick misty white wall moved across the field in no hurry to rise into the sky.  We headed on up the hill and eventually emerged from the fog. How beautiful the opposing Schoolhouse Ridge looked.  We turned back to enter the woods and climb up to Boliver Heights.

The climb was gentle and several deer greeted us with a quick glance and a flip of the tail as we made our way up.  Then the beauty of the ridge!

Sunrise at Boliver Heights

Looking down to the Potomac & Shenandoah Rivers … rivers still hidden at this early hour.  Absolutely stunning!

Looking down into Harper's Ferry

Headed back down into the woods after walking along the ridge enjoying the views. The trail here was a little rough with several blowdowns. At one point I wondered if I had gotten off the trail, but there was a definite path in front of me so I continued.

Coming to a fork in the trail, someone had tied ribbons to indicate which way to go. Downhill, well, that makes sense. So down we went! More blowdowns, then into a pawpaw patch we followed the ribbons.

“Yay!” I thought, catching site of the field as we climbed over our last log. Entering the field, we were about 100 yards away from a farmhouse. I heard a man’s voice yell up to me, “Are you lost?” Um…um…awkward! I didn’t think so, but apparently this was someone’s private property!! After talking, well, yelling back and forth with the guy, we had no choice but to follow the ribbons back up the hill! I don’t know who marked that trail, but ergh.

Dead end!!!

Back on the ridge, but the fog is gone

A lovely morning to explore, though! And hey, eventually I will find the right trail down the hill! 🙂

Happy Friday and take the weekend to hike on!