Hike #840; Gettysburg Loop

Hike #840; Gettysburg Loop

4/5/15 Gettysburg Loop with Jillane Becker

Cannon

This next hike would be a loop around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

I had visited Gettysburg in the past, done the auto tours, but each time I had visited, I wanted to really explore it by foot. I always figured I would organize a Gettysburg loop hike, but had no idea how and when. When Jillane and I had the weekend off together, it was a good opportunity to do just such a hike.

Furthermore, it was Easter Sunday. We figured that such a tourist destination would probably be easier on a day like this with less people around.

Neither of us really knew how to go about this hike. We had no plan; I had looked on line at the Gettysburg official maps, and I saved one very poor one to my phone, but other than that we were winging it.

When we got to town, there was literally no parking really anywhere that was not paid or metered. After driving through a couple of times and feeling frustrated, I made my way to a grocery store and retail area on the northeast side to York Road. We parked near the Days Inn.

At first, I thought it would just suck walking back York Road to get into Gettysburg proper, but it turned out to be the best thing we could do with just the right thing to jump start our day.

Abandoned mini golf

There was an abandoned miniature golf course at the first lot down from where we were parked. We wandered through that a bit, which was rather interesting. The ponds still had water in them, and some of the structures associated with it were totally wrecked. The bridges and paths were growing over rampant with the decorative plants that had been put there. There was an abandoned batting cage out behind it, and then some sort of abandoned building. Jillane went through that first.

Abandoned ice cream store

I didn't even notice the thing was open; when she told me, I went on through to have a look around also. The day was already looking 100% better than I thought it would. It turns out that the building was used for this sports themed style park as well as for an ice cream shop. I walked out the back door, having gone in the front, then went around the batting cage and back to the golf course. There was a tunnel on one of the paths we walked through in order to continue parallel with  York Road heading back toward town.

Abandoned mini golf tunnel

We stayed more behind the buildings at first, so it didn't feel like we were walking some highway. This was definitely the more run down part of town. There was a railroad across the street from us I thought to follow, but then I saw the national park lands were further to the south, and that would be a more desirable route to start off with. I checked out some sort of ruin with a metal base for what looked like maybe a generator in the woods to the left, then we continued to turn left on 6th Street. I checked out a convenience store there and sampled some local chocolate milk that was quite good.

Once at the end of 6th, we turned right on Middle Street. We then passed the Henry Culp Farm. It was noted that this building was used as a Civil War hospital in 1863. It turns out most all homes were used as hospitals following the battle.

We turned left on East Confederate Ave into the park, and crossed a branch of Rock Creek (we crossed the main creek on York Road). The road was very open and pretty, with the old style wooden fences on the sides. An effort had obviously been made to keep the area looking much the way it did during the time of the battle.

Fencing off East Confederate Ave

We cut into the fields to the right for a bit, and went to a knoll. It was nicer walking in the fields than on the road. I didn't realize it at the time, but Jillane was heading toward an observation tower located on Culp Hill, ahead. I didn't read the map right or something, and wanted to continue on the road, so we made our way back down there.

The roads throughout the entire hike were constantly lined with all sorts of historic notations. It actually seems almost crazy how many of them there are. Every point seems to mark where exactly a regiment was, where they moved, etc. No where else that I can think of has more memorials and markers in it. That is one of the things that makes Gettysburg National Military Park so interesting. Even some of these markers now are historic themselves, as they were placed so long ago. No where else can you wander around and see so many of these monuments.

We continued on the road for a bit, and we entered some woods. When I realized the tower was up hill to the right, I was sorry I convinced Jillane to come back down to follow the road. I wanted to see the thing, and fortunately there was a foot path cutting away from the road to the west. We followed it into the woods, but it eventually seemed to disappear. We went off trail further to the west and eventually hit I think Slocum Ave. Once here, we turned right and headed up hill a bit toward the tower. A foot path with a hiking symbol pointed off into the woods to the right.

Culp Hill Tower

We passed several more monuments, even inside the woods, and then the trail turned up hill to the left to reach the Culp Hill tower. I didn't remember reading anything about this hill, but it made sense that every high vantage point was a strategic location. I have since read that this was a major location of Confederate demonstration that escalated into full on conflict. Reading all of the signs couldn't quite put things into perspective for me. I was going to need a better reference source.

View from Culp Hill Tower

Jillane didn't feel like going up the tower; there were a lot of people around, so she used the moment to take a break behind one of the monuments. I ran all the way up to the top of the thing to take in the outstanding 360 degree views. I could see where we came from, the town of Gettysburg, and I could see where we were going, to the pretty new visitor's center that was completed about 2008. I'd never seen it before, as my last trip out to this place was probably 2002 with my ex girlfriend Cathy.

In truth, Gettysburg probably is more of a driving tour place than hiking. There is a lot more to see than one can truly see in a day by foot. It's one of the few places I might not recommend taking a full day hike around if it hasn't already been experiences otherwise. It was the right thing for me at this time, but there's just too much more I'd have liked to see that there wasn't time for.

When I went to Gettysburg with school, there was a Lincoln impersonator named Jim Getty who was quite excellent. We didn't have time really for any tours.

I didn't see Jillane when I came off the tower, so I ran to the bottom of Culp Hill to see if she was down there somewhere. When there was no sign of her, I decided to back track and found her behind the monument. We continued together from Culp Hill down Slocum to Williams Ave, then right on Geary Ave. This one was more of a trail than anything else. It was narrow like a trail, and in fact many trails we've hiked have been wider. We eventually came to a wetland called Spanger's Spring and an old stone building converted to a restroom. We got off the road and skirted the lawn section out to Colgrove Ave and turned right. The next intersection from here was just a road that came together, and Jillane chose to go left, Carman Ave. This came back to Colgrove, but we didn't follow the road. Instead, we walked directly out across the fields toward Baltimore Pike. There was a nice rock outcrop in the middle of the field heading toward another old house with a sign denoting it as having been a battle hospital.

Entrance

We turned right briefly on Baltimore Pike and reached the entrance to the visitor center for the park. We followed the pathway along the roads to the main parking lot; there were surprisingly many buses in the lots and people everywhere. I was not at all expecting the mob scene that was the visitor center. I thought Easter Sunday would be one of the least busy days of the year, but I was terribly wrong. We went into the center and checked out the store. It was there that I found a good map of tear resistant material. It had all numbered monuments, trails, and more. It was the perfect resource that I needed.

We looked around for a while, then made our way out of the building and around the south side on a paved trail. We would have mostly walking trails for the entire south section of the park, which was really good. The paved pathway must have been new, to go along with the visitor's center. We followed it past a side path leading to a parking area twice, then reached Taneytown Road.

Picketts Charge site

We got on the trail directly across, which passed a white building also used as a war hospital. We went straight, then to the left parallel with Hancock Ave. The trail sort of ended in this area, but there is always a wide grassy area on either side which lends itself well to hiking. We continued to near the intersection with Pleasonton Road, cut across a field, and crossed. The stretch we had just walked through was the historic site of "Picketts Charge" I read.

Memorial to Pennsylvania

The tower ahead of us was really outstanding. A giant monument to Pennsylvania. There were a lot of people around, but not as many as were at Culp's Hill.

Pennsylvania tower

Jillane and I both went into the arch of the tower and found that we could in fact go up it. There was a rather claustrophobic winding stairway that led up to the top, with barely enough room for anyone else to pass. We went up anyway and took in the nice view of the surrounding fields. This was probably most centrally located to the battle site we would be on this trip. It's hard to imagine that 31,000 Confederate soldiers and 27,000 Union soldiers died on these fields during those few days from July 1st through 3rd 1963.

We made our way down the tower and headed south along Hancock Avenue.

View from Pennsylvania tower

We made our way across United States Ave, and shortly after on the left side there was a trail that went off into the woods. It led to another tower monument, but not one that we could go in. This trail paralleled Sedgewick Ave to the south.

The trail was used by horses very obviously, but it was strange because there were some substantial boardwalk sections. I'd never seen boardwalk trails that were opened to horses.

The trail continued past the tower and near someone's pasture access for horses, then back down and around to the Wheatfield Road area. The trail went into the woods off to the left, to circumvent the east side of Little Round Top, but I wanted to actually go to the top of it, so we followed the road for a short distance, then cut off to the right on a rocky foot path leading to a nice overlook.

View from Little Round Top

We took a nice little break at the rocks and admired the view. It was pretty windy, but we dealt with it. From here, we moved on further along the rocky paths that a lot of people were sitting around on, to the highest point of Little Round Top. Jillane went around a different way while I climbed the rocks to a cannon lined paved path. This path led to another tower, not nearly as big as the Pennsylvania one, but smaller and more interesting built like a castle guard tower.

Little Round Top Tower

I went up into this tower as well, with a nice little view along Little Round Top. We then descended down through woods and to the Slykes Ave. We crossed the road direct, then headed onto another paved path which weaved around a bit past more monuments. We cut off this path by a short dirt connector path to a dirt trail just below this.

We crossed Wright Ave, then headed on along a dirt trail that partially ascended up Big Round Top. It didn't go all the way to the top before turning to the left and skirting the hill's east side. We headed down along the trail and through a giant fallen tree that had been cut off the trail,

Big log at Big Round Top

The trail continued from here through some nice woods on the southeast side of the park. We went around Big Round Top, and still there were large monuments out in the middle of he woods. I wondered how they went about bringing these things out to these remote locations. The trail descended a bit, then it skirted the south side of yet another smaller hill.

South side; Gettysburg

South side; Gettysburg

We passed a couple other people walking the trail, but there were never that many doing what we were doing. The trail exited the woods when it picked up an old road route that was lined with lovely stone walls when it reached the open fields. The trail crossed over South Confederate Ave and continued on the road through the fields. The trail weaved along through the woods and then passed an historic farm house, apparently still lived in with pickup trucks in front. We walked out the driveway to the house, not realizing that if I'd remained on the arrow marked trail to the right, it would have taken me where I was going anyway. I just wasn't following the map correctly.

We reached South Confederate Ave, then turned right and crossed to reach Emmitsburg Road. Near this intersection we picked up the correct route of the trail again, first parallel with Emmitsburg, then turning left along old fences and across West Confederate Ave.  We continued into another section of woods parallel with the road again, but it was nice. The trail emerged in an open field once more, and to the right we could see the next observation tower.

Observation tower on Warfield Ridge

This one was very similar to the one on Culp Hill. Again, Jillane didn't want to go up it, so she took a break on a large tree below. Again, I ran all the way to the top as quick as I could. I was so out of breath, all I could think was that I need to get myself in better shape again. The view from the top was enough to counter some of these negative thoughts.

View from the tower

I could clearly see Big Round Top and Little Round Top, and Culp Hill where we had just been earlier. There was a round bench at the top, but I was too antsy to bother to sit down. The view to the west was that of President Eisenhower's former farm. A couple of other people were going up and down the tower, but there were moments when I had the entire thing to myself. I suppose the day was winding down for many.

I headed down and found Jillane next to a nice big tree looking over Dwight D. Eisenhower's 189 acre farm. Former US Army General, Eisenhower loved the history of the area and purchased the farm in 1950. He used it as a getaway during his presidency, and would have important meetings during the years of the Cold War. He retired to this farm and resided here until his death in 1969. It has since been maintained the way Eisenhower left it and managed by National Park Service.

Jillane by Eisenhower's Farm

We continued north on the trail, which turned away from the road a bit more in more of Pitzer Woods. We followed this swath of woods to come out on another farm field heading to the east. We then crossed West Confederate Ave, then headed through more woods to the east toward the Spangler Farm. We crossed a small stream, then turned left up through more lovely woods on a very pleasant trail on Seminary Ridge. The trail came out to cross West Confederate Ave again, and continued parallel with the road more closely on it's west side.

Trail on the west side

The transitions between the fields and the woods kept me interested. The trail was absolutely beautiful, and the walk therapeutic. The trail was very easy, but transitions were often enough as not to be at all boring through this stretch. The trail continued north along edges of fields and into McMillan Woods where it ended at an access road to some sort of youth camp or something. We cut out to that access road and used to to head back to West Confederate Ave. There was still a wide grassy swath next to the road here, so it was easy to follow it.

We remained along the road heading back to town and Middle Street. There was a nice spot with cannons just before reaching there. We had been checking them out all day. They must be authentic cannons, as they are all date stamped near the mouth. There are many that were made in 1863, but many more we found that were made in 1864, a year after the battle. They could still be Civil War cannons, but not from that particular battle.

"Harvest of Death"

I have so much more reading to do when it comes to fully understanding the Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg. Just before entering the main part of town there was one last black cannon facing toward some of the buildings. It made me think a bit of what it must have been like at that time, and how horrific an experience it must have been for people of the time. I just can't imagine the trauma of war, the sounds, the screams, and then having 58,000 dead bodies to dispose of. I think about how the families dealt with their children, how they could shelter them from such horrible images.

Gettysburg

Even in the town, there were historic markers everywhere. Handsome old houses were everywhere. The cannons for some reason changed from the black to being painted a light blue when we got near the buildings. We crossed over Middle Street and turned right, heading further into town. There were kids out playing, and I wondered if they are aware of the importance their home town played in history. I suppose I am lucky to have an understanding of where my home fit into the world.

Gettysburg Circle

We headed to Baltimore Street and turned to the left. This led us to the circle in the middle of the town. I was very interesting to read about which buildings were still historic ones dating back to the days of the Civil War and earlier. Jillane commented how she was more interested in the town itself than the battlefield area. I tend to agree with her, that it would have been nice to have some more time walking through town and reading about the architecture. There were many historic markers on these buildings that gave their dates of construction, as well as any role played in the battle. There were of course stores we'd have liked to go in as well, but on Easter Sunday that wasn't going to really happen. It was surprising how alive the town was, people walking around pretty much everywhere.

There is a disconnect associated with history in the lack of photographs. We see paintings and such of the American Revolution and the War of 1812, but usually with dramatizations of movements, poses, and depictions that are more convenient than historically accurate. It is, after all, artistic license to do so. But, with the Civil War, we have actual photographs, although few of them, a true image of what was seen.

Lincoln on the way to giving Gettysburg Address

Although this hike is not yet connected with previous ones I've done, I will certainly make it happen. In the meantime, there are different kinds of connections that enliven my memories of it. The one from the center of the town that stands out to me now is that only a couple of blocks off the circle that the railroad delivered President Lincoln before giving the Gettysburg Address. Jillane and I had hiked by Hanover Junction on the Northern Central Railroad just a year prior, where Lincoln is said to have drafted the document, and rode the train in to Gettysburg. We were not far off, and these places are very connected in theme.

After walking the entire circle, looking into stores and reading signs, we headed onto York Street east. Jillane pointed out a good looking Mexican restaurant, and so we went on up to a nice outdoor seating area and had some delicious burritos for our Easter dinner (When people ask me how my Easter was, I tell them we hiked Gettysburg and had delicious burritos. In some cases I get a squared jawed, sometimes disapproving look that I find entertaining).

The foot was great and it was a totally relaxing meal. We walked from here along the sidewalks up York Road, as it veered slightly to the northeast. When we got back to the abandoned mini golf course and ice cream shop, we went back over and rooted through some stuff. Jillane found a really nice white sweater and I'm not sure what else. We also took one last walk through the building. When we got to the back door, which I most certainly closed earlier in the day, it was now wide open. This was unsettling to us, so we got out of there and headed back to her car.

This was the best Easter I'd had since 2009; once it started, it was just a relaxing and thought provoking day. It was just the type of thing I will be able to build upon and create a frame of reference for further reading and learning.