In early August, 2002, Kevin Liles and I left Madison, Georgia at five a.m. and drove up to Charles Town, West Virginia. There we joined various members of the Russell Gray Fishing Club out of Albany, Georgia for a couple days' paddling and fishing the Shenandoah River.
The trip, just a little over 600 miles, went pretty quickly as we were able to use Interstates practically the whole way. We arrived in Charles Town between 2:30 and 3 o'clock that afternoon. However, before we even went into Charles Town, we passed right on by for a stop in Harper's Ferry. Harper's Ferry is only five or six miles from Charles Town, and is the designated half-way point of the Appalachian Trail (AT). It is host to the Appalachian Trail Conference, the body which basically acts as a clearing house or coordinator of the various small clubs which maintain the trail, as well as makes any changes to the trail and keeps records concerning the trail. The AT stretches from Springer Mountain, Georgia (3 hours from my house) to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. I have a fantasy of walking the 2,160 miles of the trail, and have read many books about the AT. So, Harper's Ferry is something of a shrine for me, and I had to make it our first stop. We visited at the ATC for a few minutes. I bought some souviners and joined the conference. Then we went in search of our hotel, which was easy enough to find in the small town of Charles Town. We we there to join up with the members of the Russel Gray Fishing Club, who had flown up from Albany earlier that day. In the morning we were to head out for the first of two days paddling and fishing the Shenandoah River.
Kevin Liles is a friend of mine from Madison who is now a young newspaper reporter in the small South georgia town of Moultrie, about 26 miles from where I grew up in Camilla. I figured the trip would be a great way for him to meet a bunch of other folks from South Georgia, for us to get to know each other a little better, and have a great time doing it. It turned out to be all of the above. We caught a lot of bream and a few small smallmouths. And paddled the Shenandoah River. Just the name "Shenandoah" brings up all sorts of great feelings for me. There is a great and beautiful song by that name. It is the name of my favorite Jimmy Stewart movie, in which he trys to keep his sons out of the civil war, and is one that I am not ashamed to say makes me cry every time I see it. And the walk through the Shenandoah Valley is said to be one of the most beautiful parts of the AT.
I didn't bring my canoe on this trip as the fishing club had taken care of renting us canoes. We paddled a 16 foot Mohawk Intrepid, which is very similar to my Old Town Tripper. However, my Tripper is a little longer and has more initial stability than the Intrepid. Since we weren't camping we didn't haul much of a load. I was fishing with a little $20.00 ultralight Shakespeare spinning combo that was perfect for the task. I had also brought some Beetle Spins with me as that is my favorite for catching bream. It was odd that they didn't sell them at the Wal-Mart right across from the hotel where we stayed. Nevertheless, I tore 'em up on the Beetle Spins and that little spinning combo!
The trip, just a little over 600 miles, went pretty quickly as we were able to use Interstates practically the whole way. We arrived in Charles Town between 2:30 and 3 o'clock that afternoon. However, before we even went into Charles Town, we passed right on by for a stop in Harper's Ferry. Harper's Ferry is only five or six miles from Charles Town, and is the designated half-way point of the Appalachian Trail (AT). It is host to the Appalachian Trail Conference, the body which basically acts as a clearing house or coordinator of the various small clubs which maintain the trail, as well as makes any changes to the trail and keeps records concerning the trail. The AT stretches from Springer Mountain, Georgia (3 hours from my house) to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. I have a fantasy of walking the 2,160 miles of the trail, and have read many books about the AT. So, Harper's Ferry is something of a shrine for me, and I had to make it our first stop. We visited at the ATC for a few minutes. I bought some souviners and joined the conference. Then we went in search of our hotel, which was easy enough to find in the small town of Charles Town. We we there to join up with the members of the Russel Gray Fishing Club, who had flown up from Albany earlier that day. In the morning we were to head out for the first of two days paddling and fishing the Shenandoah River.
