The Adventure Project: Part 2: Harper's Ferry

On March 23, 2026 my father and I began our journey to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. We woke up at 6:00 AM, had a small breakfast, and made our way to the beautiful town. This trip was greater than I was even imagining it was going to be. Although it was only half a day it was an awesome experience.

The day before we left we planned to boulder at a spot that we had found on Mountain Project. If you are reading this and you are a climber you know how much of a pain it can be to figure out those horrible descriptions on Mountain Project. We made our way down the one lane road that had a supposed entrance near a bus turn around point. We found the turn around point but there was no exit. For the next hour we went up and down the road looking for a place to park. The town we went through was terrifying. The people looked at us as if they hated us even without knowing who we were. 

The town was disheveled and the houses were littered with trash in the yard. Many of the houses looked abandoned but there were people everywhere. All of them looked at us as if we were committing a crime by being there. We made the executive decision to leave so as to not waste more time looking for parking just to get yelled at by one of the locals. My dad believes that these people knew that climbers came through the town and blocked off many of the spots that seemed to have decent parking. 

After our failure to locate the boulders we decided to make our way into the historic and beautiful town of Harper’s Ferry. It has some very classic yet stunning architecture. Most of the buildings in the town are either original from the Civil War Era or they are slightly refurbished to protect the original architecture. We walked around the town for a long while and went into a few buildings. We went into a small shop selling some handcrafted items, although we did not purchase anything. It was still interesting to see how this old building that was used to keep wheat during the war is now used for someone to share their life's passion. Another building we went in, which was my favorite, was a museum to honor the famous abolitionist John Brown. The flooring and upper floors were still the same as when John Brown was tried and executed in the town for his attempts at ending slavery in Virginia. Another beautiful building was the St. Peter’s church which we saw right before entering our hike into the Appalachian trail.

Our hike began right at the church, which is a staple attraction of Harper’s Ferry. The hike was beautiful. There was a famous overlook which Thomas Jefferson stood on after the Louis and Clark expedition began. The view from the overlook was amazing and there was a small cavern which I went into. The air in the cavern was interesting as you could feel a cold breeze running through even though there was no wind. We hiked about half a mile into the trail before cutting off to go look at an interesting cemetery in the town. The headstones dated as far back as the early 1800s and there was also one from 2026. We made our way back to the entrance of the trail and took a few more pictures of the beautiful overlook. After our amazing voyage into Harper’s Ferry we made our way to a bouldering spot we found called Thurmont Vista Bouldering just about 1 hour from where we were.

On our way to Thurmont I looked at all the interesting climbs I was hoping to do. When we arrived we were shocked by the size of these boulders. They ranged from a pretty traditional 8 foot boulder to a 25 foot highball. I did the highball which was listed as a V1. My dad got his first 4 outdoor climbs in. We were there for just about an hour and a half. In that time I flashed 2 V2’s and worked on a V4. These were some of the most fun climbs I had ever done. After our amazing workout we had to get into the car and make our way back to ALX for practice. The day was extraordinary and quickly Harper’s Ferry became one of my favorite places…

B. Smith

4/20/26