Day 257 - Harper's Ferry, WV

(Click any photo to enlarge.)

Look!  Look!  A snake!

John Brown's Fort

On any spring day at almost any national park, one will encounter hordes of students on field trips.  That was certainly the case today at Harper's Ferry, where upper elementary school kids were running around with clipboards, seeking to fill in the blanks on scavenger hunt worksheets they were assigned to do.  It was the obvious excitement and jumping up and down of kids down below the river overlook by the railroad bridge that caught our attention today, because they were yelling that there was a copperhead sunning itself on the rocks.

St. John's Episcopal

The ghost of Harper's Ferry

My walking companions today were my niece Alice and her husband Stefan and their little baby Greta, so when we heard about the snake, Stefan and I took the stairway down below to have a look.  I wanted to know what the snake looked like, and to see how well it blended in with its surroundings, so that I could be better prepared for what to keep an eye out for on walks this summer.

The snake was probably three feet long, although it was hard to tell because it was not stretched out, but it was fearsome enough looking that we only used our zooms to get close.  More and more kids and their teachers and chaperones came by for a look, too.

Alice and Greta

View from Jefferson Rock

We continued our walk at Harper's Ferry along the lower streets and by poking our heads in some of the buildings that were open with displays, but most of those were crammed with kids.  We switched Greta to her backpack carrier and put the stroller in the car, then went up the steps to the church and along the path to Jefferson Rock to see the views from there.

When we came back down to town, we got lunch and cold drinks.  I bought a little bronze camera with a clock inset at one of the gift shops, The Vintage Lady.  I told the owner Crystal that I would give her a plug in today's blog.

Stefan on top of the rock

I have done some searching on copperheads, and I have decided that the snake was indeed not a copperhead, but a northern water snake, a non-venomous snake most often seen basking on rocks.

Tonight, when the kids are home and their parents inquire about what they learned or saw on their field trip, you can bet the most exciting thing they be bursting to talk about is the snake.  After all, didn't I make that the lead paragraph in my story, too?

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Email:  cam.miller@comcast.net

Cam's rules for the Daily Photo Walk:

1. walk every day
2. the walk must be in addition to any other planned activity for the day
3. post a photo every day
4. use whatever camera is easy and convenient for walking comfortably; always have a backup camera at the ready in case of mishaps (I use the Nikon Coolpix P7700)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so