Saturday, July 8th 2000

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Saturday, July 8th 2000
Gettysburg Battlefield National Park
Up Little Round Top

After taking a month to recover from my canoeing incident on Memorial Day, I was very excited about hiking again . . . but I didn't want too much of a challenge, since my foot was still bruised, and my toe broken. Lori and I had an idea.

Gettysburg seemed like an excellent choice. I've hiked around the battlefields before, and I knew my way around fairly well, but this was a great chance to explore new areas while getting 'back in the saddle.'

Ever since I've seen the movie Gettysburg, I've been fascinated by the park. My destination has always been the 20th Maine's memorial on Little Round Top, and this time was no different.

Starting out at the museum--which I had oddly missed on my previous visits--we passed by the high water mark and on towards Little Round Top. I was surprised at just how much history I missed on my previous visits, and the stop at the museum and a little reading material pointed it out to me.

After I first saw the movie, I wanted to run up the same hill defended by Colonel Chamberlain. I discovered that I had been running up the wrong hill :-) After making the several hour hike around the battlefields, I didn't really feel like scampering up another hill, so we took in some of the sights around the Devil's Den and headed back to the car, passing by what was the union line during Pickett's Charge.

Looking out over the fields to the trees where General Lee had stood 145 years earlier, one can't help but feel the presence of the soldiers who fought and died that day.

I think every American should hike around the battlefields of Gettysburg at least once. It's hard to put perspective on our own lives until they are placed on that hallowed ground, side by side, with the ghosts and legacy of 50,000 men.

I'll visit Gettysburg again and again.