3 Days of Campfire Cooking and Hammock Camping – Harpers Ferry West Virginia

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Hammock Camping, Trail Cooking and the search for an Elusive Hearth in the Woods of West Virginia.

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For this early February hammock camping trip, I set out to hike a 3 day hike with a nostalgic goal – to find a giant campfire hearth that my friend and I had built five years ago, somewhere off of the Appalachian Trail near the town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.  I had always wondered if it was still standing after all these years, and thought it would be a great excuse to spend some time in the woods a cook some hearty camping meals.

My weather conditions were forecasted to have a pretty wide range during this trip, from the upper 50’s down to 30 degrees each evening.  I had a rough idea of the hearth’s location.  We built it at camp not too long after leaving the Harpers Ferry National Historic Area’s boundary while heading south on the Appalachian Trail.  My goal for the first day was to get myself to a legal camping area in this general area so I could search for it first thing the next morning.  If I found it early, I would then have the option to do a day hike to Loudoun Heights and Split Rock for views of the Shenandoah River and Potomac River below the ridge.

For sleep and shelter on this trip, I went with a simple hammock camping and ultralight tarp setup (gear list below).  I used the extra space in my winter backpack to load up on extra clothing layers, a saw for harvesting firewood, a stool for working in my makeshift camp kitchen, and my white gas stove system paired up with a fry pan and diffuser to try my hand at baking some trail bread at camp.  The cooler temps also allowed me to bring some “real” food, so I brought along some ingredients to make some smoked sausage one day and pasta with a slow cooked meat sauce the next.

This trip video was sponsored by Anker and their model 521 and 535 Portable Power Station.

Route Overview – Harpers Ferry Loudoun Heights Winter Backpacking Trip – Sintax77

Full GPS track data, including campsites, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

Trailhead Used: Harpers Ferry National Park Lower Town Trailhead
171 Shoreline Dr, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425
39°18’54.6″N 77°45’19.7″W


This is a large paved parking area located at the National Park Visitor Center.  You can register for free to camp and park overnight at the back of the lot by the Trailhead. Overnight camping is not permitted within the National Park, so you will have to hike outside of the park a few miles on the other side of the river in order to legally camp. 

Trails Used Day 1

  • Lower Town Trail
  • Appalachian Trail South (begins by following the Shenandoah River Bridge)
  • Camp along the AT about a half mile after exiting the Harpers Ferry boundary.
    • This is an unofficial spot located on a shelf down a little ways from the ridge.  Watch out for the white Harpers Ferry boundary signs below the ridge, and make sure that you camp on the correct side. This is also a dry site, so make sure to load up on water before hiking up the ridge.

Day 1 Mileage:  3.3 miles
(plus searching for the hearth, but hopefully you won’t have to do that!)
Day 1 Gross Elevation Gain: 1,012′
Day 1 Gross Descent: 540′

Day 1 Elevation Profile – Harpers Ferry Loudoun Heights Winter Backpacking Trip – Sintax77

Trails Used Day 2

  • Appalachian Trail North
  • Loudoun Heights Trail (blue blazes)
  • Arrive at Split Rock for sweeping views of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the town of Harpers Ferry with it’s numerous railroad bridges.
  • Follow the AT South back to camp
    • I found an unnamed trail that ran parallel to the AT for a bit on the ridge, but I can’t seem to find a name for it.  It saved me some elevation on the way back though.

Day 2 Mileage: 5 miles
Day 2 Gross Elevation Gain: 1,092′
Day 2 Gross Descent: 1,092′

Day 2 Elevation Profile – Harpers Ferry Loudoun Heights Winter Backpacking Trip – Sintax77

Route Day 3

  • Appalachian Trail North
  • Lower Town Trail
  • Return to the Harpers Ferry Visitor Center Parking Lot

Day 3 Mileage:  3.3 miles
Day 3 Gross Elevation Gain: 2,644′

Day 3 Elevation Profile – Harpers Ferry Loudoun Heights Winter Backpacking Trip – Sintax77

Grand Total Mileage:  11.6 miles
Grand Total Elevation Gain: 3,075′

Notable Backpacking Gear

Camera Gear used for this episode