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View Full Version : Pen-Mar trail head parking



lilygrrrl1
09-14-2005, 00:22
you folks have given me invaluable information regarding shuttles. so -- i'm coming back to the well once again! ;)

any comments, info., or concerns about leaving a car at the pen-mar park??

OR -- does anyone have any better/more convienent ideas for AT parking in this area??????

again -- i thank you folks for your constant help!
krinkles

gumball
09-14-2005, 05:55
We have left our vehicle in the parking lot across from the Penn Mar park on numerous occasions and have never had a bit of a problem. There is also a little turn off right before you get to the park, on your right, after you go around the curve that heads to the park. It goes down to the railroad tracks, and is fairly close to the AT--we parked there once, but I prefer having my car out in the open, to tell you the truth.

Waddle On!
09-14-2005, 07:56
I left my car a the lot accross the street this July with no problem. I checked with the caretaker of the park first to find out where to leave it. He suggested that lot and to leave a note in the window. He also wanted to know when I would return, so he could keep track.

Mini-Mosey
09-14-2005, 10:29
Me also...parked my car more than once on the lot across from the park..once when I was out for about 5 days. No problems.

lilygrrrl1
09-14-2005, 11:45
Me also...parked my car more than once on the lot across from the park..once when I was out for about 5 days. No problems.
thank you for your replies!

krinkles

SteveJ
09-14-2005, 15:10
[/QUOTE] clip...any comments, info., or concerns about leaving a car at the pen-mar park?? clip...[/QUOTE]I have a relatively funny story about parking at PenMar park. I'm from Atlanta. After getting downsized a couple of years ago, I took a job in Baltimore. Moved up and started the job, leaving the family in Atl until the school year was finished. Came home every other weekend. Took the opportunity to do some hiking on the AT in MD and VA on most of the weekends I didn't come home. The first time I went out (for a day hike), I parked at PenMar park on a Sunday morning, hiked south for 8 or 10 miles, and turned around and headed back. Got back just before dark, and my darn truck, on which I had just spent $2,000 in repairs at the dealer in Atl, wouldn't start. It's about dark on a Sunday evening, I'm in a strange place where I know absolutely no one (had started the job a week before), and I'm in the middle of nowhere...
:datz

I walked up to the park (I had parked down the hill from the park, just off the road - not clear about the details now), and found a young couple. I then realized, even though I was technically a few hundred yards south of the mason-dixon line, that I wasn't in the south anymore! (down south, we tend to enjoy helping others out - we might even give them a religious tract after - whoops! wrong thread!) I negotiated a price with the guy, and he agreed to help me jump off the truck. I'm out $20, and guess what, the truck won't even click, much less turn over the starter....
:datz :datz
He takes me back up to the park (big of him not to charge me more!). I find the ranger, and ask his advice. He basically has none. Finally, he agrees, I believe for $20, to take me into town to the closest hotel (5 or 6 miles away, I believe) when he closes up..... (to be fair, I'm sure these guys are asked to shuttle all the time - just seemed a little steep at the time!) I'm able to get a tow truck and rent a car to be back in Baltimore, almost on time to work the next morning.....

Ain't supply and demand grand! While $40 seemed a bit steep to get out of the situation, I was glad to sleep in a bed that night (didn't have any camping gear with me...), and generally considered the $40 to be well spent. :o

Job sucked. I hung in there for 8 months before moving back to Atl. Best thing about the whole situation was meeting a few families in Baltimore that I wouldn't have known otherwise, and being able to double hike (in, then back to the truck) the AT in MD, and sections of the Shenandoah on most of the weekends that I didn't get back home.....

Steve