A final summer view of Owens Creek in Catoctin Mountain Park: Glynn Wilson

Tales From the MoJo Road –
By Glynn Wilson –

CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. – When the noise of the city becomes just too much to take, especially the political noise from blowhard politicians in Washington who have no idea what they are talking about, head for the mountains and find a babbling brook, a place for a picnic and say a little prayer for a dying country.

That’s what I did on Monday, anyway, helping a friend train for the Gran Fondo National Championship bike race starting out in Frederick, coming up in September. I won’t be around for the event this year, since my path is about to take me far afield toward Missouri, Colorado and ultimately California. But it was a great excuse to revisit one of my favorite places in the world, Catoctin Mountain Park, home to Camp David and the Owens Creek Campground.

When one of the greatest presidents ever, Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, found the place in the 1930s during the Great Depression and established it as a presidential retreat – a place to get out of Washington, take a break and find solace in nature – he called it Shangri-La. Later Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican president and former general in World War II who successfully fought the Nazis and won, changed the name to Camp David after his father and grandson.

Camp David: The White House in the Mountains of Maryland

It’s not gold-plated enough for Donald Trump, and there’s no golf course on the premises where he can cheat sycophants and brag about winning. But if I had the resources or some willing partners, I would find some property in the mountains and build a modest log cabin in the enchanted forest there, plant a communal garden and retire from the dying business of news and journalism. We could even develop a writers and artists retreat there, if we could find the funding.

The place is a well kept secret. A true secret vista. It’s not famous like Shenandoah down in Virginia. And the locals want to keep it that way, especially the Ku Klux Klan in Thurmont and MAGA Trump supporters in rural Frederick County, who are already bitching about the rich people moving in and driving up property values. They also don’t much like all the cyclists who like to ride the rolling hills and sparsely traveled country roads, and climb the steeper grades all the way up to Tower Road, the highest peak in the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland at 1,900 feet above sea level and the Easternmost point of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Appalachian range.

Google map of the Blue Ridge Mountains: NAJ screen shot

Like many other things they don’t seem to grasp, these cyclists contribute much to the local economy. They spend money on gas, food and lodging, including the campgrounds, and pay sales taxes too. Plus, in my experience, they are some really nice, smart people. They will respect your property and not trash it while they marvel at its beauty.

But I guess that seems too “woke” for some of the country folk, the ones with giant Trump flags and Confederate battle flags by their farm houses. And they sometimes drive about as fast as the city folk in D.C. who they openly despise. I’ve seen them cuss at a D.C. tag, the ones with the slogan, “Taxation Without Representation.” Even the law enforcement rangers here are guilty of this, and they swore an oath to the Constitution and to serve ALL the American people, and to protect the president regardless of party.

Someone strung a hammock up over Owens Creek by sites 28 and 29 by the bridge over the creek. Not sure this is allowed, but there was no camp host on duty so who knows: Glynn Wilson

In all my travels, the place has all the elements where it seems you could survive the worst ravages of climate change, yet still remain in striking distance of the great cities of Washington and New York. While much of the west is suffering debilitating droughts, and along with it out of control wildfires, the Mid-Atlantic region seems to receive plenty of rainfall still. This means quality local water supplies from the mountain streams, springs and underground aquifers under the ancient rocks, old as the Himalayas.

This also makes for healthy crops of fresh local fruits and vegetables for a significant chunk of the year. Frederick County is known as the breadbasket of the region, with lots of fresh sweet corn, beans, peppers, apples, black and blue berries, peaches and tomatoes, although we think the local farmers could benefit from spreading around a little more raw lime in their soil. That’s what gives tomatoes great taste, like the ones on Sand Mountain down in northeast Alabama. It’s the limestone in the soil that makes the difference.

Like the ones I grew down in Western North Carolina during Covid.

Our first big heirloom Cherokee Purple tomato, all organic: Glynn Wilson

They say during the last ice age 10,000 years ago, the glaciers never made it this far south, which may account for one of the most annoying pests in these parts, the fat Maryland gnats. They won’t leave you alone in the summertime. At least they mostly don’t bite, and many species of mosquitoes have not seemed to find the place yet, at least at higher elevations. The small black bears are mostly friendly around here too, not like the grizzlies out West, which lately seem to be getting more violent in fighting the human encroachment on their territory.

But alas, many of my friends who could help and benefit greatly from moving here are still clinging to the American South, even as it glows redder than ever, in more ways than one. How long will you endure the growing heat from global warming, and the do nothing politicians who seem to like governments broken, where nothing works like it should?

I guess there is always football in the fall to distract from the intractable problems. Good luck with that and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville as Alabama’s next governor. Now that Nick Saban is gone, I feel no compunction to keep up anymore with Alabama football. I’ve become convinced that football is part of our cultural-political problem, mainly pro football, as the new Roman gladiator sport. That did not work out so well for the Roman Empire in the end either, did it?

I will be hiking the trails of Yosemite instead, communing with the spirits of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt in the place and the town where America’s greatest idea came from, and telling the story about how national parks came into being in the first place – ultimately spreading over much of the world.

President Teddy Roosevelt with John Muir while camping in Yosemite Valley in 1903: NAJ screen shot

It’s an idea that may not be around much longer, if the people keep supporting these white nationalist politicians, who clearly want to transform democracies into authoritarian dictatorships only for their benefit and profit. Many parks are already being privatized. On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the birth of this great nation, we seem to be traveling full circle, back to a world of oligarchs and monarchies with kings and queens overseeing peons and serfs.

Perhaps there have always been haves and have nots. But for nearly 250 years, we fought against that idea. Now we seem to be caving into the propaganda and allowing it to take over the world one more time, even though human life itself may not survive it this time. The planet will be fine without us.

Sweet dreams, dear fellow hobbits and humans. Orcs and darkness are sweeping across the globe. You must find and destroy that ring of power to save yourselves and the Shire.

Here’s to your last chance, people. Make the best of it or perish. I’ve said pretty much all I can say on the subject. It seems to be the story I was born to tell. Maybe some of you still value that enough to help me survive a little while longer, and to live out my final dream, to see and experience the wonders of California before I go.

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Related Coverage

Capturing Fall Foliage Pictures in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountain Park

The Story of Wild, Native Brook Trout and Why They Are So Ecologically Important Like the Canary in the Coal Mine for Climate Change

Finding An Escape From Global Warming in the Mountains of the East

More Photos

A view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Appalachian range from atop the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland: Glynn Wilson

A sunset view of the Catoctin Mountains from a horse rescue ranch and an organic vegetable farm near Thurmont, Md.: Glynn Wilson

A view of the Catoctin Mountains from a horse rescue ranch and an organic vegetable farm near Thurmont, Md.: Glynn Wilson

Fall foliage at Chimney Rock in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

Fall foliage at the Thurmont Vista Overlook in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

Fall foliage along the road by Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland: Glynn Wilson

Another view of campsite 30 in the Owens Creek Campground in Catoctin Mountain National Park: Glynn Wilson

Cyclist Brooks Boliek takes a lunch break in Catoctin Mountain Park near Camp David: Glynn Wilson

Brooks Boliek at the highest point on Catoctin Mountain in Maryland: Glynn Wilson

Fall foliage on the Maple Run Golf Course in Thurmont, Md. It was good enough for Bill Clinton, but not Trump: Glynn Wilson

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If you support truth in reporting with no paywall, and fearless writing with no popup ads or sponsored content, consider making a contribution today with GoFundMe or Patreon or PayPal.