The gales of January blew early and often but failed to dismay 13 Adventuring Club members from Washington on what has become our traditional Martin Luther King Weekend pilgrimage to Gettysburg.

We started out with a short loop through the National Cemetery to East Cemetery Hill, where we re-created the brief Confederate capture of some Union cannon on the evening of July 2, 1863.

In light of the low wind chill, we then adjourned for a rare lunch inside the friendly confines of a Mickey D's.

Afterwards we strolled through town to East Confederate Avenue, which we used to approach Culp's Hill.

We bowed to historical correctness by bushwhacking up the hill across numerous fallen trees until we finally spotted the monuments that marked the Union trenches.

After describing the energetic but ultimately unsuccessful Confederate attack on these trenches on the night of July 2, we proceeded to the crest of Culp's Hill.

Here the trip leader was unable to restrain his enthusiastic troops from climbing the Observation Tower, where they were rewarded for their insubordination with an unlimited 360-degree panorama, greatly enhanced by crystal-clear conditions.

Next we marched to Spangler's Spring at the base of Culp's Hill, where ancient tales of midnight fraternization between Yankees and Rebels were cruelly debunked.

We then walked out of the Culp's Hill area (wondering why all those cars were driving in just as sunset neared), past the site of the ambitious new Visitor Center just starting construction, and back to our cars.

We finished a full day with a filling meal at the Avenue Restaurant, where we split down the middle on hot tea vs. hot chocolate, but where just about everybody ordered the sweet potato fries.

For more info on Washington's Adventuring Club, click here: http://www.adventuring.org/cgi-bin/main.idc