Hiking and Outdoors

Yeah. Beautiful doesn't come close to describing the outdoors here.

Great Falls National Park

  • Location: McLean, VA
  • Activity: Hiking, Climbing (?)
  • Park Access: $15 per vehicle or $7 per individual not in vehicle (i.e. carpool if you can!)
  • Time: Few hours; longer if you decide to picnic or something
  • The park is fairly well-maintained and well-visited. There is a large visitor center that has bathrooms or port-a-pottys and water fountains with plenty of potable water. Next to the visitor center is a large park area from which the trails are easily accessible. The trails here are rated easy to moderate. They are basically flat with some tree branches except for the occasional (light) rock scramble. We did a bit more rock scrambling and found our way down to the water's edge, but this is definitely not necessary to enjoy the park.

On the Maryland side, there is the Billy Goat Trail, which has lots of fun scrambling and is definitely a more challenging hike. There are great views, and it's a ton of fun to get to spend time running around on and jumping between uneven rock surfaces. That said, the Virginia side has far prettier views of the falls than the Maryland side. Go to the Virginia side for the nice views, and then swing over to the Maryland side for some good hiking.

  • Note to climbers: People don't climb here for the climbs; they climb here for the scenery that surrounds the area (also most things can be belayed off a tree anchor). If you are wanting to climb hard, this isn't the most ideal place, but if you have some rope and some time and you want some pretty scenery this would be nice.
  • Popularity: Widely popular among climbers, hikers, and families
  • Website: https://www.nps.gov/grfa/index.htm

Old Rag Mountain

  • Location: Shenandoah National Park
  • Activity: Hiking
  • Park Access: $30 per vehicle or $15 per individual not in vehicle (i.e. carpool if you can!)
  • Time: 4-5 hours; less depending on how comfortable you feel scrambling
  • The trail is fairly well-maintained and well-visited. Blue blazes mark the entirety of the trail. If you can get there early good; the earlier the better. This is a long (9 mile) hike that is packed with lots of fun scrambling. However, a lot of people like to hike Old Rag, so bottlenecks can occur and can get frustrating if you get there later in the day. Either way, still a lovely hike. It was by far my favorite hike I did while I was here.

As a side note, the $30 charge lasts for a week, so if you want to can come and hike multiple times within a week in Shenandoah, even if you only hike on the weekends.

Bearfence and Upper Hawksbill

  • Location: Shenandoah National Park
  • Park Access: $30 per vehicle or $15 per individual not in vehicle (i.e. carpool if you can!)
  • Time: Varies (both trails are short)
  • Like all the trails in Shenandoah, these were well marked and absolutely lovely. Bearfence was only about a mile long and intersected the AT for a few hundred yards. The majority of the hike was a semi-steep scramble that was lots of fun to ascend. Upper Hawksbill was only a couple miles long as well with the latter half being a fairly steep inclined gravel path. At the top of both were wonderful views of the valley. Upper Hawksbill has a summit that is easy to find a place to sit and enjoy the view, so plan to spend some time at the top.
Bearfence (1.0 miles)
Upper Hawksbill (2.0 miles)