50 Best Day Hikes Near DC: Old Rag

On the 4th of July Hal and I decided to brave a new hike we've heard wonderful things about since we moved here. Old Rag is probably the most famous hike in Virginia, and now I understand why. Old Rag is in the Shenandoah National Forsest, and is the closest thing to a mountain that exists out here, so it felt a little bit like home driving into the park.

We had heard the hike was pretty strenuous, and is 8.8 miles long, so we came prepared for a long hike. There are a couple of ways you can hike old rag. If you go up the more strenuous way - the rock scramble the hike can be a bit faster, but is much more strenuous than the longer more gradient sloped path.

We opted for the rock scramble, since those are usually our favorite types of hikes, and I'm really glad we did.

We stated out the hike in oppressive humidity as we made our way through the switchbacks up the mountain. There was almost no breeze through the trees since the tree cover was so thick. We were literally dripping with sweat.

And just like a switch the weather changed. We were probably halfway up the mountain when it started trickling rain. At first we didn't really get wet. The trees offered protection so we kept hiking. And then it started raining harder and harder, and we got wetter and wetter.

Around this time I started to feel sick. Not really sick, but lyme sick. I kept cycling through moving at a crawl speed, getting a burst of more energy so I started moving normal back to moving at a snails pace. We finally made it almost to the top where the trees gave way to rocks and everything opens up to a rock scramble, right as the rain began to stop.

The rock scramble was both of our favorite parts. It definitely wasn't always easy navigating the path. I literally crawled through short sections. There were lots of time we had to hoist ourselves up narrow cracks, down through narrow cracks and up stone steps to make it to the top.

But it was all worth it. I get so tired of feeling limited from Lyme that I wasn't about to let it stop me from doing something I've wanted to do for a long time. We made it to the top and it was just gorgeous. It sure felt like a win.

We decided to go back down the easy way, and part way down we ran into people that we started with, but they took the longer easy way, and we took the harder faster way. The easier way down was honestly kind of boring. For a majority of the trail it was just a gravel mule path. I'd definitely recommend trying your hand at the rock scramble.

5.5 hours from when we started and after buckets of sweat, buckets of rain and the most beautiful view I've seen in the East, we finally finished. This by far my favorite hike I've done in the area, despite what a struggle it was to make it to the top. I've heard this hike can get really really crowded, but due to the holiday and the rain we saw less then 10 people on the entire hike, which just made it even more perfect.

50 Best Day Hikes Near DC: Billy Goat Trail A

This is the latest hike that we've done this summer from our book. The hike in the book is actually much longer than what we did, but I started not feeling too well, so we headed back without completing Billy Goat Trail B, or the separate trail back to the start.

Instead, what we did was start out at the Great Falls State Park, in Virginia. It costs $5 to enter the park, but the pass was good for 2-3 days. We started out by visiting the historic houses in the park which surprisingly were really cool.  We then started along the path called the C&O Canal. It's actually a really nice walk. It's all flat since it's next to the canal, and it's great for families.

We then followed the path to the overlooks of the falls. You'll first come across a smaller falls and it's crazy to watch how much water is flowing through there, and how fast, as you're standing right above it. Continue on the path out to the Great Falls, and they really are great. And I must say, the pictures can't do it justice, the falls are absolutely beautiful. 

After seeing the falls we headed back to the C&O Canal path and continued on that for a bit until we reached the turn off for Billy Goat Trail A. Trail A is the hardest of the three Billy Goat trails. It's described as a "rock scramble" and that's exactly what most of the trail is. I think we only went a few miles that day, but it took much longer than most hikes because you're navigating boulders, and at one point, kind of rock climbing up a steep area of solid rock.

My Thoughts on this hike: 

There were warning signs about the amount of injuries sustained on the trail each year, would warn when a difficult section was coming up, and they had exit trails that led back out to the easy C&O Canal path in case of emergency.

We saw children and even an older man with walking sticks out doing this trail. This hike didn't have a ton of difficulty as there wasn't a lot of gaining or loosing elevation, but it was taxing, especially in the heat of the day. I'd say little children might not be the best for Trail A, unless you plan to wear them in carriers. 

Now having done the trail, I would probably park at the Old Angler's Inn, which lies between the start of Billy Goat Trail A & B. You can park there for free, and when we were driving home we saw cars lined up for a good ways down the street. 

This hike offered stunning view of the Potomac all throughout the hike. And of course my favorite part, we got to see lots of animals on this trail, which was unexpected, and a nice surprise. And we got to see people rock climbing across the Potomac, and people doing paddle board yoga.

50 Best Day Hikes Near DC: Theodore Roosevelt Island

This was actually hike #3 from our book. We were excited to go on an easy peasy hike on a Sunday morning before church, just to get our buts outside. I wouldn't exactly call this one a "hike" as it's all flat, and you'd be fine just bringing a water bottle. We were a little over prepared for this one.

Theodore Roosevelt Island used to be the summer home of George Mason, and was apparently the place to be in DC way back when. It's a large island in the Potomac River and is only accessible through the northbound lanes on the George Washington Parkway. There's a big beautiful bridge that connects it to the parking lot, which is often very full on the weekends.

The bridge offers stunning views of the area surrounding the island.

 Theodore Roosevelt Island used to be the summer home of George Mason, and was apparently the place to be in DC way back when. It was then bought by the Theodore Roosevelt Association and turned from farmland into what it is today. Above is one of the few bricks remaining from the house that used to be on the island.

In the middle of the island is this beautiful area with a statue of Roosevelt and filled with quotes from throughout his life.

 My Thoughts on this hike:

-The book did offer pretty clear instructions on which routes to take to make it all the way around the island, but you don't really need the book to make it around the island. The island is beautiful, and very wooded through most of the island, but one side is marshy and there's a boardwalk to protect the land underneath. We didn't see much wildlife there as it's practically still in the city, but we caught a few lizards.

Overall we did about 4 miles in an hour and half. The island was pretty crowded, and people were not friendly at all like they are out on trails outside the city. It's fun to sit on the bridge and watch people paddle board and kayak down the Potomac.This hike is very family friendly, even for little kids as it's all flat. So if you're just looking to get outdoors and don't want to go far from the city, this is the place to go.

50 Best Day Hikes near DC: Scott's Run Nature Preserve

The first hike that we tried from our book was Scott's Run. It was listed as an Easy-Moderate hike, and 2.5 miles that could be done in 2 hours, so it was perfect for a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

My thoughts on the hike: It's an easy drive from DC to get to Scott's Run, and it's beautiful. We had a lot of rain close to when we went on this hike, so parts of the trail weren't accessible due to the Potomac flooding. Instead of hiking right along the water like the book said to do, we had to go off trail for a short while and climb of a steep wet cliff area until it met up with another trail.

There are a lot of trails in this area, so it was hard to know exactly which trail you were supposed to be on to get where you want to go. We also didn't see trails where the book said trails should be.

But overall, if you want a short relatively easy hike to do, that's close to DC, this is perfect. It took us just under 2 hours and we hiked about 3 miles. This hike could definitely be done with kids and we saw lots of dogs out there as well. I'd definitely do this one again.