Great Falls, Maryland from Laurie Mayers on Vimeo.

A couple of weeks ago, we hiked the Billy Goat Trail B at Great Falls, Md., with my sister Karen and her husband Paul, as part A of the trail was closed due to flooding. It was a good workout, but not tough. So the day after Easter, my college-age daughter and I went for the Billy Goat Trail A. It ended up being quite a warm day (83 degrees), and the trees had not yet leafed out to provide shade, so our biggest mistakes were not bringing water or wearing sunscreen.

I live a pretty urban life here in the District. There’s the Metro, buildings, sidewalks, concrete, streets, farmer’s market, and a few little patches of parkland on the triangles created when L’Enfant added all those diagonal streets to the city grid. I do miss big trees and water.

Turtles soaking up the sun

Fortunately, Great Falls is just 15 miles from D.C. I’ve been to the Maryland side, starting my hikes from the Great Falls Tavern (if only it really were!) Visitor’s Center. The park is hugely popular on the weekends. If you show up at noon or later, the parking situation is like Twelve Oaks Mall on Black Friday, meaning you’ll have to creep behind someone walking back to their car in hopes of nabbing their space.

Billy Goat Trail A was thoroughly challenging (though not technical), with hands and feet required to scramble at several points. The most intimidating part was a narrow ridge set into a cliff. Vertigo, anyone?

The other fascinating part of the hike is the story of the 184-mile C&O Canal, the culmination of George Washington’s dream to make the Potomac navigable. By the time the canal was finished, however, it had been rendered nearly obsolete by the railroads. Now, though, it’s a really excellent place to hike and ride a bicycle.