Trying out Monocacy Natural Resources Management Area

After reading about this area in the latest PATC newsletter, and seeing it was quite close to home, we decided to pay it a visit. Our hike was relatively short, just over three miles - the entirely of the blue trail, with a loop on the red, orange, and yellow trails. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was!

Most of the blue trail follows Furnace Branch, and the far end of the trail is a lime kiln. There were several stream crossings along the way; only the first was bridged. I'd like to visit the entirety of the red and yellow trails out to their trailheads next time.

Great Falls from the Virginia side

My previous visits to Great Falls had been from the Maryland side, as had T's, so we headed down to Virginia to see them from a new angle. We actually started from Riverbend Park, north of the falls, and headed down the Potomac Heritage Trail. 

There were plenty of folks out enjoying the nice weather, especially around the falls themselves. The Virginia side doesn't offer the experience of crossing over some of the channels on bridges, but the falls are spectacular either way.

We went past the three overlooks to where the river narrows, down to Sandy Landing, then returned via the Matildaville trail to the visitor's center area. We took the PHT back up to where we parked, then a bit farther north to see an eagle's nest across the river.

Our hike was about 7.5 miles, without significant elevation gain, but with minor scrambles over rocks. The restrooms at Matildaville were closed, including the port-a-johns stationed there, so beware that the visitor's center may be your only bet. Riverbend does charge $2 to park, on the honor system, so we avoided the fee to enter the national park.