Trail work at Monocacy NRMA

This past weekend, we headed with the Old Line Crew to Monocacy NRMA to fix a persistently swampy bit of trail with some drainage. Here we are, digging a trench.

One Day Hike (C&O end-to-end, miles 36-60)

On Saturday, I successfully completed the Sierra Club's 50k One Day Hike!

The hike starts at White's Ferry, heads east about 2 miles, then turns around and goes straight to Harper's Ferry. A little past canal mile 60, the hike route takes the pedestrian/railroad bridge over the Potomac, heading uphill for 1.5 miles through town to the Bolivar Community Center.

The weather was a little hotter and more humid than I would like, but bearable, for most of the day. It rained three times. The first was a very short shower, for which I was conveniently at the Point of Rocks support station getting snacks and rest. The second was coming into Brunswick, which was a hard, steady rain for a couple of miles. It cleared up while I was in Brunswick, getting snacks and having a blister treated. 

The final rain was an absolute deluge of a thunderstorm, starting just after milepost 59, just when it had gotten dark enough for me to get my headlamp out. Water was a couple of inches deep on the trail, and I could see just enough to not fall off of the trail and into the canal. Of course, my mind was on that steel bridge I was going to have to cross. Quite fortunately, the thunder and lightning (albeit not the rain) stopped as I was approaching it. 

Then it was uphill in the rain, in a section that felt much longer than I had expected. But finally, I reached the end, in 11 hours, 2 minutes, and 18 seconds.

This hike contained several C&O milestones:

• I completed the last few miles of Montgomery County and all of Frederick County
• From here on, West Virginia rather than Virginia will be on my left 
• I am now almost ⅓ of the way done -1.5 miles short of it!

I took fewer pictures than usual, trying to stay on track. This was my last trail photo before the rain kept my phone tucked away. You can see the storm coming in.

I am proud of myself for having finished this challenge. Now, onward to the rest of the C&O - without a training schedule to keep!

Making Hoyles Mill almost a loop

Sunday had beautiful weather, although I wasn't really in the mood to hike. Still, I needed to train, so I stayed pretty local and did a loop across Black Hill, down Hoyles Mill, to the Soccerplex.

Hoyles Mill Trail loops to the south of the Soccerplex and terminates at Schaeffer Farm, but instead I cut across the park into the neighborhoods. From there, it would have been feasible to close the loop, but it would have been open (and boring) sidewalks past houses. I opted to get a ride home instead.

The Hoyles Mill Trail is rather disjointed. From north to south, it's trail, roadwalk, trail, roadwalk with a crossing, trail, short and safe roadwalk, really pretty trail, paved Soccerplex connectors, and a last bit of dirt trail. The nicest part (which I do least often) is the bit in the middle. This section is an old one-lane road. The northern bits of trail are nice too because of lake views.

I hiked 11.5 miles total, with minimal elevation gain.

Trail work off the trail

Our trail work this past weekend was not actually on a trail, but helping to build a shed to store trail work tools. Mostly, I nailed things.

We did not finish the project that day, but here it is as we left it:

Not quite end-to-end on the Seneca Greenway

I intended to do a 25-mile hike, similar in difficulty to the C&O, as a training hike. The Seneca Greenway at 24.2 miles is almost long enough; you could easily add a bit on the C&O at the end. But a second problem is that there isn't really parking at the northern trailhead. So instead I added on the shortest possible bit of the Magruder Trail, which feeds into the north end of the greenway. The total would have been just over 26 miles.

However, I didn't make it to the end but stopped after 20 miles. Primarily, this was because I probably couldn't make it to my car before dark - and certainly I would have not gotten back to my vehicle at the start before it got dark and started pouring rain. In hindsight, I should have started earlier and not wasted daylight.

Then again, the Seneca Greenway is a little harder than the C&O. Maps show pretty insignificant elevation gain, but there are more tiny dips and rises that probably don't get counted. It's not hard, but you can't eat up the miles like you can on the C&O. (Note: To me, "greenway" implies "paved" - it is not.) My pace was definitely slower.

So that's what this hike wasn't. What about what it was?

This trail is one of several that allows you to follow a creek from somewhere in Montgomery County to the Potomac. There is also Rock Creek and Cabin John. Of the three, this is the most remote from houses. It is therefore reasonably scenic and mostly in the woods. The section from Riffle Ford to Germantown is an exception; plenty remote, but in open fields and in many cases along power lines. That section would not be great on hot days. 

Overall, it offered variety and at least as much scenic power as I expected.

Note that there are no restrooms at any trailheads, except at the southern terminus at Riley's Lock. Where it crosses Frederick Avenue, there are businesses a couple of blocks away. Otherwise, prepare to use the trees.

Trail work is back

Our trail crews have started back up for the season, and while T and I missed the first Rock Creek day, we couldn't miss opening day for the Old Line Crew at Monocacy.

Most of our work was focused on covering over a culvert, but we also sawed a blowdown, trimmed a few invasives, and planned for the next trip.

W&OD training hike

I finally had the chance to join the Sierra Club for a training hike for the upcoming One Day Hike. This one was on the W&OD trail, starting in Ashburn and going as far west as one pleased up to Purcellville, then back. For me that was 20 miles, 10 each way.

The W&OD is best known as a bike path, with its suburban eastern end and more green western end. The section we did was mostly a thin green corridor. At first, there were high-tension power lines overhead, as I know from experience there also are at the far eastern end. Eventually, the trail diverges from them. It passes through Leesburg, then heads into the countryside.

Since it's a paved greenway, well, it's hard in one very literal sense. Gravel bridle trails run parallel to much of it, and I preferred those on the way back. But the trail is flat, so it's easy in that sense. Still, the miles do add up.

I could see myself doing the final leg to Purcellville some day, but it wasn't an interesting enough trail to redo this section.

C&O end-to-end, miles 27-36

As I follow the C&O Canal Towpath headed northwest, I've also been following the seasons. Mile 0 started in packed snow. Later hikes had small spots of green. The latest one was carpeted in wildflowers, including bluebells a few days short of peak. 

The weather was misty gray, with occasional mild showers, keeping traffic down. This was also a section with fewer highlights - one lockhouse, no waterfalls, no impressive aqueducts - so somewhat less popular than sections at either end of it. The sheer number of wildflowers made up for any charsimatic megascenery, however. 

I started at Sycamore Landing, which is nothing but a parking lot, bench, and kayak launch. From there, it was almost nine miles to White's Ferry. Some day the ferry may be operational again, but for now there is a store/restaurant and multiple port-a-potties. Here I turned around and headed back.

This section was just under 9 miles one-way, 18 round-trip. However, I lost an earring on the trail and backtracked looking for it (unsuccessfully), adding on unnecessary extra mileage. This was my first 20 mile hike in ... er, since spring 2019, when I did the Ramapo-Dunderberg End-to-End. I've spent 2024 and 2025 getting myself back in shape for long hikes. Admittedly, I've been training for long but flat hikes - the RD is hillier, with 6,000 feet of elevation gain. 

Just another local trot

My hike plans for Sunday were disrupted by a lag bolt through a car tire, so after a morning of yard work I set out in the 82-degree weather to do a hike around Black Hill. 

The weather has been very up and down, and I am not acclimated to that kind of temperature yet. That plus yardwork meant I kept the hike down to 6.5 miles.

The highlight of the hike was an area with a lot of different daffodils planted, and each spring it's fun to see what has come up.

Circumnavigating Lake Bernard Frank

I have hiked around the Lake Needwood area a few times, but had never visited its sister lake, Lake Bernard Frank. Last weekend, I finally did. 

I started from the southern end of Lake Needwood, walking on the Rock Creek Greenway. Then I took an offshoot trail east, to the shore of Lake Bernard Frank. All of this is paved, as is the first part of the trail circumnavigating the trail.

It's a pretty lake, and mostly easy going except one wet stream crossing. Be warned that LBF has no restrooms - the nature center is closed except to reserved, organized groups, and there are no port-a-potties.

After the circumnavigation, I took the same trail back. All told, it was 10 miles.

C&O end-to-end, miles 19-27

This next section of the C&O starts off with another really nice stretch. Between Pennyfield Lock and Rileys Lock, the scenery is varied. Much of the canal is watered, and the Potomac is pleasantly rocky and unnavigable. Occasional rock cuts add vertical visual relief.

Past Rileys Lock, the path becomes more monotonous. It's pretty, but less variable. On one side is the Potomac, looking more placid, and on the other is the dry canal and trees. At quiet Sycamore Landing (nothing but a boat launch, not even a port-a-potty), I turned around.

I did this one on a weekday, so it was uncrowded.

C&O end-to-end, miles 12-19

This section of the C&O starts off with what is possibly the most scenic part of the entire towpath, so it's a good thing I had done it before and didn't get distracted by side trails or by too many photo stops!

Since this was right after the time change, I started a little later than ideal - at least for Old Angler's parking area, which fills up fast. But I managed to get a spot, and headed west through the crowds. Although sunny, it was quite windy; my hat tried to blow away.

The trail itself is very pretty heading to Great Falls, and of course Great Falls is, well, great. The best views of it aren't had from the C&O Towpath itself. Normally, I would spend some time detouring here.

Once past Great Falls, the crowds thinned out considerably. Most of the rest of the trail to Pennyfield Lock is what I think of as typical C&O: It's pretty, with views of the Potomac, the canal at various water levels, and the occasional rock cut.

I walked a little past mile 19 to Pennyfield Lock, had lunch, and turned around. This is a section with no efficient alternative route back. There are lots of side trails that up the mileage considerably. I did change up the last mile and a half or so by taking the Berme Trail on the other side of the canal. 

The hike was a little over seven miles each way, but with a few side trips to restrooms and the like, it came in at over 15 total.

C&O end-to-end, miles 5-12

Hike #2 on the C&O Canal Towpath! The weather was much improved this time as I started off from mile 5, where I previously left off. This hike took me past the beltway and into double digits.

T thinks I've done most of this section already, but I don't remember much of it. At least one part of it was closed for the past year or two for rebuilding, and I know last time I was there we used the detour.

There is actually a fair bit of interesting things to see in this section, so it's not all counting mileposts and lockhouses. There is a kayak run, a private canoe club, the Little Falls dam and pumphouse, and Carderock. It also passes both ends of Billy Goat C; confusingly, one end is marked closed. On the other hand, with the world as it is, my capacity for taking in surprises is used up, so a highly predictable trail feels kind of nice.

I turned around at the bridge to the parking lot at Old Angler's Inn, around mile 12.2.

As a practical consideration, there is a good stretch at the beginning of this section where there are no restrooms. If needed, one could stop in the woods, although some stretches offer more privacy than others. (Despite the construction, there are open port-a-potties at mile 5.) Parking at mile 5 is not at the canal itself, again due to construction, but there is parking in the neighborhood nearby.

The name is the best part

This weekend I did a shorter hike on Sunday, notable only because I finally did the Whistle Pig Loop, the only trail in the complex of trails northwest of Black Hill I hadn't yet completed. This short trail loops around a field. It is overgrown in warmer months and usually muddy. At least this time of year the vegetation was tamed.

While the trail itself isn't much, the clouds were spectacular.

You can't park at this trail; I chose to park at Bucklodge, a creepy trail which has not grown on me at all with more visits. You could also park on Clarksburg Road and take Ten Mile to Danger Noodle to Jewelweed to Whistle Pig. Neither trailhead has restrooms or amenities, so plan ahead.

Another long training hike

My first long hike of February was 10 miles in Black Hill, covering territory I regularly see. We've had a very snowy year so far, and I wanted to get some miles in without snow - and before the snow and ice that was forecast for that day, starting at noon. So I did I quick local hike, home by lunchtime.

C&O end-to-end, miles 0-5

This year, I intend to hike the entire C&O Canal Towpath, starting at mile 0 and working my way northwest to mile 184.5. The idea is to do it in order, to get a sense of how it changes along the route.

I started yesterday at the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro stop and walked to mile 0 in Georgetown. After snapping a photo at the mile marker, I then had to walk to the start of the towpath - promptly to be greeted with detour signs. Not auspicious, perhaps, but any official detour counts, and I've walked that section before. 

Just before Key Bridge, the detour ended, and I looked out on a lumpy blanket of ice. Two weeks of snow had compacted rather than melted. I had brought an old pair of traction devices with me, which kept me from sliding about. The ice kept most folks away; it was odd to have the trail nearly to myself on a nice weekend day. It was even odder where the towpath runs parallel to the Capital Crescent Trail, and not ten feet away there were crowds.

Not far past the DC border is mile marker 5. If it had been any other day of the week, I could have gone another five miles and caught a bus back to the Metro, but it doesn't run on Sundays. Instead, I crossed the Clara Barton on a pedestrian bridge and took a woods trail uphill to the Capital Crescent Trail, following it back to Foggy Bottom. My total mileage was 12 miles, although only five were on the C&O.

First long hike of the year

I am trying to do more long hikes this year, but January so far has not been conducive to long hikes. This is the second weekend in a row with a big snowstorm! So my 10-mile hike was simply in my local Black Hill Regional Park.

First hike of 2025

Usually I start the year with a new year's day hike, but this year my day was spent on an airplane. My first real hike was a modest one, a restart after a few weeks of minimal hiking and walking. For this, I chose to travel well-worn trails at Black Hill Regional Park.

The weather was cold, high 20s, but it felt colder due to strong winds, and a light dusting of snow made it look more wintry. Few people were out.

The most interesting sight was this road, being built across the park entrance on Old Baltimore Road. The Field Crest Spur trail comes right out to the edge of OBR, but it is not a safe place to cross. There is only one pedestrian crossing of Old Baltimore, farther west, and the road in between does not consistently have walkable shoulders. West of that crossing there are sidewalks - but you can't get from the sidewalks to the trail. It would be nice if they found some way to link the park to the increasing number of homes built just to the north. 

(Okay - sure, there is one other crossing of OBR 2.5 miles west of Field Crest Spur - but you can't get there from those houses, either.)

Aside from this, the hike was a pleasant jaunt in the cold. It came in just shy of 6 miles, with the usual sub-100 feet per mile elevation gain of the area.