Geomancy: Great Falls, MD

Awesome day yesterday. Went to the Great Falls part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park with Trillian; specifically to brave the dreaded Billy Goat Trail (it actually has a Wiki!). I'm getting ahead of myself though, but I can't help it! This is definitely my new favourite trail, and I am ever so excited to share it with you. Directions, maps, and pictures after the jump.

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(Coming from Baltimore): Take I-95 South to I-495 towards Bethesda. Take the River Road exit. Right on Goldsboro, right on MacArthur; take MacArthur straight for several miles until you see the Angler's Inn on the right. Parking is immediately to your left, across from the Inn.

This parking lot will put you right on the C&O Canal Towpath, and also puts you directly between two of the sections of the Billy Goat Trail; A & B. Taking the Towpath to the right will lead you to the entrance of section A, or you can stick to the Towpath; either leads to the Great Falls Overlook. If you're looking for a nice, easy, safe hike; stick to the towpath. The Billy Goat Trail is not for the faint of heart, or the faint of boot. Trillian's mom had used the word "ferocious", which obviously intrigued me. She was not kidding.

Water, cigarette, and photo breaks aside, the entire 1.7 miles of the Billy Goat Trail A took us at least (probably more than) two hours of solid hiking. Hiking isn't even the word for it. Scrambling or bouldering would suffice. Most of the blue hash trail markers are painted onto the rocks, so keep your eyes trained down. We lost the trail a couple of times, but it was always easy enough to find it again. Two things I cannot stress enough before anyone attempts this trail: be sure you have plenty of water and proper foot gear. Sadly, I was ill prepared for the adventure yesterday, and was wearing cowboy boots. Big mistake. This trail is seriously strenuous. And seriously fun. Just a small taste of what the trail looked like (admittedly, this was the hardest part):

(Yes, that's the trail, those shallow, clumped rocks going up the middle)

After clambering over boulders for a few hours, we met back up with the Towpath, which took us to the Great Falls Overlook. If the pictures that I took can't do it justice (they can't), then my words surely won't. It was an awesome sight, a wonderful display of the visceral power of the natural world. I'd thoroughly recommend coming just for the Overlook, but the Billy Goat Trail had some pretty spectacular sights along it as well. Here's a taste of the view from the Overlook: