Acadia hikes round-up (Acadia NP, Maine) August 2014

Acadia is strange.  It is absolutely gorgeous, but there just aren't many hiking options, particularly any serious hikes.  That was just fine for our purposes (a fun labor day camping trip with my childhood friends and my roommate and her boyfriend), but I had expected I'd want to come back to do more hiking--no.  It was hard enough to find enough to fill the 2 days in which we had allotted for hiking, which I had not expected.  There aren't even trail maps available anywhere... very odd.  The majesty of the park is partially just the juxtaposition of beautiful cliffs and mountains right next to the beach, since it's located on a peninsula, so I guess hiking is just not what people intend to do when they come to Acadia, which is fine.  But I digress.  Here are the hikes that we did:

Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail
I picked this hike because it was the longest one I could find in the park, plus it originated from our campground.  You can pick up the trail either at loop A or loop B from Blackwoods campground.  There's only one trail that goes up this way, and it's very well-marked with blue blazes and cairns at a few parts.
The hike is lovely, if a little boring at times.  You start in a forest, and gradually the trail opens up til you're on rock slabs.  The elevation change is incredible gentle, since it occurs over the course of 4.2 miles.  The summit is a little nuts (it's huge and crowded) because there's a road that allows people to drive essentially right to the top.  We disucssed how desirable it would be to institute a system in which you needed to prove that you were physically unable to hike in order to be able to drive to the top, but this seems unlikely.
Overall, I'd do this hike again because the view from the top is really lovely (lots of great coast), and it's the longest hike in the park!
8.4 miles if you start at Loop A
+1300 feet
4 hours

Precipice Trail
This hike was the highlight of our time in Acadia.  It's super challenging (although a bit short) and just so so fun.  There are a lot of warning signs posted because you're ascending on essentially iron rungs and ladders, and some crazy rock scrambles are involved.  But so fun!  It's definitely plenty safe if you're not an idiot, despite all of the "WARNING PEOPLE DIE"-type signs.  Basically, the trail is the way to ascend the eastern face of Mt. Champlain.  Honestly, the views are nice but not particularly spectacular-- but it's the hike itself that's the main attraction here.
I think it's only a little over a mile, but the climbing takes a while-- we spent probably 90 minutes on it.  You can descend the same way, but we opted to go down a different way (can't recall the trail name, but it's obvious when you're at the top).  Only downside is you have to walk about a mile along the road to your car, but this wasn't a huge deal.

Great Head Trail
We sort of happened upon this trail by accident, while intending to do more of a "beachside walk," but we ended up on a trail and we were all wearing hiking boots, so why not.  You can pick up the trail at Sand Beach-- just go down the stairs from the restrooms, and you'll walk across a stretch of beach and walk up another set of stairs where the trail starts.  We didn't do the whole loop, but it's a fairly easy walk with a few rock scrambles, and lovely views of the shoreline and some of the rock islands in the harbor.

Aaaaand... with that Acadia trip, that makes 8 national parks this summer.  Two that I had been to previously, plus six new ones.  Probably not gonna be able to do that for awhile, or ever again...


  

Mt. Rainier Hikes Round-up (Mt. Rainier NP, Washington) August 2014

My family took a trip-- just the four of us-- for the first time in many years.  We hit Seattle and Vancouver in addition to Rainier.  I should note- my parents appreciate the outdoors but aren't that committed to spending large amounts of time outside.  My mom wanted to hike but was a little worried about the physical strain, so I ended up trying to pick some gentler hikes that would be challenging but not totally overwhelm my almost-60 year-old parents.

Rampart Ridge Trail (Longmire area)
This trail is a natural choice if you're staying in Longmire, because it leaves from outside the National Park Inn.  You get incredible views of the peak of Rainier once you reach the top.  Elevation gain is steady but pretty gentle (my mom might not agree).
You start on the Trail of the Shadows, and in about a quarter of a mile, follow the signs for the Rampart Ridge Trail.  The views are at about the 2.5 mile mark.  At about 3 miles, you follow signs for the Wonderland trail, which descends and drops you off back in the Longmire area, close to where you started.  4.5 miles
+1300 ft.
2.5 hours

Skyline Trail/Panorama Point (Paradise area)
I have heard that this is Rainier's most popular day hike, and for good reason-- it was amazing.  By far my favorite of the trip.  The trail is tough at the beginning-- you gain elevation very quickly, but you're rewarded with great views.  Even better, you really get a sense of the varied landscape-- you are walking through fields of wildflowers (at least in August), but then there are huge patches of snow and ice on the trail itself (thought my parents were going to kill me but it all worked out), and you get not just great views of the peak of Mt. Rainier itself but of the other Cascades, which were really lovely.
You take the skyline trail (originates from right outside the Paradise visitors center) up to Panorama point (6800') where the nicest views are to be had.  At that point, a lot of people turn around, but you can do a nice loop (which we opted for) by taking the High Skyline trail (to avoid the most treacherous patch of ice and snow which would have been doable but unpleasant without the proper gear).  You'll eventually get to a choice point where you can take the Golden Gate trail to take a mile off the hike, but we kept going on the Skyline trail on the descent.  You go by some nice waterfalls-- not really my thing, but they were OK.
Note: the highest point on this trail is 7100'-- obviously pretty tame by Washington state standards but it's pretty high if you're not used to altitude.
Note #2: we encountered a few fairly big patches of snow/ice as noted above.  Nothing too crazy, and my parents were OK making their way over slowly, but just fair warning (when I asked about trail conditions at the visitor's center, I wasn't told about this!  Probably because it's normal out west, but still).
5.5-6 miles (we had to detour for the first part of the trail due to maintenance, which added some mileage)
+1700'
4 hours (will probably take you less time than it took my family!)

Pinnacle Peak Trail (Paradise area)
After finishing the Skyline trail loop, I was down to hike some more.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my sister was as well, so we set off on this quick but jarringly steep hike.
This is a fun one to do if you have a short amount of time-- it only took us 1.5 hours, and this is after we were pretty tired from a half day of hiking already.  It's an out-and-back trail of 1.25 miles each way, but you gain 1050 feet.  Additionally, the terrain is a mess-- a lot of uneven rocks.  But you really do get some spectacular views once you get to the top of Pinnacle Peak (6562'), Rainier itself plus Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens.  I wouldn't go out of my way to do this hike, but if you're in the Paradise area (the hike originates a couple of miles from the visitor's center, so you have to drive to get there) it's a nice (albeit fairly draining) way to spend 1.5 hours.
2.5 miles
+1050
1.5 hours

Wonderland Trail (throughout the park)
I spent some time trail running on the Wonderland trail.  It's a really nice feature of Rainier-- it stretches for 93 miles (!!!) and goes around the entire park.  The trail is fairly flat which makes it a good choice for running.  You can read about it here: http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/the-wonderland-trail.htm
Apparently some people hike this entire thing.  Honestly, I would much rather day hike around, because at least in the section of the trail that I ran on (I realize I only covered about 10 miles of it, but still), it wasn't super scenic-- it's certainly not like the things I saw couldn't have been seen elsewhere.  But that's just my opinion.  It's a very nice trail for running, though.

Signal Knob (GW National Forest, Virginia) August 2014

Confession: this was my first hike in the GW National Forest this summer.  Strange considering that I was down in Shenandoah a handful of other times, and hiking elsewhere in MD/VA on other weekends.  The GW National Forest is nice for its free admission and relatively lighter crowds as opposed to the more popular Shenandoah.

Anyway, I picked this hike because it was a) somewhat long, and b) it wouldn't put me over zipcar's max 180 miles roundtrip (i think the trailhead was about 86 miles from my address in Northwest D.C.).  I have heard from friends who've done it on Saturday that it is fairly crowded for a National Forest hike, but I went on a Thursday (perks of having a free week to chill in D.C. after my internship ended), and only saw two mountain bikers the entire time.  The trail is somewhat narrow so if there are mountain bikers on a busier weekend, I could see that being a bit annoying.

The trail is extremely well-marked, which is saying something because I am terrible at finding trails.  The loop mapped out on hikingupward has you on the Orange Massanutten trail for the first half, and then looping around on the Blue Tuscarora trail.  There are two ascents during this hike-- the first is gradual but sort of lasts forever.  The second is really short-lived but quite steep, and at that point you're 6-7 miles into the hike and are sort of like "whyyyy."  or at least, that's how I felt.  It was a great hike though-- the lookout point at Signal Knob is almost exactly halfway into the hike.  Definitely not as nice of views as Hawksbill Mountain, Old Rag, or some of those others, but nice nonetheless.  Also, even though I was hiking in August, the colors in the forest were still pretty spectacular- trees in full bloom, lots of orange and pink going on.

I finished the hike in just about 4 hours even, far below the hikingupward recommendation of 5.5 hours.  I was moving pretty quickly, which is easier when by oneself, but I'd say you'd be hard-pressed to spend much more than 4.5-5 hours even if you're being more leisurely about the whole thing.  Definitely recommend this hike because it's strenuous but not too much so, and pleasantly quiet (although I can't speak for the weekend).

Trail Name: Signal Knob
Distance (RT): 9.9 according to hikingupward, about 10.5 according to the trailhead map
Elevation change: 2,680 feet
Time: 4-4.5 hours

Difficult Run (Great Falls Park, Virginia side) August 2014

This is going to be my new go-to "want to get out of D.C. for a few hours on the weekend but don't want to commit to the two hour each way drive out to Shenandoah" hike.  Well, I guess it would be, except I don't actually live in D.C. full-time.  So maybe not.

Anyway, Great Falls is amazing, and is only about a half hour drive from D.C. (less if you live closer to bridge access to VA).  Great Falls generally has a bunch of nice and easy hikes, and is split with part of the park in Maryland and part in Virginia.  The Maryland side has the Billy Goat Trail, which is very fun and popular, but loses major points with me for how damn crowded it is all the time.

Difficult Run hit the sweet spot of being an easy to moderate hike (practically no elevation change, although the terrain itself was pretty rocky and difficult at times), with amazing views, and uncrowded except for a stretch of about 0.5 miles adjacent to a parking lot/picnic area.  I picked this trail because I was hiking with a friend who got ACL surgery last year and couldn't do anything too strenuous, and this still felt like a decent workout without giving her any problems.

The hikingupward directions were spot on for the most part-- it's very hard to get lost.  Just note that there are a lot of choice points, and you pretty much just want to keep following the River Trail until you hit the picnic area, at which point you cross back over to loop around on the Swamp Trail and a couple others.  http://www.hikingupward.com/ovh/difficultrun/

There was also one small section of the trail that had washed out when my friend and I went last weekend.  It was easy enough to hop down some rocks and follow the stream for about 50 feet and climb back up, but just a heads up-- not sure if this is a permanent fixture of the trail or what.

Trail Name: Difficult Run
Distance (RT): 5.1 if you follow the loop mapped out on hikingupward
Elevation change: 260 ft.
Time: 2 hrs (takes some time to check out the sweet views)

Hawksbill Mountain Summit Trail (Shenandoah NP) August 2014

This might be my new favorite hike in SNP.  It was really quiet in the late morning on a Saturday (usually peak foot traffic time), there are spectacular views, and the elevation changes are pretty tame, even though the hike itself is on the long side (at least for me), pure mileage-wise.  This reflects my marathon training philosophy.  I'm totally down with a 14-mile long run, but the 4-mile hill training day fills me with dread.  But, I digress...

The first half of this hike is mostly downhill, sometimes steep at parts.  You're mostly on horse trails for the first half, and the second half is a combination of fire road and the Appalachian Trail.  The HikingUpward directions are really good for this one (http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/HawksbillFranklinCliffs/)

Note that the views don't get good until the second half of the hike, but then they're pretty great.  If you're looking for a place to lunch/hang out, I actually recommend the lookout located maybe 1/3 mile below the summit.  The summit gets crowded, because there's a parking area about a mile down.  I actually think the views from the spot below the summit were superior, for what it's worth.

Overall- well-maintained trail, views almost as good as Old Rag, without the crowds of Old Rag.  Winning.

Trail Name: Hawksbill Mountain / Franklin Cliffs
Distance (RT): 9.2 miles
Elevation Change: 1,980 ft.
Time: 4 hrs (hikingupward is definitely wrong.  it will not take you five hours, given that one of my fellow hikers was carrying a bunch of bricks and we were traveling at a moderate pace, and still finished at just about 4 hours).  

Trail Running in D.C. [June-August 2014]

I live in Somerville, MA now, but I used to live in D.C. (and am in D.C. this summer).  The thing I miss most about D.C. is Rock Creek Park, which is the most amazing urban park.  It runs right through the center of the city up to the Maryland border (continues through MD as well, but I'm not too familiar with that stretch).  There's a nice running path right through the center, and a ton of trails in the park itself.  You are in the city one minute, and then in the middle of nature the next, which is pretty excellent.

There are so many trails that you can wander up and down, so this is more a description of individual trails rather than full hikes, because you can kind of mix and match as you please.  Also, the trails are so well maintained that I normally trail run here rather than hike, but I do see a lot of hikers towards the northern part of the park, and some of those trails are fairly steep, so that's not a bad option.

Western Ridge Trail- Rock Creek Park
My personal favorite, although stretches of it make for a pretty exhausting run.  You can pick the trail up at various points along the main running path, and it's about 5 miles of trail all together.  The trail is green-blazed.  I usually pick it up just north of Blagden Ave. where Beach Drive is closed to cars on the weekends.  The first mile or so is pretty steep and the footing is a little iffy.  The trail gets a lot nicer from there, with rolling up and downs but nothing too crazy.

Valley Trail- Rock Creek Park
I don't run as much along this trail, because it's super steep.  Mostly for hikers.  If you're looking for more of a challenge, go for it.  The trail runs along the other side of Rock Creek and is marked with pink blazes.  It's 5.6 miles total.

C&O Trail
This trail runs many many miles well up into Maryland.  The most well-traveled stretch (at least by runners) starts in Georgetown.  It's a little hard to find the exact start- the Mile 0 marker is basically between M St and K St around where Pennsylvania Ave. comes in.  Or you can just run along K St (where the big movie theater is, etc) and pick up the trail about 1/3 of a mile down.  This is not a traditional running "trail" but it's really pleasant because you get to run along the Potomac.  It's really busy on weekends, and particularly popular with bikers, because the Capital Crescent Trail runs parallel to the C&O for about 2 miles (?) before forking off to the northeast.

There's a boathouse where you can rent kayaks, canoes, etc. near Mile 3.  I've only been up to about Mile 5, but you can keep going up to access Great Falls, which is pretty cool.  That's at about Mile 12.  This would be an amazing trail to train for a super long-distance race, because it's just so uninterrupted (unlike Rock Creek Park where you have to pick up and leave off the trails at various points).

Sugarloaf Mountain (Dickerson, MD) July 2014

This was a hilarious hike.  I am deeply concerned any time I am with a large group of people and I am the most prepared/fit person in that group.  I ended up doing this hike because I had asked my friend if he and his wife wanted to go on a hike, but they were already going with some of her coworkers, so I just tagged along.  I showed up to find a group of people featuring one guy wearing something resembling low-top keds, and two girls in jeans who hadn't brought water.  Yeah. 

Hilarious anecdotes aside, this was actually a really nice hike.  Sugarloaf Mountain has four colored trails that you can follow, to make hikes of pretty much whatever length you want, which I think is a nice feature. 

We parked in the east parking area.  From there, we picked up the White Trail and headed on to the Blue Trail.  We then took the purple trail to the White Rocks, which was a nice view.  We followed the blue trail back all the way around to near the two parking areas, then picked up the green trail to make it to the summit.  We headed down on the orange trail. 

The hike itself was really nice.  It was mostly forested, and the trail was rocky but super well-maintained and mostly flat, which I love.  The summit is at 1282'.  East coast hiking, lolllll.  Some of the girls in jeans without water had a few problems, but so it goes.  I would totally go back here, because it's closer to D.C. than Shenandoah, and is less of a full-day committment.  You can take the yellow trail the whole way for a 7 mile loop- the blue/purple/white trail combo we did was probably more like 5-6 miles. 

The trail map itself is pretty excellent as well.  (http://sugarloafmd.com/images/maps/102709_trailmap.pdf)  All in all a nice hike.