Comments on: Hiking: Take Time to Enjoy the Outdoors

By: Jeff from Alexandria

Jeff from Alexandria — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:04:04 +0000

I need to go trail running at Great Falls again fairly soon. And when I’m sure all the ice is gone, it will be time to do some hiking up in Harpers Ferry.

One note of caution about the MD side / Billy Goat Trail, there’s always 800,000 people there if it remotely resembles a nice day outside. I would head out down the towpath first and scramble up the steep, rocky part rather than slide down it. More exercise and actually more fun, if I’m with a group sliding down I’m afraid I’m going to get hurt.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:49:57 +0000

I LOVE hiking and miss it so much now that we are in a no hiking zone lol. We used to do a lot in California, around Laguna, Malibu and Pasadena. Also I have hiked in Colorado, beautiful, beautiful beautiful! And West Virginia, when I lived there. Oh man, now I’m getting sad lol! It’s the perfect time of year to do it too. I love it when the flowers start coming out!

By: Elissa

Elissa — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:00:10 +0000

I hike around the James River Parks and the Buttermilk trail in Richmond all the time. It’s a workout similar if not equal to running. I very much prefer hiking to running by the way! :)

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:24:11 +0000

When I lived in Old Town, the problem was that I couldn’t find many hills to run/walk. Now I’m in a more hilly area and it was hard at first to tackle those hills!

I like to hike from the Rosslyn metro station through Glover Park, eventually to upper Wisconsin Ave and have lunch at 2 Amys Pizza!

(PS, I don’t live that close to Richmond, I’m just outside Old Town now.)

By: Barry Leiba

Barry Leiba — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:18:52 +0000

Oh, and a comment to Geeky: most areas that have good hiking have hiking groups, formal and informal, so it’s not hard to find company. Check meetup.com, for example, and see if there are hiking meetup groups in your area.

By: Barry Leiba

Barry Leiba — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:16:40 +0000

I’m very pleased to live in a hiking heaven, the Hudson Valley in New York. For some of my favourite hiking spots, see these posts:
http://staringatemptypages.blogspot.com/search/label/Hiking
Best to scroll down and read them oldest first.

By: FatFighterTV

FatFighterTV — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:27:59 +0000

I am so jealous! I miss hiking sooooo much. We used to live in the Seattle area and we hiked in so many amazing places. I think my favorite is Mount St. Helens – it is gorgeous, and it’s where my husband proposed!

By: geeky

geeky — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:33:26 +0000

Yay hiking! Hiking is one of the few forms of exercise I (mostly) enjoy. I like knowing there’s something (waterfall, view, etc) to look forward to at the end. My biggest problem is finding someone to go with me. My husband is not a big fan of hiking and I won’t go alone (for safety).

I’ve actually been wanting to visit Great Falls for a long time, so I’ll keep your tips in mind. If you’re looking for more hiking, the Shenandoah Valley is a great place to go! It’s only about 2 hours from NoVA, so you could easily make it a day trip, and you’ll have lots of trails to choose from with Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington National Forest here.

By: classic jen

classic jen — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:27:04 +0000

You might want to try Billy Goat Trail on the MD side of the falls. It’s a little tougher, with rock scrambling.

By: DefenseEngineer

DefenseEngineer — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:38:53 +0000

“… I checked with a few people to see if they would be interested in going along, but everyone had something else to do.”
Never checked with me…. :-/