Sugarloaf Mountain is pretty close by, esp. if you live in MD, and then you can stop by the Sugarloaf Mountain vineyards on your way out

White Oak Canyon is a good choice. We've done it with toddlers who walked about half the time.

Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountains National Park in Maryland are good too.

www.hikingupward.com

Lots of information on local area hikes in the mid-Atlantic.

White Oak Canyon -- it starts from the same parking area as Old Rag Mountain. Really nice water falls and not too strenuous.

Old Rag and the Billy Goat trail are both lots of fun but they are strenuous hikes with lots of rock scrambling. Both trails tend to be super crowded, which kind of defeats the whole point of hiking for me. If you're going to do it, go early and go during the middle of the week.

Anonymous wrote:Old Rag Mountain is nice, great view from the top. There's another trail near by Old Rag that has lots of swimming holes but I can't remember the name (Oak Run...maybe).

Old Rag is probably the most difficult hike you can do in this area. Probably not the best for the OP to start with.

Old Rag Mountain is nice, great view from the top. There's another trail near by Old Rag that has lots of swimming holes but I can't remember the name (Oak Run...maybe).

Anonymous wrote:You could do the Billy Goat trail very close by. I think Sugarloaf Mtn has some nice hikes.

Billy Goat trail is fun and beautiful.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much! Would you say Little Devil's Stairs and Maryland Heights are too strenuous for entry-level 30-something hikers? We're not exactly in shape, but not terribly out of shape either.

I think you'll be fine. Maryland Heights has quite an uphill climb in the beginning, but it's a smooth surface so no rock scrambling or anything. My lazy dog did it, so you'll be okay. You can walk over the bridge and go over to Harpers Ferry afterward for a bite too. It's pretty.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much! Would you say Little Devil's Stairs and Maryland Heights are too strenuous for entry-level 30-something hikers? We're not exactly in shape, but not terribly out of shape either.

I'm in my 30's and have done Little Devil's Stairs. At that time, I was in great shape and was used to hiking a lot (going on 14+ mile hikes at least once per week) and I found Little Devil's Stairs to be not as challenging as I would have liked...so I'd say it would be slightly challenging to someone who isn't too experienced with hiking--but not so challenging that you will feel overwhelmed.


Another suggestion might be Prince William Forest National Park. It's gorgeous and it's rarely crowded. That is actually where I was doing a lot of my 14 mile hikes--on those hikes I would typically only see a half dozen people!

You could do the Billy Goat trail very close by. I think Sugarloaf Mtn has some nice hikes.

Thanks so much! Would you say Little Devil's Stairs and Maryland Heights are too strenuous for entry-level 30-something hikers? We're not exactly in shape, but not terribly out of shape either.

Little Devil's Stairs
Maryland Heights

I use this site all of the time to plan for hikes: http://www.localhikes.com/MSA/MSA_8872.asp

Shenandoah National Park. There are lots of options at different challenge levels. It's georgeous, really.

http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/hiking.htm

Does anyone have recommendations for a place to go hiking within a 90 minute driving radius of DC? We're looking for a scenic, light to moderate intensity hike we could do for a few hours this weekend. Thanks in advance!