Billy Goat Trail Section A

There’s just nothing like a cold morning to bring out the determined hikers, and this Monday was no exception: the temperature never got about 21^o F (-6^o C ), and the 10-20 mph WNW winds made it seem a lot colder! But apart from that, it was a beautiful sunny day, with free entry to the C&O Canal National Historical Park, so a better day to hike the Billy Goat Trail Section A couldn’t be had!

Our hike along Section A from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center was not quite 4 miles of smiles: 1.7 difficult miles along the trail, with large boulders and a scramble up a seam in a 50-foot cliff face, and the rest just easy walking back along the canal towpath.

Despite the difficulty, Billy Goat Section A is a popular hike, so you really need a cold day to thin out the herd. I think we saw no more than a dozen other hikers. The typical planning time is about 3-4 hours, but we finished much sooner.

Of course, while we were there, we took some extra time to walk the extra half mile or so to the Great Falls Overlook on Olmsted Island!

Notes

• Alexandria Walking & Hiking Group, “The Billy Goat Trail Section A,” 18 January 2016, http://tinyurl.com/j3khe66
• Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center, 11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac, MD 20854 (301-767-3714). http://tinyurl.com/378syo
• National Park Service trail map: http://tinyurl.com/kyevvmr