If you’re on a date, I suggest heading toward the National Zoo which you can no longer access directly off the trail, but you can walk up to Harvard Street to enter (make sure you book a free time-entry ticket). If you’re bringing a big group, I suggest booking a picnic area at Pierce Mill. If you’re bringing kids with you, I recommend starting at the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium. If you aimlessly wander the trails for hours, you may end up finding yourself lost in Maryland.Ī post shared by Rock Creek Park Should I Bring?Įveryone! Visitors. However, if you hike the trail north toward Maryland, just note that the trail keeps going and doesn’t end at the DC border. and stretch from the border with Montgomery County, MD down to Georgetown in Northwest DC. The boundaries of Rock Creek National Park are entirely within Washington D.C. Rock Creek Park is on Piscataway and Nacotchtank (Anacostan) land.

It took approximately an hour and a half to complete. This stretch of trail is very easy going and almost entirely flat. For this article I’ll describe a portion of the trail that starts where Blagden Avenue intersects Beach Drive and moves south toward the P street exit near Dupont. The length of time it will take you to complete a stretch of trail entirely depends on where you start and where you plan to end. The 32 miles of trail range from flat to hilly and from easy to medium difficulty. I encourage you to explore both trails in both directions and discover your favorite path.Ī post shared by Rock Creek Park Long and How Difficult? The two major trails are the Western Ridge Trail and the Valley Trail. Rock Creek National Park has over 32 miles of hiking trails that run from Maryland to Georgetown. Pleasant, at the National Zoo, Adams Morgan, Khalil Gibran Memorial, Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, Dupont, or somewhere in Maryland.Ī fun fact for any New York City transplants: Rock Creek Park is over twice as large as Central Park. Now that I’ve relocated to the Northern Virginia suburbs where I have to drive to every park and every trail, I long for the days when I could just walk along Rock Creek Park and pop out in Mt.

Having an incredible stretch of trails located in my backyard was absolutely a highlight of living in DC. There was a national park marker steps away from where I used to step out for air behind the building and would often hear foxes screaming into the night. When I lived in Washington D.C., my apartment backed up to Rock Creek Park. Your guide to exploring D.C.’s Rock Creek Park and the gems that surround it.

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