In Virginia, down near Roanoke, there’s a popular two-day hiking circuit called the Virginia Triple Crown. It consists of McAfee’s Knob, Dragon’s Tooth, and Tinker Cliffs, three spectacular views in George Washington-Jefferson National Forest (GW-Jeff). I have an idea for a similar circuit here in Maryland.
Catoctin Mountain Park and Cunningham Falls State Park are some of the most visited outdoor recreation spots in Maryland, only an hour from DC and Baltimore. Catoctin contains 5 signature views, the two most well-known being Hog Rock and Chimney Rock. Individually, each view is very accessible, less than a 2-mile hike from a parking lot. I’d been avoiding them for years, preferring to feature Maryland’s quieter corners, but recently I visited Catoctin to see what the hype was about.
I devised a loop connecting the 5 views and even a side trail to Cunningham Falls, an 8.5 mile venture that while not overly challenging, would encompass a full day. Starting from the Visitor’s Center, a friend and I hit the falls, Hog Rock, Blue Ridge Summit, Thurmont Vista, Wolf Rock, and Chimney Rock. Catoctin Mountain Park is a strange jumble of peaks and domes, so there were some steep sections, but the trails were mostly easy and not rocky. Along the way, we encountered many different habitats. There were forests of brush and short second growth trees next to stands of towering old growth oaks. In some places we felt surrounded by forest, in others we were on top of a ridge line with views to our left and right. We also encountered the remnants of a controlled burn, completely eradicating the understory.
The highest peak in Catoctin is only 1,610 feet, so the views weren’t immense, but we felt very fortunate to have such accessibility close to millions of people. Whenever I’m hiking new mountains, I refuse to google pictures for the sake of not spoiling the view. As we approached Wolf Rock, I didn’t know what to expect, and what I saw definitely wasn’t it. A sheer wall stood towering some 20 feet above us, a giant block in the middle of the woods. Having watched Free Solo recently we took the hardest boulder scramble to the top, and while we weren’t greeted with a view, it wasn't anything like I’d seen. Wolf Rock stood even with the tree tops, cut in pieces by deep gorges that seemingly didn’t have a bottom. Hopping over to a sign, we learned that Catoctin is the spot where two primary rock formations meet, the Weverton Formation and the Catoctin Formation. It also explained the pale green boulders we’d seen near Hog Rock, they were called Catoctin greenstone. Diving down into the deepest fissure, we maneuvered through small passages in the rock and emerged through a small hole off Wolf Rock in the forest.
We ended at Chimney Rock, the most well-known of the views, and I see why. The sun was starting to set, and everywhere we’d hiked was in view. Frederick and Thurmont were also visible, as was Sugarloaf Mountain off in the distance. The main view, also cut by gorges, falls away to a rock field, where one large “chimney” climbs back to an even height with the first view. My friend and I both scrambled down the view and up the chimney, which only had small footholds and fingerholds. We could hear a family and some other hikers say how stupid and dangerous we were, telling their kids not to be like us, but young outdoorsmen can’t be contained. It just felt natural that we had to climb the chimney, even if it was one of the most challenging boulders I’d climbed.
Even though it was 35 degrees, we flipped a dusky salamander on the descent to the Visitor’s Center. For always being a park I drive past to go elsewhere, I was extremely impressed by Catoctin. Here’s where I propose my counter to Virginia’s Triple Crown. Why not a “5 Peaks of Catoctin?” While I later found my loop on AllTrails, the park had no advertisement of any hike over 4 miles. It’s significantly less challenging, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in accessibility. I’d love for more people to hike this loop, it would invite more legitimate hikers to the park rather than tourists. Just give me credit if you're the first one to officially complete it.


Comments