We decided to visit and take a free boat ride/tour on the Conococheague Aqueduct in fall 2019 (they had just completed restoring it in over 2 yrs), see more info about the Williamsport Visitor Center. We started at the Cushwa Warehouse where the ranger loaded us on the boat and then slowly took us across the water and down the aqueduct. We turned around at the end and back to land. It was very unique as you don’t see many aqueducts with water anymore.

After the tour (maybe 30-45 mins), we borrowed some rental bikes at the back of the visitor center to bike along the C&O towpath. We had to take it over the historic railroad lift bridge using the bike ramps and stairs. It was a little uncomfortable on the bike as they were super old and I’ve short legs. We didn’t go too far before returning it after checking out some spots on the towpath, but it was much faster than “walking” if you want to explore the towpath.

There is a popular Paw Paw tunnel they mentioned during our visit. believe they also just restored this back in 2017 and it’s a 2.4 mile long trail (out-and-back). I did a bit more research, they created a detour so still some constructions. I will most likely group this trail on the way to Zumbrun Overlook and stay a night by Blackwater Falls State Park (WV) in the near future.

Catoctin Mountains Park

I don’t recall a fee at this location and just checked the NPS site, it’s FREE! We hiked the East Side Trails up from the Visitor Center to Wolf Rock and then Chimney Rock via the orange blaze (3.9 mile loop). We spent half a day exploring the area and rushed down toward the end when it started to drizzle. We did have a nice hot meal at a BBQ restaurant off 70 on the way home.

Cunningham Falls

This is the highest cascading waterfalls in Maryland, at 78-ft tall! We went by ourselves first in fall 2012 then took our friends to visit later in fall 2013. It was an easy trail/boardwalk to see the falls (yellow blaze, east side trails). If you dare, you can venture and scramble around the falls.

We didn’t have hiking boots yet as this was one of our first taste of hiking. We had a snack up there and continued on the yellow trail to Hog Rock and then the Blue Ridge Summit Vista. I believe we also checked out Thurmont Visit before returning to the visitor center and did other east side trails. But I always like to do a quick warrior pose at high points!

Sugarloaf Mountains

We explored this location when we did a few hikes while staying a night or two in Frederick, exploring Harper’s Ferry and Catoctin Mountains Park. Although we only drove up to the top and walked up a few steps to see the views. Here’s the trail info as the main website doesn’t look official.

Annapolis Rock and Black Rock Cliff

This was my first time here, but he had already hiked this trail with the guys on another day before they went camping. I’m not one to camp outdoors so it’s usually a guys trip but they haven’t gone in a few years now. The parking lot is easy to find, but may be limited on nice weekends. It’s quite noisy starting off near 70, the car whooshing by as you cross a pedestrian bridge and parallel to the highway. I couldn’t wait to get into the woods as quickly as possible.

I don’t recall it being 8 miles, but the trail was a steady incline, nothing too strenuous but I suppose it took us about half day to visit both lookouts. Annapolis Rock, where you can see a view of the Greenbrier Lake, and look through/write in a composition book since the Appalachian Trail goes right through this trail. The Black Rock Cliff gives you another view of the west before returning back to the parking lot.

High Rock and Raven Rock

Another trail we haven’t gone on, but it’s via the Appalachian Trail too! You can hike it (6 miles!) or drive right up to High Rock to view the graffiti artwork. Based on others comments, we may just drive by to see the artwork and tackle the other trails at Catoctin Mountains if we head that way.

I remember visiting this place as a kid as vague memories of the Maryland Heights trail (all I remember it was very steep and I slept good that night!). I was just tagging along with people and I guess I made it! to the top  I would recommend checking out the NPS site, as parking is off-site with shuttle running fairly frequently if you want to check out the Harpers Ferry town. There’s some shops but really not much else to explore in my opinion. I specifically talk about the Maryland Heights trail, Loudon Heights trail, and whitewater rafting experience below.

Maryland Heights (2012, 2019, 2021, and beyond)

There were limited parking spots on side of the road by the Maryland Heights trailhead but it looks like they have put up barricades so you will have to take the shuttle into town then walk across the bridge to the trailhead (that is about 4.6 miles total).  The trail itself to the overlook isn’t long, but it is a steady steep incline and gets rocky toward the cliffs. Poles are much appreciated! 

We recently went this Aug 2022 with our family (their first time) and they really enjoyed it. It is always a workout going up but with plenty of rest and snacks, we took pictures and then headed down. We saw a plump looking grub/caterpillar making his way up the rocks. We also saw folks floating down the river in tubes. What an amazing day!

In Dec 2021, it started off cloudy and cold (40s) as we parked at the visitor center. Instead of taking the shuttle that morning, we walked 1.8 miles using the Lower Trail from the parking lot to the lower town. Right under the bridge/road, there is a small parking lot but you have to pay the same entrance fee and it fills up quickly. So if you got the pass, just park in the visitor center up the street and hop on the shuttle (wear your masks). In town, I stopped by the bookstore to grab 8 stamps since Appalachian Trail goes trough the town, there’s extra stamps associated to different trails. 

Make sure you use the bathroom in town before you start your 1-mile hike across the bridge and along the dried up canal of C&O to the Maryland Heights trailhead. The bridge is right next to an active cargo railroad track.  When several train cars derailed off a portion of it (Dec 2019), it was closed for the first half of 2020 and reopened by July.

On the bridge you will notice many locks all over the fences and some that were daring climbed near the top of the fence to get their lock on the structure itself! I just focused on looking ahead and not down in the waters as I get a little fearful crossing bridges. Mainly because I’m afraid I’ll drop my phone and also I don’t like heights!

It’s a short walk down the gravel C&O trail and then we crossed a small bridge and road to the trailhead. It is about 2.8 miles total (2-hr) to the overlook (red blazed). We took out our pokes and started on a steady incline up the blue blazed trail. There is a small loop where if you continue on the right, it takes you by the naval battery field, but if you don’t care for that, you can just take the first blue trail marking on the left (it is a much easier trail) since there’s not much to see at the field. 

You will encounter another intersection of the green blazed trails and a large sign, we rested nearby. We continued up, switchbacks and down the red blaze to the overlook. There were several groups of people at the overlook so we picked a rock to rest and have our sandwiches. The group of boy scouts left and we made our way to the rock for our picture comparison.

The Amtrak train comes pretty frequently, we kept hearing the toot of it during our hike. The sun has come out so it got pretty warm as we made our way back down the mountain. If you want to read about the green trails, keep scrolling!

That weekend also featured the 50th anniversary “Olde Tyme Christmas” events with live music, festive activities, horse drawn wagon, holiday light tour, etc. It was more crowded than our other two visits but it was nicely decorated and very festive.

We caught the shuttle back up to the parking lot as I could feel my feet getting fatigued after ~6.75 miles total that morning. We didn’t have time to visit the Weverton Cliffs in the area so we hope to come back sooner than later!

Previously we went in June 2019, we parked right by the trailhead and it was a good cardio hike. Apparently these summer months are when they typically rope off portions when the birds nest on the overlook cliffs. 

Prior in Sept 2012, we did the whole hike from the town, bridge, overlook, then up to the 100- and 300-pound battery sites (green blazed). Just a caution that the green trails were not well-traveled as the grass were overgrown and deer were popping out in front of us. Not much of a view here so we only done this once and website says it was about 6.6 miles total. I didn’t have an activity tracker back then so not sure how much we did.

Loudoun Heights (2015)

Since visiting the Maryland Heights in 2012, we decided to check out the other trail on the other side. We took the day off to get a hike in before meeting our friends for the weekend rental house to do whitewater rafting. We parked on the side of another bridge (small fee, limited parking so you have to go early) and crossed the noisy bridge to work our way up to Loudon Heights. I don’t recall it being 7 miles long and the views aren’t as nice as the Maryland Heights.  Even the Split Rock at the end of the “trail” wasn’t memorable to me. But, check it out if you’re staying in the area. We still enjoy the Maryland Heights trail the best!

Whitewater Rafting (Aug 2015)

The rental house was literally down the street from the River Riders resort. We walked up to purchase our ticket, watched a safety video and made sure we had our water shoes on. We just bought a few cheap pairs from Walmart. We stored our belongings we don’t want getting water into lockers and made our way to the river side with our guide. I can’t recall her name but I know she loved to entertain us with animal noises and did her best to ensure we had a “rapid” good time.

It was actually a calm and low water day (there are classifications of rapids), so I would say it was a Class I-II out of  VI. We did a few demonstration of popping the raft into a lil rapid pool so we could experience the rapids power. Otherwise, we kept our positions on the raft, with one feet tucked under the raft side so we were always anchored. That leg started to ache being in that position for a few minutes and also soaking wet/cold. But, luckily, we didn’t fall overboard but our other friends’ raft were not so fortunate. We cruised down the water and met a few other people just floating down in their tubes and connected cooler. That looks like a fun time! We made our way to the shore to rest and we got picked up in a school bus by the side of the road to take us back to the resort.

We aren’t water people so we most likely won’t go back to do water activities unless a friend wanted to arrange something. But Harper’s Ferry is very popular in the summer time!

As I write this section, I realized there is only one MD ski resort at Deep Creek, Wisp. All the other ones we have been to are mostly in PA and I guess we went to one in VA. I won’t write about these experiences in PA or VA pages since it is a small section and I don’t really remember which year and which resorts we went to.

Instead, I’ll just write about my overall experiences with learning how to ski when I was young with my family. I took a class or two before practicing on the bunny slopes. Fast forward to college years, I went with friends on college nights where you get a discount if you show your college ID for admission and rentals. This is when I tried snowboarding for the first time. I did it a few times and got stuck on the black diamond trail for a bit (my bum was frozen from sitting on the ground and trying to call anyone who would pick up their phones). I think the motion of sliding sideways down the mountain on snowboards was scarier than siding face forward on skis. I did eventually get help from a friend who stumbled upon me and showed me how to snowboard face forward so that was enjoyable but I think that was the last time we went (circa 2012).

We had rented a few cabins/lodges by ski resorts with our friends during the winter time (2008-2014), but we don’t always go snowboarding with our friends anymore. We just stay in the house and play with the fireplace. Although it’s been a few years now since we went for our friend’s bday around MLK weekend, as we have been going to Texas instead (that page will be coming soon too)!

We heard of this place when we were staying at this large rental house in Deep Creek for an engagement party. We set up the event, dressed up to take pictures, had a buffet-style dinner and celebrated all night (e.g. watched The Walking Dead in the theater room, played in the rec room, and splashed around in the indoor pool/hot tub).

Finally, we decided to finally check it out on the way back home from our PA trip (more on PA – check out my page).  The website advertises a 53-ft waterfall (Muddy Creek Falls – highest free-falling in MD!!), no fee, but there is limited parking as it gets very popular during the weekends, especially in the summer.

The trails were packed and we did not wish to dip in the waters. There were dogs and kids everywhere. We couldn’t wait to get through the trail and go home.

We finally tackled this short hike one fall weekend. There’s a small park and ride down the street from the trailhead, but you need to go early for a parking spot.

It’s only a mile up a steady, switchback path up to the cliffs. You can continue north on the Appalachian Trail but we didn’t plan to that morning.

From the cliffs, the almost bare trees still obscure the river view. I didn’t go further down the rocks to get a better view. There were a few people lounging in the trees so we gave them their space.

We enjoyed a lil break with snacks and felt the sunshine at the top before heading back to the car. We noticed a bunch of little bugs flying around by the parking lot so be quick getting into the car. 

Overall, I probably wouldn’t go back but it is a good free short hike just to get out. But I would still go to Maryland Heights at Harper’s Ferry any day, even it cost and takes longer, but the view is much rewarding!