Name: Billy Goat Trail Section A
Rating: 4.6

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Features River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Description

This trail can be entered from the east or west end. From the east, you would park at the Old Anglers Inn, cross the Canal, and travel west along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath approximately 0.5 miles to the entrance. From the west, park at the Great Falls Visitors Center and head east on the towpath until you reach the trailhead.

The trail itself is a challenging 1.7 miles along the Potomac River through rolling terrain with intermittent rock scramble areas.

Flora & Fauna

Frogs, tadpoles, turtles, spotted newts, and northern water snakes are common in this area.

Contacts

Land Manager: National Park Service - Great Falls National Park

Shared By:

JLDay Day

Full Details

Trail Ratings

4.6 from 48 votes

#1

in Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park-Great Falls

#45

Overall

4.6 from 48 votes

5 Star		65%
4 Star		33%
3 Star		2%
2 Star		0%
1 Star		0%

Trail Rankings

#1

in Chesapeake and Ohio Ca…

#1

in Maryland

#45

Overall

26 Views Last Month

7,361 Since Jun 8, 2015

		2%
		0%
		18%
		24%
		56%
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Photos

Jul 9, 2015 near Potomac, MD

Notice that the trail goes diagonally up this rock face.

Jan 21, 2020 near Great F…, VA

Jun 6, 2015 near unknown, unknown

1 Comment

Weather

Current Trail Conditions

All Clear 52 days ago

Update Conditions See History

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Check-Ins

Jan 2, 2023

J H

Nov 25, 2022

Peder Bisbjerg

Some spot are slick in the rain! Completed under an umbrella... Good views. 5mi — 2h 30m

Oct 27, 2022

Anthony T

Billy Goat Trail section A

Oct 22, 2022

Manuela Giron

May 1, 2022

Sean Brumble

Nov 15, 2021

zoran j

did a week ago, mightve made a wrong turn seemed too easy

Sep 6, 2021

John Chen

1.6mi — 10h 00m

Nov 25, 2020

JK161 k161

Sep 21, 2020

Jena Turner

1.6mi — 2h 00m

Jul 8, 2020

Court E

Jun 28, 2020

Private User

Apr 14, 2020

Andrew White

wonderful hike with rock scrambles that follows the potomac... packed with people though 1.6mi

Feb 25, 2020

Chris Ververis

Jan 1, 2020

Abbey Cantolina

1.7mi — 2h 30m

Oct 27, 2019

Nick Mariotti

6.2mi

Oct 20, 2019

Nick Mariotti

6.2mi

Oct 11, 2019

Kateryna Rewilak

1h 50m

Sep 7, 2019

Jonathan Wrieden

Aug 31, 2019

William Smith

Aug 29, 2019

Kitty Cat

Difficult but not impossible

Aug 26, 2019

Jay Shoemaker

amazing! rock hopping.

Jul 28, 2019

Faadhil Moheed

Lots of rocks, pretty decent — 3h 00m

Jul 6, 2019

Daniel P

4mi — 2h 14m

Jun 29, 2019

Michael Henry

Apr 13, 2019

Donald Bayse

4mi — 1h 56m

Oct 23, 2018

Jpietr03 P

Beautiful

Oct 13, 2018

A L

Oct 7, 2018

Jenee' Saunders

Sep 30, 2018

Rashmi Ravichandran

Billy Goat Section A closed due to flooding, very crowded at this time! 4mi

Jun 17, 2018

J G

May 5, 2018

Lauren D

Rocky, fun, more upper body work than expected. Definitely need good grippy shoes. Also wear socks with padding.

Mar 18, 2018

John Needles

Mar 11, 2018

Casey Heigh

Dec 25, 2017

Doug Goldring

1.6mi

Oct 15, 2017

Alex Graham

Sep 24, 2017

philip lz

Sep 9, 2017

Alicia Crain

First dyke hike! Short with a near-vertical scramble over granite outcrops above Potomac River

Sep 8, 2017

Gary Young

Started from the parking lot. 4.5mi

Aug 6, 2017

Andrew S

Jul 2, 2017

Jim Donalds

Jul 2, 2017

Tim Bain

Completed the trail with Heather, Hannah and Connor in 1 hour 45 mins.

Jun 23, 2017

Curtis Donohue

3mi

Jun 18, 2017

D JACOBSON

Apr 16, 2017

Kasia K.

Wow, awesome but challenging hike - esp with kids who kept tripping all Over the place!

Apr 2, 2017

Azhar L.

It gets a bit crowded but views are great! 1.6mi

Feb 25, 2017

Chris McCloud

Did as part of loop on Sec A & B plus towpath

Feb 24, 2017

Chris McCloud

Did as part of Loop on Secs A & B as well as towpath.

Nov 20, 2016

Henry Henry

Fun, rocky, and slightly difficult

Sep 24, 2016

Private User

Aug 18, 2016

Jessi Watson

Parked@pt B trailhead off toe path(by restaurant)& walked to west entrance/part a on path, hiked A, B&C and walked back on path 7:55am-12:45pm 8.8mi — 5h 00m

Jun 25, 2016

Hiroyuki Soeta

Jun 13, 2016

Kim Ray

Great Rocky hike with lots of fun scrambling. Leads you too water edge and lots of areas to explore

Jun 12, 2016

Jordi Bn

Jun 10, 2016

Katrina Kosmides

May 21, 2016

K.D. Smith

Nice hike on a misty morning. 1.6mi

Dec 15, 2015

Nelly villegas

wonderful experience and section A may be harder then Section B & C but it was well worth it.

Jul 27, 2012

T S

It's pretty great for where it is. Fun and challenging

Nearby Recommended Routes

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Washington, DC

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Billy Goat Trail Section A

“This is a great trail for someone who wants a challenge but doesn't want to travel too far from DC. ”

1.6

2.6

Point to Point

137' 42 m

95' 29 m

31' 10 m

52' 16 m

1%

2%