Camping, hiking places

Cafe Society
1

Hi,

I live in Washington DCc and I am looking for some camping/hiking candidates within 300 miles. I have no clues at all on this subject. Any suggestions ? Please, provide some information about the place such as what can I do there ?, some features of the place.

Thanks

2

Shenandoah National Park is about 2.5 hours from you. It offers 500 miles of trails (including over 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail) and is considered one of the jeweks of the National Park System.

3

Probably an IMHO question (not Cafe Society)
Second, what kind of camping? Motorhome? Car? Bike? Canoe? Backpack?
(I don’t have any suggestions in any case, but your answer may help others)

Brian

4

I was debating this as well. I’ll leave the decision to the mod(s).

We have cars, and some small backpacks. We probably will get some tents. Anything else we should consider bringing ?

5

Catoctin State Park in Maryland is very nice.

Also Laurel Springs State Park in PA - there’s a lot of gorgeous places on the Upper Yougheghany (sp?)

Of course, as mentioned above, Shenandoah.

Also the Great Smokey Mountain National Park - within 300 miles, but just barely.

6

Oh, and for a good starting place for info, grab a copy of The Complete Walker and/or The Backpacking Handbook

7

It’s on the very edge of your 300-mile limit, if not a little over, but I’ll recommend Letchworth State Park, “The Grand Canyon of the East.” Some of the hiking is pretty brutal, but there are a lot of trails suitable for an occasional hiker.