# Camping, hiking places **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571 "2005-07-22T01:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aquafina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@Aquafina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquafina)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/1 "2005-07-22T01:43:53Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/2 "2005-07-22T02:19:55Z")
[Shenandoah National Park](http://www.nps.gov/shen/) 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. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/3 "2005-07-22T02:25:42Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Aquafina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@Aquafina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquafina)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/4 "2005-07-22T02:34:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Probably an IMHO question (not Cafe Society) I was debating this as well. I’ll leave the decision to the mod(s). > [@](#): > > Second, what kind of camping? Motorhome? Car? Bike? Canoe? Backpack? We have cars, and some small backpacks. We probably will get some tents. Anything else we should consider bringing ? ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/5 "2005-07-22T02:37:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/6 "2005-07-22T02:41:33Z")
Oh, and for a good starting place for info, grab a copy of [The Complete Walker](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375703233/qid=1122000090/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2926145-6041723?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) and/or [The Backpacking Handbook](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0070653151/ref=pd_sim_b_1/102-2926145-6041723?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/camping-hiking-places/313571/7 "2005-07-22T03:40:59Z")
It’s on the very edge of your 300-mile limit, if not a little over, but I’ll recommend [Letchworth](http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=12) 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.