Walk Two: Towpath Miles 10-11 With Billy Goat Trail

Dog walking. Sounds simple, eh? But like everything else, put in enough endeavor, and it can become relatively complicated. Which is why I got up at 5:45 a.m. with one thought in mind: uncover the Potomac mists.

Of course, Loki and Kai heartily approve of getting up early. And why not? They spend a lot of the day catnapping (or should that be dognapping) anyway So about five minutes after rolling out of bed, I was rolling the basement slider open and Loki and Kai shot off into the backyard to do, well, what dogs do first thing in the morning. They frolicked and chased each other about while I got my cup of coffee and about fifteen minutes later, Loki and I were headed back the Carderock parking lot to do the C&O Towpath walk from mile posts 10 to 11.


This is a great walk because it's not the usual up and back on the flat towpath. Instead, at the last parking lot you can pick up the Eastern Section of the Billy Goat Trail. Most walking Washingtonians
have heard of the Billy Goat Trail which is rocky, hilly trek along the Potomac Gorge. The problem for dog walkers is the Western Section has a scramble up a rock face. Definitely not a dog thing since they lack the oppose thumbs you need when you panic about fifty feet up and grab the rock like it's the last thing you will touch before you die. But the Eastern Section is just up and down with the hills, no rock scrambles.

 So with the sun just barely up, Loki headed down the trail, occasionally looking back to check if I had picked up the pace yet or was still doing my usual turtle interpretation. Loki knows that around each and every corner of a trail, there is the possibility that a Grizzly Bear may be lurking in the weeds. It's his job to check this out which is why he sprints fifty yards ahead, looks around, and then waits. He's also checking to see if there are any creeks which I might chuck a tennis ball into. Finally, he needs to sniff a lot of things as he goes. Borders Collies are multi-taskers even if most of the tasks are fairly useless.
                                What's taking you so long?                                                                               

As for myself, I'm doing fairly useless things also like hunting down Mountain Laurel which is in bloom right now. The gorge, for some reason, doesn't have a lot of laurel and seems devoid of wild rhododendron. I'm not sure why because if you head west to Catoctin Mountain and further into Western Maryland, the woods are overloaded with the stuff. 

 From the top of the Carderock cliffs, I catch my first glimpse of the river and smile. It's now about 6:30 a.m. and the mists are risings nicely off the water. I don't know whether it is because the river is warm or the Spring morning is nippy, but it's one or the other.


Mountain Laurel in bloom

First glimpse of the river mists.

After the cliffs, the trail heads down at a reasonable angle to the river which just adds to Loki's excitement. He is a thorough water dog even though his forebearers hail landlocked areas of the British Isles. He is also a chicken of astonishing proportions which doesn't bother me in the slightest. What one person might call a somewhat cowardly disposition, another would say is a strong survival instinct. Which is why it doesn't bother me when Loki wades about along the shoreline of the river.

Loki never passes up a swim.

After a couple of days of heavy rains, the Potomac is running high and fast. If he went out about 10 feet, the current might grab him and the next stop would be about 10 miles downstream in Georgetown. If you have an adventuresome dog, you might want to keep him on a leash even in the water.
But each to his own. I'm not in the mood for a swim and while he is wandering in the shallows, I have a chance to look for something to use my camera on.

A small waterfall on a creek leading to the river.

Spring flowers.

I know this flower. I even have a domesticate version in my garden, but for the life of me can't remember it's name.




But while I'm wasting time, Loki shows me he has better things to do. For a Border, most everything is work in one way or another. When we reach a flooded out section of the trail, Loki knows the Park Rangers are going to need a hand with this so he pitches in with some creek clearance efforts.

Why leave big sticks in the creek for the Park Rangers to worry about? I'll just drag the thing out myself.









This is fine as far as it goes, but the Potomac in the gorge is a wild and wooly river. Upstream, its fat like a bloated snake but then all that water has to get shoved down this narrow gorge. Almost every fall, a hurricane of the remnants of a hurricane roll through and then river becomes pretty impressive. The gorge is also where all that timber that got washed into the river during the floods winds up.

Loki likes to clear sticks but no chance he'll clear out these tree trunks that washed downstream.

The signs claim the Eastern Section of the Billy Goat Trail is 1.7 miles but I'm not buying it. To me, it's a little over a mile because when it loops back onto the towpath, you are just east of milepost 10 and the parking lot is just west of milepost 11. In any case, the return trip is easy, walking on the towpath.

Great Blue Heron hunts in the shallows of the C&O canal.

Practical information: Take Clara Barton Parkway to the Carderock exit. At the T-junction, head right and park in the last parking lot.
Trail is a bit over two miles and the Billy Goat Section is up and down hills and mild rock scrambling. The towpath is flat.
Busiest times are weekends. Quiet times workdays 9-5. River mists come early in the morning and burn off quickly. The mists were gone in May by 7:00 am.