In the Sound of the
Bells column, from the Potomac Almanac, 26 Jan., 2017.
New Year’s Day was bright and sunny, and my sons and I
decided to start things off right with a hike along the C & O Canal towpath. We weren’t the only ones with the idea, and
after finally finding a place to park, we ambled down a hill to find the
towpath packed with bikers and dogs. After
about a quarter mile of steering my five-year old out of the way of potential collisions,
we were pleased to see a dirt path leading into the woods toward the river.
A few paces in we discovered ourselves on the Billy Goat
Trail. I’d been told about this trail
before, the haunt of thrill-seeking ramblers for over a century. But this was our first encounter, and after
about an hour’s journey, my sons and I are definite fans.
We loved the views of the river, of course, and climbing and
descending the hills. The boys are still
talking about walking along the face of the cliff, and climbing from rock to
rock (the spaces between much better suited for a goat’s hoof or a kid’s shoe
than my floppy boots). They clambered
over some rock outcroppings, shimmied up a log, found a rock slide, even dipped
their toes in the river. Such a trail
demands a walking stick, my seven-year-old insisted. His brother claimed to spot a short cut,
which landed us, laughing, in a clump of briers.
