Catoctin Mountains

Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the visitor center at Catoctin Mountain Park.  We got there early and there were still plenty of parking spaces.  After getting our stuff together, we set off on Cunningham Falls Nature Trail and hiked just over a mile to the split.  We turned left and crossed the road to take the short trail to Cunningham Falls.

With the recent hurricanes, all the waterfalls we had seen had really high water flow, but apparently the heavy rains hadn't come this far south.

After a couple pictures, we returned to Hog Rock Trail and started taking that up the mountain.  It was a steep climb up but soon we reached the Hog Rock Overlook.

It was very cloudy when we arrived, but we took a short break and view cleared a bit.  Continuing on, there were some cool rock formations at the top.

After crossing the park road, we soon came to Blue Ridge Summit Vista, which had really scenic views.

The Blue Ridge Summit Trail continued all the way back to the parking area.  I took a quick detour on Thurmont Vista Trail to the overlook, but there wasn't much of a view.

Then we finished the trail back at the visitor center.  It was very crowded by the time we were leaving.

From here, we drove south in Virginia.  We got off I-81 near Edinburg and drove into George Washington National Forest, parking at the end of FR-252.  We hiked up the steep Falls Ridge Trail and got off the trail near a cairn.  An obvious path with sporadic blazes led through the woods and down to Falls Run.  As we approached the waterfall, there were some cool cliffs along the creek.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of water at Falls Run Waterfall.  The high water seemed to be all up north.

Even in low water, it was a pretty cool waterfall over jagged rocks.

After some pictures, we hiked back.

From here, we continued south on I-81 to near Roanoke and stayed at the Quality Inn in Troutville.