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rock scramble selfie
October 5, 2020 (Updated December 19, 2023)

Hiking Catoctin Mountain Park

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

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Hi friends! Matt and I had a fun adventure this weekend: a hike in Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland!

rock scramble selfie

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As I mentioned last week, Matt’s brother Drew and his wife Morgana are here visiting right now, and they offered to hang out with Riese for a day so Matt and I could go off and have a day date, which was very kind of them! 

Hiking at Catoctin Mountain Park

We decided to head to Catoctin Mountain Park at the suggestion of a friend. We weren’t the only ones with that idea on such a gorgeous Saturday, but luckily Catoctin is a really large park with lots of trail options (25 miles of trails!), so once we locked down a parking spot and got on the trails it was really lovely to be out there. 

view of a wooded trail in catoctin mountain park

We originally planned to hike the Chimney Rock loop, but all the parking was full, so we headed father up the mountain and did a loop of a bunch of different trails, including Blue Ridge Summit Overlook:

overlook view in catoctin mountain park

Thurmont Vista:

hiking in catoctin mountain park

And Hog Rock, which was an area with a really fun rock scramble. 

rock scramble catoctin mountain park

Matt and I both love a good rock scramble. 🙂 It’s why Old Rag Mountain is our favorite hike of all time… so much so that we got engaged there back in 2011! 

rock scramble catoctin mountain park

Anyway! For food, we stopped at Market to Market in Del Ray before leaving to grab Italian subs to bring with us on the trails – we stopped at one of the vistas and enjoyed the subs plus some unpictured chips, clementines, veggies, etc. that we brought from home. 

italian sub with a view

We were thinking of stopping at a brewery on our way home, but we ended up staying on the trails for about 4 hours so by the time we were done, we had to head back to make sure we were home in time for dinner.

Such a fun day – thanks for the treat, Drew and Morgana! 

hiking

Biking to Old Town, Alexandria

Other highlights from the weekend included taking Riese on a fun bike ride from our place to Old Town, Alexandria:

biking with a toddler

We locked up our bikes and walked around for quite awhile – we ended up getting carried away and missing the naptime window (whoops), but it was so gorgeous out and we were enjoying it so much it was worth it!

toddler in old town alexandria

I always love being by the water and it was fun exploring with Riese.

We thought about getting lunch at one of the outdoor restaurants, but everything had a wait so we came home and had an easy throw together lunch instead. Next time!

old town alexandria waterfront view

Since it was cold out this weekend at night, we decided to do our first fire pit of the season one of the nights – Riese had her first s’mores experience and loved it!

She was very intent on making her marshmallow perfect. The first one she tried fell in and she was quite upset, so she brought her serious A game for round 2:

making smores over a fire pit

One last highlight from the weekend was going out to dinner at Eveningstar Cafe last night – they have such a great outdoor set up and it has been our go to anytime it’s nice out. 

We did a lot of snacking yesterday and I wasn’t super hungry so instead of my usual burger, I went for the tomato soup + pesto toast, which was super good:

tomato soup with pesto toast from eveningstar cafe del ray

Plus a big salad with berries and cheese, and a bunch of unpictured fries we all shared. 

salad with berries and popcorn from eveningstar cafe

I will leave you with a hot tip for those of you who have been enjoying outdoor fitness classes. Someone at outdoor yoga recently had a shower curtain under their mat and it was genius – I tried it Friday and it worked so well!

So much better than a towel which just gets soaked immediately and then gets my mat all wet, too. Plus then walking home with a super light shower curtain is easier than a water-soaked towel. 😉

shower curtain under a yoga mat for outdoor yoga

Have a nice day and I’ll see you back here on Wednesday with a new recipe!

- anne
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7 comments
  • ana October 5, 2020 · 1:41PM:
    I like the s'more perfectionism, haha! And the fall is the most beautiful time to hike - glad you were able to get away!
    Reply
  • Kerry October 5, 2020 · 3:20PM:
    Hi Anne, I'm wondering where you've been doing outdoor yoga? I've been struggling to get through classes at home without getting distracted or bored. Just for context - I live in Arlington and I have some Classpass credits. Thanks:)
    Reply
    • Anne
      October 5, 2020 · 3:39PM:
      I've been going to Ease Yoga in Del Ray - they aren't on ClassPass unfortunately though! I know Mind the Mat (on ClassPass, or at least they were pre-covid) is also offering outdoor yoga at the Alexandria location too... not sure about the Arlington location though! I feel you on the at-home yoga struggle, I feel the same!
      Reply
  • Roadrunner October 5, 2020 · 3:24PM:
    What a lovely hike - with great weather. Nothing like the fall where you are. And how nice to have relatives to watch Riese for part of the day. And love the intro to smores! Have sought the perfect marshmellow myself over the years!
    Reply
    • Anne
      October 5, 2020 · 3:39PM:
      Roasting the perfect marshmallow is definitely an art form!
      Reply
  • Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
    October 5, 2020 · 3:54PM:
    Mmm, s'mores! It will be so nice to have a fire pit during the colder months. That is something we don't have, but with a newborn, I'm not sure how much we would use one if we had one? Our good friends have one so I figure we can go over there for some fires this fall hopefully. Paul's early bedtime (7ish) makes it challenging, though, but it will be getting dark pretty early after DSL ends so I'm thinking we could make it work in November! You day day sounds so fun! I was hoping to fit one more in with my husband before it gets cold, but we are kind of running out of time and October/early Nov is a busy season at work for me... Poor planning on my part to not fit one in sooner. But maybe we will get some nice days in mid-Nov. You never know what to expect in MN. It could be snowing by that point!
    Reply
  • Kris S November 23, 2020 · 5:51PM:
    That's a great move with the shower curtain! The wet grass thing is such a bummer for outdoor yoga. Thanks for passing on the tip!
    Reply
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anne mauney fannetastic food
Hi, I’m Anne! I'm a Washington D.C. based Registered Dietitian, mother, runner, and lover of travel, adventure, and the great outdoors. I've been blogging since 2009, sharing a mix of lifestyle content, recipes, and fitness tips. Come for the recipes – stay for the fun!
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anne mauney

I’m Anne, a Registered Dietitian and mother. I've been blogging since 2009 and love showing others that eating nutritious foods and staying active can actually be fun rather than overwhelming!

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