May 29, 2012 (Updated April 5, 2023)

Hiking the Billy Goat Trail in Great Falls, MD

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

15 comments

Morning, friends!

I had so much fun this weekend relaxing, playing outside, and hitting up friend’s BBQs. Yesterday, Matt and I went hiking with friends Ashley, Sokphal, and Margaret.

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Ashley is moving to Richmond on Tuesday for grad school (so sad she’s leaving right when I return!! 🙁 ), so she organized the hike as a fun last hurrah.

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We hit up the Billy Goat Trail on the Maryland side of Great Falls Park. It’s my #1 favorite hike right in the DC area — it’s crazy that such beautiful scenery is a mere 20 minute drive from the city!

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We had a great time hiking around. And also a very sweaty time — it was HOT out there yesterday!

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So hot, in fact, that I may or may not have dunked part of my head in the water at one point… don’t judge. It felt awesome.

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We hiked “Part A” of the trail, which is pretty strenuous with some fun rock scrambling. It took us about 3 hours total.

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Fun way to spend a morning. 🙂

When we arrived home, I decided to whip up some of my Vegan 5 Minute No Bake PB Granola Bars (click for recipe) to snack on throughout the week. Matt has been requesting them for awhile and I finally picked up the ingredients yesterday! This is by far my most popular recipe on the blog — they are SO delicious and really quick and easy, too.

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Getting to my internship at 7 a.m. means that I eat breakfast around 6 a.m., so I’m starved by about 9! These will be perfect to snack on in the mornings. I followed my usual recipe except that I doubled it (I’m going to freeze some of the bars for later), and I used sliced almonds instead of sunflower seeds. I also added some cinnamon to the mix, just for fun!

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I used the Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (pictured above) for the first time in these and LOVED it — in the past, I’ve used a different kind of puffed rice cereal, and this kind was WAY more awesome. They stayed really crunchy and gave the bars a great texture!

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I chilled them in the fridge briefly and then Matt and I busted into them immediately to “sample” them, obviously.

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Just as delicious as I remembered. If you’re never made these — do it! 🙂

Off to week 2 of my hospital internship — yay for a 4 day work week!

- anne

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15 comments
  • These could be a great thing to take on my work trip this week and next. Do they keep well in tin foil?
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  • What a wonderful way to spend Memorial Day! And I've been seriously craving those granola bars for a few weeks. I really should get around to making them! :)
    Reply
  • I recently came across a cookbook you might like, "The Feed Zone Cookbook: Fast and Flavorful Food for Athletes". It was written by a chef who prepares food for professional cycling teams, but the recipes are for great for people looking for healthy food on the go. The book mentions a product called "Martha Wrap", which has foil on once side and parchment paper on the other. They used this to wrap their bars in. It's from Martha Stewart.
    Reply
    • Interesting - thanks for sharing!
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  • After spending the weekend with the family and eating things I should not have eaten, I am thumbing through my fANNEtastic food recipes. I think I shall make some fANNEtastic granola bars today. Have a wonderful day, Anne.
    Reply
  • Ah, we are hiking twins :) I was there yesterday morning too! We were on the Va side and I don't remember the name of the trail, but it was hilly and HOT! Glad you had fun!
    Reply
    • That's so fun that you were there, too!
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  • Looks like such a fun hike and a beautiful day! Those bars look amazing! I'll have to try them out!
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  • The Billy Goat Trail is sooo much fun! People were doing it in FLIP FLOPS when I did it last year!
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  • That looks like a gorgeous hike! If I ever make it to that neck of the woods I will definitely check it out.
    Reply
  • During the hike I kept thinking..."Old Rag is twice this long"... going to have to hike it this year, but when it's cooler and when 3 hours doesn't feel like it's going to kill me.
    Reply