Autumn Colors of Catoctin Mountain

First week of November, when autumn was in its prime, my friends at the trails club organized this hiking trip to Catoctin Mountain. It turned out that autumn colors were spectacular this time of the year in the countryside.

 

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GPS tracking is in www.endomondo.com/users/4702389/workouts/1266303739

Starting from Visitor Center, it was a steady climb to Wolf Rock, and that's basically the only climb of the day.

 

Trail disappeared into bare rocks for the last hundred feet to Wolf Rock, but apart from that, the entire hike of Catoctin Mountain was on, by my friends' standards, flat, level and well-maintained trails.

 

And then there's this un-imposing Wolf Rock.

After Wolf Rock it was a short stroll to Chimney Rock (a.k.a. Catoctin Mountain vista), where we enjoyed wonderful panoramic views with a rest.

After that, we went on hiking, passing a few viewpoints with views of nearby town of Thurmont.

 

 

 

 

The best part of the hike was Cunningham Falls, the largest cascading waterfall in Maryland. And probably because of this nourishing creek, trees along were in different stages of foliage, making it a blend of vivid colors.

And it was a fun and adventurous (but safe) climb on the rocks to the top of the waterfall.

 

After that, we followed a segment of beautiful trail lined with mesmerizing autumn colors back to Visitor Center. Later on maps, I found it's called Falls Nature Trail. What appropriate names!

So four hours and some wonderful sceneries later, we were back at Visitor Center. A conclusion to a truly stunning weekend getaway.
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