{"id":5218,"date":"2020-12-17T22:59:36","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T14:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/?p=5218"},"modified":"2021-05-18T08:53:49","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T00:53:49","slug":"20201217cat-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/17\/20201217cat-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Hiking to Cat Rocks, Cunningham Falls State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mid-December, 2020, heavy snow fell in the Washington DC region. With not much snow during the previous winter, I was looking for some winter fun this time, and I chose to hike Cat Rocks trail in Cunningham Falls State Park. <\/p>\n

\"Forest\"<\/a>

<\/br>Forest<\/br>Distant plains beyond Thurmont in the background.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Generally I thought of winter hiking among lifeless trees as boring, that is, unless there was snow to decorate the landscape. This time, it\u2019s the first serious snowfall in the Washington DC region in almost two years (who could foretell that there were a couple more snowstorms lined up later this winter), and I was eager to hike some new trails. Another motivation being that I would love to try out the new pair of snowshoes that I got for my trip to Lake Tahoe in a few days\u2019 time, it just turned out that the few inches of snowfall wasn\u2019t enough to warrant their usage.<\/p>\n

With a few crashes along I270 the previous day, most drivers on the highway were meticulous, I included. Apart from that, the proximity to Christmas and fear of icy surface meant there was little traffic on the roads. With some errands to run along the way, I arrived at the northern trailhead of Cat Rocks at 2pm. The trailhead parking lot wasn’t plowed, but across the road the small lot at Catoctin Mountain Park Headquarters was, that’s where I parked.<\/p>\n

\"Creek\"<\/a>

<\/br>Creek<\/br>A lovely scene as the rocks in the water were covered in white.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The trail to Cat Rocks was just over 1 mile one-way, with noticeable but minimal elevation gain. So I set off despite being less than 3 hours from sunset.
\nHere’s GPS tracking:
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