Sunday, January 30, 2011

Welcome Hikers!

We are Francis and Ann; avid hikers and wildlife enthusiasts in the DC Metro area.

Last summer we spent a fair amount of time hiking.  Trying to find new places to go proved to be a bit of a challenge.  After searching so called hiking and or trail websites for park and trail information, in many instances, we found ourselves on trails that were not properly marked, maintained, or not accurately described.  This lead to hikes where we were desperately in need of a machete or walks on paved trails with stroller moms.

In this blog, we hope to provide other hikers with this kind of information.  We also want to highlight special and interesting features including geology, wildlife, and other interesting bits we come across.

Each trail we hope to evaluate based on the following elements using a 1-5 star rating.  One star means poor or low and five stars means excellent or high.

Maintenance
Human Traffic
Wildlife
Difficulty
Terrain Variety

Next week we hope to be travelling to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.  Stay tuned for our first adventure of the year!