Billy Goat Trail

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Billy Goat Trail
Students scrambling over boulders on Section A of the trail. Mather Gorge is on the left.
Length	4.7 mi; 7.5 km
Trailheads	C&O Canal Bear Island
Use	Hiking
Trail Difficulty	Strenuous (Section A) Moderate (Section B Easy (Section C)
Season	All year
Sights	Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

Students scaling a steep cliff face on Section A of the trail.

Students overlooking the Potomac River. (Opposite cliff face is Virginia).

The Billy Goat Trail (also written as Billygoat Trail) is a 4.7 mile hiking trail that follows a path between the C&O Canal and the Potomac River within the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park near Great Falls in Montgomery County, Maryland. Although the trail has three sections to it, Section A (1.7 miles), Section B (1.4 miles) and Section C (1.6 miles), Section A is by far the most popular of the three.

Section A of the Billy Goat Trail is on Bear Island and traverses rough and rocky terrain, including a steep climb along a cliff face. Elderly hikers should take caution. At another point in the trail, hikers are required to scramble over and around huge boulders. Sections B and C are less strenuous; Section B requires only one brief scramble, and Section C none whatever. Most of the trail is well marked with light blue trail blazes.

Section A is best accessed from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center area or Anglers Inn. Section B is best accessed from Anglers Inn, and Section C is best accessed from Carderock. All sections of the trail are free, although an entrance fee is charged when entering and parking near the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center. No fee is charged when parking at Anglers Inn or Carderock.

The three sections of the trail do not connect directly with each other, but rather, are connected by the towpath along the C&O Canal. Thus, to traverse the whole Billy Goat Trail in order, one must start off on the towpath at the entrance to section A, traverse section A, which lets out along the towpath, then walk along the towpath to the beginning of section B, etc.. The end point of section C is about 2.75 miles southeast along the towpath from the starting point of section A.