Keep It Local: Scott's Run Nature Preserve Hike

A few weeks ago, we went in search of a scenic hike of a little longer distance than we'd done before. Based on our recent geocaching activities, mom thought we could both hike a few miles and settled on Scott's Run Nature Preserve, which promised a nice waterfall view on the Potomac and plenty of stream play available. She found a 2.2 mile loop outlined here and we planned to follow that. Just in case, she ran her mapmyrun app while we hiked. Good thing. The 384 acres of interconnected trails was not particularly easy to follow and we ended up going over 4.5 miles by the end of our hike. I hiked all of it. Jumping and running and only occasionally complaining by the end of the heat. Cam was a champ for about 3/4 of it and then daddy was a champ to carry her the rest of the way. 

Despite stretching our hike a little longer than we intended, we had a blast hiking up and down the hilly trails, climbing rocks, jumping and splashing in the run, discovering reptiles and insects, and we even threw a geocache find in on the hike back to the car. It was tempting to swim, but given that there is a lot of runoff from neighboring McLean, we followed the park's prohibition on it. If you just want to hike down to the waterfall and back (and avoid a less certain loop hike), we suggest parking at the second parking lot on Georgetown Pike and simply following Scott's Run down to the waterfall and then back up to your car. There are no bathrooms available and this is not a stroller friendly hike. It's a real, rocky climb. But Cam and I made it just fine and the waterfall view was worth it!