A Walk to Remember: See Gorgeous Fall Foliage, but Not Other People, on These Three Hikes

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EVERY OUTDOORSY WASHINGTONIAN craves a perfect fall hike with (a) no crowds, (b) foliage, (c) burbling streams and (d) miles of trails to burn off urban carbs. Also, the hike should be within an hour or two of Washington. Carbon footprint, people! Let's say an intrepid reporter tracked down hikes meeting these criteria. The result: crowds! So, if anybody asks, tell 'em these trails are really lame.

TRADER JOE'S TRAIL MIX
That's not really the name for three lovely paths off Maryland's Route 29. Collectively, they're the 10.2- mile Rachel Carson Greenway Trail. But Trader Joe's is a landmark. Head north from downtown Silver Spring. After passing the Beltway, the road crosses a wee stream. Just before TJ's, 29 is flanked by two stately brick buildings. Each has a parking lot leading to trails along the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River. "The foliage is amazing, and there are not a lot of people," says Halle Enyedy, REI outdoor school supervisor for the mid-Atlantic region, who sighs, "Many of my friends will be upset that I'm revealing this."

The lot on the right (the Trader Joe's side) is the entry spot for a southward trail to Prince George's County. You'll enter a magical world of boulders and slabs, beautifully clustered around babbling H20 and shaded by graceful trees. Note: You will clamber. But it's not too hard. On a recent Saturday, a mother with baby in backpack had no problems.

From the parking lot on the left, two northward options await. One: Pass a dam — from the days of a water filtration plant — and follow a skinny trail into a sun-dappled forest. There will be ups, downs and the occasional loose rock. Just five minutes in, the traffic whoosh vanishes, replaced by bird calls. Two: Walk toward the beltway along sidewalkless 29. Within a few hundred feet, a marker will point toward a trail. Cross a stream via rocks, climb a hillock and you'll find a wide, nicely groomed path, suitable for hiking, running and even strollers. These two parallel trails travel about five miles to Wheaton Regional Park.

GORGEOUS GEORGE
Not too far from busy Shenandoah National Park is less-busy George Washington National Forest, around 100 miles from the D.C. area and reachable via I-66. "It has the same mountain and valley landscape but only a fraction of the crowds, as well as no admission fee," says Theresa Blackinton, author of "Take a Hike Washington, D.C." A favorite hike in the 1.5-million-acre expanse is Big Schloss, starting at Wolf Gap Recreation Area campground, near Edinburg, Va., and heading to an outcrop. It's 2.2 miles out, with a gain of about 1,000 feet. The payoff is a 10-mile panoramic view. Says Blackinton: "It's just ridge after ridge of the Appalachians, all completely ablaze in the fall." If you need to ask directions, just keep in mind it's hard not to spit when you say "Big Schloss."

THE PARK KEN BURNS MISSED
Prince William Forest Park sounds like the name of a regional tract, but it's an honest-to-goodness national park of 15,000 treed acres, established in 1936. Thirty-seven miles of trails live up to the park moniker. They're very foresty and ferny. From Parking Lot D, the Pyrite Mine Road leads to the evenly graded 4.2-mile North Valley Trail. You'll pass a few remmants of the 1889 mine, which closed in 1920. But hurray for reclamation: "The Quantico Creek no longer runs orange or smells of sulfur [a pyrite by-product]," a sign declares.

A couple miles along you'll see (and hear) micro-waterfalls. You won't see many hikers. "We're a well-kept secret," says ranger Laura Cohen. On a gorgeous fall Sunday, the trail population was several dog walkers and a family of four. The Italian mom carried a basket of freshly harvested mushrooms. "I feel sorry for Americans," she said. "They are afraid to dig for mushrooms!" (FYI: The park lets you take a quart a day.) The only downside: On I-95, the shortest route from D.C., traffic can be a bear, even on a Sunday. The alternative is to head to the forest on Route 1 or get there before noon.

Written by Express contributor Marc Silver