Backpacker – September 2019

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

BACKPACKER.COM 71

OVERNIGHT

THREE TOP

MOUNTAIN LOOP

George Washington NF, VA

Get out of the city and into wooded

hollows, then atop a view-soa ked

ridgeline on a 17.1-mile trek that

uses the Massanutten, Tuscarora,

and Passage Creek trails. Camp

near Little Passage Creek at mile 10.

Trailhead Sig na l Knob (38.9352,

-78.3198) 80 miles west of DC

Season Ye a r - r o u n d Permit None

Info http://www.fs.usda.gov/gwj

MULTIDAY

WILD OAK LOOP

George Washington NF, VA

Recha rge on a t wo-night, 28-mile

trip to silent forests where river

crossings and rolling panoramas

dominate the days. Trailhead Wild

Oak (38.3670, -79.1645) 155 miles

southwest of DC. Season Ye a r -

round Permit None Info www

.fs.usda.gov/gwf

Washington, DC

DAYHIKE

POTOMAC
HERITAGE TRAIL

George Washington Memorial

Parkway, VA

Find nature where you live. That’s
what Everly Ja zi (see right) did on

the trail that got her started. The

Potomac Heritage Trail is a sur-
prisingly wild route that cuts right

through the nation’s capital. Twenty

minutes of walking delivered her
from college campus to trailhead,

where she could escape the pave-

ment on a 10-mile loop, passing
rapids and riparian greenery.

The trail starts on Theodore

Roosevelt Island, near the memorial
for the 26th president, then crosses

and follows the edge of the Potomac,

which forms waterfalls bracketed
by rocks and runs down rapids that

drown out noise from the nearby

city streets. Cross the Potomac on

the Chain Bridge, pick up the C&O
Canal heading south, and loop back

toward your start point.

“You see the river, and it’s really
big and powerful, it’s like the heart

of the city,” Jazi says. Trailhead

Theodore Roosevelt Island
(38.8966, -77.0650) 3 miles west

of DC. Permit None Season Ye a r -

round Info nps.gov/pohe

Everly Jazi

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

ACADEMY ALUM

DIFFERENT PATHS LEAD us to

the outdoors. Everly Jazi was a

student at George Washington

University and walking DC’s

National Mall during cherry blos-

som season when a swarm of

tourists trapped her next to a

park ranger. She was finish-

ing her junior year, unsure what

she’d do with the psychology

degree she was a year away

from earning. And so she turned

to the ranger and asked, “How’d

you get this job?”

His answer took her to the

National Park Service Academy

and a position in the Tetons,

where she led interpretive

hikes, kayaking trips, and camp-

fire programs. By the time she

returned to DC for her senior

year, she was taking other stu-

dents on hikes and camping

trips for Roots and Shoots, a

club founded through the Jane

Goodall Institute. Jazi made the

case that taking people into

urban-adjacent nature could

spark a passion for the whole

planet.

“Being outdoors really helped

my mental state and opened me

up to a new, simple, and fulfill-

ing way of living,” she says. “I just

wanted to share that with people

who had never been hiking.”

Page Valley

sprawls below

your feet from

Buzzard Rock,

off the Signal

Knob Trail

(right); late

October brings

warm hues to

the Massanutten

Tra i l.

YO

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