(Gallery Has Six Pictures)	Go to Top

Nature creates beauty by the side of the trail. These are shelf fungi that are tinged green by algae. Have I mentioned that water is a big feature of the Catoctin Mountain Range, and fosters the growth of both fungi and algae?

The Catoctin Trail comes to a sign for a side trail to the lake area This trail is known as the Cliff Trail, because it offers a more hilly option for reaching the falls from the lake.

The Cliff Trail is marked with yellow blazes and goes around big rocks. It looks lovely in autumn.

But you can also hike this area in winter. Here, my friend Howard and I ate lunch sheltered from the snow by a big overhanging rock. If you are prepared, the winter is a delight for hiking.

For a short distance, the Catoctin Trail travels the same path with the yellow blazed Cliff Trail, which runs between the falls area and the lake area.

Going north on the Catoctin Trail, if you pass the sign to the falls on the right, then you come to the sign on the left indicating that you are leaving the falls and lake areas and going toward Route 77.

Note that the picture on the right was taken in autumn, and the picture on the left was taken in the green leafy summer.