The Billy Goat Trail is a 4.7 miles (7.6 km) hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 trail that follows a path between the C&O Canal

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...

 and the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 within the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located in the District of Columbia and the states of Maryland and West Virginia. The park was established as a National Monument in 1961 by President Dwight D...

 near Great Falls in Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The trail has three sections: Section A, the northernmost, is 1.7 miles (2.7 km); Section B is 1.4 miles (2.3 km); and Section C, the southernmost, is 1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Section A of the trail, by far the most popular, is on Bear Island

Bear Island (Maryland)

Bear Island is an island located in Montgomery County, Maryland between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal near the Great Falls. It is managed by the National Park Service as part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and is co-owned by The Nature Conservancy....

 and traverses rough and rocky terrain, including a steep climb along a cliff face along the Potomac River's Mather Gorge

Mather Gorge

Mather Gorge is a river gorge south and just downriver of Great Falls on the border of Maryland and Virginia. The Maryland side of the gorge is Bear Island, part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, and the Virginia side is part of Great Falls Park. Both parks are National...

. At another point in the trail, hikers are required to scramble

Scrambling

Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...

 over and around huge boulders. Sections B and C are less strenuous; section B requires only one brief scramble, and section C has none. Most of the trail is well marked with light blue trail blazes

Trail blazing

Trail blazing, or trailblazing, is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with blazes, markings that follow each other at certain — though not necessarily exactly defined — distances and mark the direction of the trail...

.

Section A is best accessed from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center area or the parking area near Old Anglers Inn. Section B is best accessed from Old Anglers Inn, and Section C is best accessed from Carderock, Maryland

Carderock, Maryland

Carderock, Maryland, is located in Montgomery County, Maryland, along the Potomac River. Carderock is just west of Bethesda.It is the location of a division of the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center ....

. 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 near Old Anglers Inn or Carderock.

The three sections of the trail do not connect directly with each other, but are connected to each other by the towpath

Towpath

A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...

 along the C&O Canal. The end point of section C is about 2.75 miles (4.4 km) southeast along the towpath from the starting point of section A.