Trip Report: Top Ten Reasons Why Hannah Run/White Rocks Was the Best LM Trip Ever

Inspired by Michele and our Saturday night conversation, I’m presenting the “Top Ten Reasons Why Hannah Run/White Rocks Was the Best LM Trip Ever.”

1. You get to meet the world’s most inspiring entrepreneur, aka the woman who runs the overflow parking next to Old Rag. I envision her gleefully counting her piles of ten dollar bills each Saturday night.
2. You quickly say goodbye to the crowds as they head off to hike Old Rag and you get Nicholson Hollow to yourself. And that was the theme for the weekend—compared to insanity of the Old Rag lot, we saw very few people throughout our loop.
3. The terrain varied nicely, with easy stretches of trail that mixed with punchy climbs and descents. You had a good workout and a chance to recover and enjoy the views.
4. Water is everywhere. Indeed, you had your choice of streams and swimming holes for relaxing and cooling down.
5. You can easily spend hours enjoying the swimming hole at White Rocks. And we did just that—sitting and letting our feet soak, playing cards, and even reading a bit. A luxurious day by DC UL standards.
6. Our timing was perfect as we arrived early enough to secure the campsite right by the intersection with the caves trail. I was happy to have scored a large campsite for our group, but there were quite a few smaller ones spread along the White Rocks trail.
7. Everyone pitched in to help after an injury on the trail. One member slipped during a stream crossing, hitting the side of her knee rather sharply and making it a bad idea for her to press on another 7 miles to the end. We had a good exit point that was 1.5 miles out so I hiked her out, while the rest of the group divided up the heavier items in her pack to reduce what she had to carry. Doug made sure everyone else made it to the end—and most importantly, made sure all the cars came to pick us up at our exit point!
8. Tasty food plus $3 Bloody Marys and mimosas make McMahon’s Pub and Grill the #1 place to stop after a weekend in the woods.
9. Two bears (mom +cub) spotted at the end—in fact, that was our only bear sighting for the trip.
10. Three applicants became members! Congrats to Reza, Tania, and Greg!

Kudos to everyone for a great weekend. This is a trip definitely worth repeating.