Moving to the area...need some help

[whiskeyandwayfarers]

My wife and I are moving from California to the Northern VA area. A big part of both of our free time here has been spent hiking, climbing, camping, cruising forest roads, and snowboarding. I'm looking for areas where I may find anything remotely close to what we have here. I know the snow isn't anything to be compared but camping, and hiking and all that. Any insight on cool trails or places to dispersed camp would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jeff B]

If you go on google, there are a bunch of ski areas not far from N Virginia, looks like most are in West Virginia. There are many hiking trails going through that area, including one of the most famous ones, Appalachian trail. That trail has many spurs.

 

[Dusther210]

Shenandoah area, you won’t be disappointed
(The border area of VA and WV)
George Washington and Jefferson National Forests
As @NJCoastal already shared Peter’s Mill Run is a nice trail with camping along it. The around Flagpole Knob is my favorite spot to visit so far

Maryland has beaches and some overlooked/ perhaps under appreciated trails

If you’re around Winchester VA Pennsylvania is “not that far” of a drive. Which if you go to PA you’ll find plenty of great and useful info on here from DevilDodge on that area.

 

[John Bishop]

The Nat Forest interactive map is a good place to start, if you’re not already familiar with it.

Forest Service Visitor Map

Explore your National Forests and Grasslands with the new and improved Visitor Map 2.0

www.fs.fed.us

There’s also the MABDR. Some of the route is paved back roads, some more technical…

Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route (MABDR) Map & Information

MABDR is a scenic ride for dual-sport and adventure motorcycles that uses dirt, gravel and paved roads to wind through remote parts of the Eastern US.

ridebdr.com

Seneca Rocks, WV is the region’s rock climbing meca. There’s dispersed camping available not too far away from there. Not going to give you specific locations because discovery is half the fun.

That’s a small sampling. This region is probably more populated overall than what you’re used to.

One small warning, as I see your coming from Sacramento; we have something called poison ivy here on the east coast. A friend of mine retired from the SacMetro fd and relocated to SC a couple of years ago. He learned the hard way about poison ivy.