Hiking The Chimney Rock & Wolf Rock Trails At Catoctin Mountain Park, MD

West Maryland wasn’t a place I expected to have good hiking, but I was wrong. While staying in Frederick, I hiked a couple of trails at Sugarloaf Mountain (this one and this one) and then went on a short hike at Cunningham Falls State Park.

The day before we moved on to Ocean City I wanted to fit in one last hike, so while Shae was working I took our dog Truffles to Catoctin Mountain Park. There was a 3.5 mile loop trail which took in a couple of rock formations – Chimney Rock and Wolf Rock – so that seemed perfect for what I was looking for.

There are a few places you can park to hike the Chimney Rock/Wolf Rock loop trail. I parked opposite the park headquarters; here’s where it is on Google Maps if you want to use that to get directions.

The parking lot had an information board with a trail map attached.

The parking lot was the trailhead for the Cat Rock Overlook which is a different hiking opportunity.

The start of the Chimney Rock/Wolf Rock trail is on the other side of the road, so you have to cross over carefully. There seemed to be a few parking spaces available at the park headquarters on that side of the road, but I’m not sure if that’s official parking for hikers or if it’s only meant for people stopping at the headquarters quickly.

You have to head up to the road to the left where the opening for the park headquarters is, then you’ll see another information board with trail information.

Walk along the well-trodden path running parallel to the road for about 50-100 yards, then you’ll see another sign on your right directing you towards Chimney Rock and Wolf Rock.

You’ll start off by following the red and white trail blazes on the trees.

The trail continues uphill, with different degrees of steepness at times.

The trail is well signposted, so you’re frequently informed how far you have to go until you get to the next stage.

There’s a bit of a steep climb at one point, but when you get to the top there’s a bench if you need to have a rest, then the trail continues along a flat, easy section.

Enjoy the easy section while it lasts as it gets steeper again as you approach Chimney Rock.

There are some nice views of mountains in the distance through the trees once you’re close to Chimney Rock. The trail splits here, so go off to the left for now to head to Chimney Rock.

The terrain gets more rocky at this point and there’s a sign warning hikers about safety while visiting this section.

I can see why Catoctin Mountain Park provides a warning as there are some wide gaps and deep crevices between some of the rocks.

The sign said pets weren’t allowed at the overlook, so I took off my hiking backpack, attached Truffles to that and went a little further up to check out the beautiful views.

It was almost 3pm at that point, so Truffles and I decided to stop there for a little while and have our lunch. I think I might’ve somehow missed out on seeing Chimney Rock itself though. When looking at photos of Chimney Rock online, none of the photos I took seem to look like those I found, so I’m wondering if there’s some other section I should’ve walked to in order to see the formation.

Although I didn’t take Truffles near the edge, she did get a quick photoshoot on the rock where we’d eaten our lunch.

After having lunch, we continued on to Wolf Rock. We headed back down the short path we’d taken to get up to Chimney Rock, then continued following the trail to Wolf Rock.

It’s only half a mile or so from Chimney Rock to Wolf Rock and it’s a fairly easy section. There’s a downhill section…

…as well as a level section.

In what seemed no time at all, we arrived at Wolf Rock.

Although the trail continued alongside Wolf Rock, we walked up on to it to take a look around.

After clambering around for a little while, Truffles and I headed back down and continued along the trail.

The rest of the trail is fairly easy, starting with a nice flat section.

It was the start of November when I visited, so fall was in full swing. Despite that, there was a tree that refused to accept it was no longer summer.

The Chimney Rock/Wolf Rock trail meets up with the pink trail, so keep following the red trail blazes.

Although this section of the trail is much easier than the first part, there’s a bench available in case you need to rest your legs for a while. I think it’s been placed where it has in case you hike the trail the other way round, as shortly after this we headed down a fairly steep section.

The clocks had gone back a couple of days before Truffles and I had hiked there, so by 4pm the sun was about to go down behind the mountains in the distance.

We eventually arrived at the parking lot for the visitor center, but it was a different parking lot than the one we’d started at which was opposite the park headquarters.

This was about 2.5 miles along the 3.5 mile loop trail, so we had another mile or so to get back to our parking lot. The last mile was pretty easy, following a relatively flat trail that goes alongside the road and through the woods.

Although this section was easy enough to hike along, it was a little harder seeing the path at some points due to the sheer number of leaves on the ground.

Thankfully the trail is well marked, so keep an eye out for the trail blazes. It’s hard to see them all in the photo below, but there are four separate trail blazes that could be seen at this point, so there’s not much danger of getting lost provided you’re paying attention. If you’re not hiking in the fall with leaves blanketing the ground, it likely wouldn’t be a problem anyway.

It didn’t take long for Truffles and I to get back to the park headquarters, cross over the road and get back to our car.

Final Thoughts

The Chimney Rock and Wolf Rock trail at Catoctin Mountain Park is a great hike near Frederick, MD. It’s a 3.5 mile moderate loop trail which takes in a couple of rock formations. The trail is well marked with a scenic overlook at Chimney Rock. Just be sure to keep an eye out for the rock formation known as Chimney Rock as I’ve belatedly realized I might have missed seeing it!