District of Columbia trails · Potomac Heritage Trail

Potomac Heritage Trail

A 9.5-mile section of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail in District of Columbia, with 255 ft of climbing. The full trail runs about 710 miles.

Open in the interactive map →

Length

9.5 mi

Elevation gain

255 ft

Difficulty

Hard

Max grade

30%

Steepest mile

+210 ft

Tread at ≥10% grade

1.0 mi

Shape

out-and-back

Surface

Ground

Bikes

Elevation profile

Most of the climbing sits in the middle third — 90% of the ascent, between mile 3.2 and mile 6.4. It gives back about 569 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.

3-D terrain

USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5

Heads up

Stream ford: expect at least one unbridged crossing.

Getting there

Chain Bridge Trail access — parking nearby. 38.92961, -77.11646 · directions

Daylight at the trailhead

On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:08 a.m., the sun rises at 6:36 a.m. and sets at 7:40 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:08 p.m. (EDT) — 13 h 05 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 19.0-mile round trip takes roughly 7 h 18 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 1:54 p.m. — 5 h 46 min before sunset.

Across the border

Continues into VA as Tri Pedestrian Bridge Over Parkway — view on the map
Continues into VA as Mount Vernon Trail — view on the map