Trail Games

Trail games are a great way to break up your hike or just have fun on the towpath! Take a water break, stretch, and try some of these trail games the next time you visit the C&O Canal National Historical Park. Remember to #RecreateResponsibly and Leave No Trace while having fun in the Park.

 

Trail Bingo

Before starting the hike, everyone picks one object you’re likely to spot on the trail, like a hiker with two dogs, yellow flower, red backpack. Once everyone has chosen their object and have announced it to the group, the challenge begins!

As you hike the trail, everyone will look for the various objects the group listed. The player who sees a listed object first must say "Bingo!" and name the object to claim the point. Continue throughout your hike and see who racks up the most points at the end!

 

Twenty Questions

A classic trail game that encourages critical thinking and challenges your guessing skills! Choose one person to think of a person or a place. Everyone else gets 20 yes or no questions to try to figure out what or who it is.

 

ABCs on the Trail

This is a great family trail game that encourages team thinking and can be adapted for even more challenge fun! Starting with the letter “A,” one team member has to find something along the trail that begins with “A” before moving to the next person and next letter. Continue in rotation until the end.

 

Categories

One person thinks of a specific category like types of bugs, dessert foods, countries with the beginning letter M, sports teams, etc. Everyone takes turns naming something that fits into that category. Continue playing until a player can’t think of something within a 5-second time limit or an answer gets repeated.

 

Tree Master

This is game somewhat like hiking musical chairs, with tree identification built in! One person is chosen to serve as the first Tree Master. As you are hiking, the Tree Master calls out the name of a tree (PawPaw tree for example). Everyone then has to use speedy tree ID skills. When you have spotted the tree, safely and sneakily, stand next to the correct tree. Last one to spot the tree is out! Last person remaining becomes the new Tree Master!

 

Close-Ups

This game is great for breaks along the trail. Have someone with a camera or smartphone walk ahead on the trail and take a super close-up shot of an object along the trail (e.g. a mushroom, a knot in a tree, a crack in a rock). The close-up should not be able to easily show the object. The photographer will return to the group, show the picture, and then the challenge begins. Whoever finds the correct object first wins!