Rock Creek Park
District of Columbia
Tonight
🌗 46% moon
6.6 h fully dark
Hikes
Easy–Strenuous
🟢 🔴
Crowds
moderate
Entrance
Free entry
Areas of Meridian Hill Park closed for repairs
Much of the upper level of the park is closed to rehabilitate the grass. Fountains and the reflecting pool are open but may be turned off or drained occasionally for maintenance. The reflecting pool will undergo repairs June 20-28. Visit the Meridian Hill Park page for more information.
Official NPS alert →Nature Center and Planetarium Closure
The Nature Center and Planetarium building is closed until further notice due to continued remediation. Check the park's calendar for changes to ranger programs and locations.
Glover Archbold Trail detour
For visitor safety, the southern end of the Glover Archbold Trail is under an emergency closure until further notice due to aerial hazards. Please follow the posted detour along Foxhall Rd. / 44th St. NW / P St. NW.
Official NPS alert →Part of Fort Totten Park remains closed for public safety
Out of an abundance of caution, Fort Totten Park will remain closed east of Fort Totten Drive, south of Gallatin Street/Metropolitan Branch Trail and north of Brookland Ave NE/Farragut St. due to the investigation involving two WWI-era munitions found.
Official NPS alert →Rock Creek Park is truly a gem in our nation's capital. This 1,754 acre city park was officially authorized in 1890, making it the third national park to be designated by the federal government. It offers visitors the opportunity to escape the bustle of the city and find a peaceful refuge, recreation, fresh air, majestic trees, wild animals, and thousands of years of human history.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Unless otherwise designated, all park land is open sunrise to sunset. Roads are open 24 hours unless posted otherwise.
Hours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 202-895-6000
✉ rocr_superintendent@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Dec
Typical crowds: moderate
Weather now: ⛅ Partly cloudy, 92°F
🌧️ 92°/75°
🌧️ 93°/73°
🌦️ 95°/72°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
56%
Feb
52%
Mar
59%
Apr
67%
May
75%
Jun
93%
Jul
100%
Aug
97%
Sep
78%
Oct
71%
Nov
59%
Dec
48%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Horseback Riding in Rock Creek Park · 13 mi
Multi-Park Loop · 10 mi
Explore the Georgetown Waterfront
🟢 Biking in Rock Creek Park
Red Line - DC Metro · 1 mi
Boating in Rock Creek Park
Visit the Planetarium · Young Planetarium (appropriate for audiences aged 4 years and up) runs for about 20 minutes.<br /> <br /> Other programs last longer and are appropriate for older audiences.
Milkhouse Ford Hike · 1.75 mi
Visitor centers
Nature Center
Old Stone House
Peirce Mill
Accessibility
216 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Parking
Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetariumaccessible
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Rock Creek Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
People & stories
Figures tied to Rock Creek Park — each spans a cross-park journey.
Abner Peirce
— Peirce MillAnne M. Archbold
— Rock Creek Park, Glover Archbold Park, GeorgetownBarbara Smith Suter
— Old Stone House, Burning Of Washington, War Of 1812Beatrice Klingle
— Rock Creek Park, Klingle Mansion, Women HistoryBeatrix Farrand
— Landscape, Women's History, Landscape ArchitectCassandra Chew
— Georgetown, Old Stone HouseCharles Carroll Glover, Jr.
— Glover Archbold Park, Rock Creek ParkClarence O. Sherrill
— Rock Creek Park, Rock Creek And Potomac Parkway, Lincoln MemorialPassport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Nature Center
🎫 Old Stone House
🎫 Peirce Mill
Places to see
122nd New York Volunteer Infantry Monument
audio
150th Ohio National Guard Infantry Monument
audio
25th New York Volunteer Cavalry Monument
audio
98th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Monument
audio
African American cemetery
audio
Battery Kemble
audio
Battery Kemble: flag pole location
audio
Battleground National Cemetery
audio
Battleground National Cemetery: Gettysburg Address Plaque
audio
Blagden Mill
audio
Bluff Bridge
audio
Boulder Bridge
audioAudio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Recipients of the 2002 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
Recipients of the 2011 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards
The National Park Service is pleased to congratulate the recipients of the 2022 George and Helen Hartzog Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
The National Park Service congratulates the regional recipients of the 2023 Excellence in Volunteerism Awards. These nominees embody the values of service, engagement, and stewardship fundamental to our national parks.
Many people begin second careers later in life, but few can claim to have defined a professional field and influenced how generations of National Park Service (NPS) visitors experienced the parks in the process. Freeman Tilden was 59 years old when he turned his attention to national parks. He never wore the "green and gray" NPS uniform but he still made groundbreaking contributions to the NPS and the field of interpretation.
What if your office were the woods? Your break room a mossy log? This is the reality for members of the Inventory & Monitoring forest vegetation crew. The team has collected data on forest health in NCR parks every year since 2006 and recently completed the fourth cycle of forest vegetation monitoring (2018-2022). Learn what staff biologists and technicians have to say about their experiences in the field these past five years.
Excavations of the Whitby house cellar, and documentary research done as part of the same project, have opened a window into Washington's African-American past.
The 28th Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops was one of the troops attached to the Defenses of Washington. This regiment of infantry was established on November 30, 1863 by Indiana Governor Oliver P. Morton. Reverend Willis Revels of the African American Episcopal Church was the chief recruiting officer. The recruits trained for three months and on April 25 1863, six companies of the 28th left Indianapolis for Washington, D.C. where they were attached to the capital’s defenses.
How Rock Creek Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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Activity
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Trail
ThingToDo
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