Giles Run and courses to play driving from DC to Rochester

[Jank]

I'm in DC for the week and I played Seneca Creek Park in MD today which was fun. Anyone play Giles Run course in Fairfax VA? I've heard it's a great course. I'm a bit afraid of Giles run because I hear there's tons of ticks and I recently saw a documentary on Lyme disease (called "under our skin") that freaked me out a bit. Does anyone on this forum play it? I might be able to get in a round after work this week around 530pm if you are around.

Anyways I'm looking for other recommendations of courses to play along route 15 back up to Rochester, NY when I drive back next weekend.

Here are some contenders based on course reviews of 3+ stars on the discgolfcoursereview website:
Whispering Falls DGC in Greencastle, PA
Coyote Hills DGC Carlisle, PA 17013
Creekside DGC Camp Hill, PA 17011
Pinchot State Park - Quaker's Challenge Lewisberry, PA 17339
Pinchot State Park - Boulder Woods Lewisberry, PA 17339
Lime Bluff Recreation Area Hughesville, PA 17737
Denison Park Corning, NY 14830
Twin Creeks DGC Addison, NY 14801

 

[biscoe]

ticks are not out en masse yet. probably a few but not millions.

 

[prerube]

I make this exact trip 4-5 times a year.

Whispering Falls DGC in Greencastle, PA is quite a bit off the route, but I hear amazing things about it

Coyote Hills DGC Carlisle, PA a decent course, I gave it a 3 back in 2011. I would not pick this course as a top 5 choice

Creekside DGC Camp Hill NO! It is cluttered and disappointing. I gave it a 2.5 in 2010 and it seems people are still rating it around the same.

Pinchot State Park - Quaker's Challenge Lewisberry Fantastic. It is literally right off the route and it is a tough attractive course, clearly a top choice

Pinchot State Park - Boulder Woods Good choice. It is in the same park as Quaker and was far better than I anticipated, but it is a lot os super short holes

Lime Bluff Recreation Area It is cutesy, It has lots of potential and is a fun course for a rec-intermediate level player. I think I greatly overrated this course in my review, since I liked the novelty gimmicks back then.

Denison Park Corning Not far off your route. It is a decent standard 18 holer with some water, but bring a map.

 

[prerube]

at Giles, fear the thorns and lost discs more than the ticks.

It is about 7 hours from DC to Rochester. If you leave at 7am then you can get about 6 hours of playing in. Do you want quantity or quality.

I think the Pinchoit State Park courses are your best bet. After you have finished those courses you have about 5 hours left of driving, then you can decide if you have the time or energy to play another.

If you are in DC then you should sneak out and play Bluemont and Francis Scott Key. They are the 2 closest to DC. You can play them both very quickly.

 

[Jank]

Thanks for the recommendations.

I'm just going to play 1 course on the way home and maybe a couple courses around DC during the week.

Pinchot State Park - Quaker's Challenge Lewisberry appears to be the top course on the way home based on your feedback.

 

[sidewinder22]

Quake is pretty sweet! If you are a little more adventurous you could check out Paw Paw!

 

[prerube]

I would meet you while playing DC, but I will be playing Scarboro this weekend. If you can hit up Patapsco while you are around, it will be worth the drive.

You can hit College Park / Calvert Park by Metro. It is an old classic, pretty short and quick to play.

 

[KniceZ]

Giles is a very interesting course but navigation is a little tricky and the briar patches are legendary. If you get off fairway chances of disc recovery can be low.

If you have limited time you may want to just try Bluemont in Arlington. Getting down I-95 to Giles can be rough at rush hour.

 

[optidiscic]

Quake Quake Quake!

 

[Jank]

Tried bluemont today and Burke lake the previous day. Bluemont was a very "cute" course and id go back again. Burke was pretty lame but a good attempt given the space limited to.

I'm gonna check out this Giles course. Worried I'm gonna get lost or get lyme disease but hopefully not. Not worried about losing discs to thorns. It's part of the price you pay for a good hard course. Excited about Quaker too but paw paw def sounds awesome. I'd goto paw paw if I wasn't alone and could enjoy it with friends.

 

[GLong]

if you have time, whispering falls is well worth the extra travel time.

 

[notapro]

Those thorns at Giles Run are truly legendary.

 

[Jank]

Is whispering falls better than Quakers? It's not too far out of my route.

Paw paw looks real good but that is a bit too far. I wish I could go there thou.

Also the thorns are much less concerning than Lyme disease from ticks. Watch the documentary called "under our skin"
And it will freak you out like it has me.

:/

 

[optidiscic]

I have a feeling Jank is still stuck in those thorns he wasnt worried about...lmao

 

[Jank]

I just ordered 7 discs from gotta go gotta throw today so I'm ready to lose some of my old discs

 

[AdamCaudle]

The thorns are pretty terrible at giles run, but many of the fairways are wide enough to where you don't really need to worry about getting in them. There were some trails people had cut in the thorns when I played there 2-3 years ago, so a disc isn't absolutely gone if you go in them. It's overall a fun and beautiful course.

 

[sidewinder22]

Is whispering falls better than Quakers? It's not too far out of my route.

Paw paw looks real good but that is a bit too far. I wish I could go there thou.

Quake is my preference over the Falls and both are about equidistant to me. Quake is a lot easier to navigate and finding discs off the "fairways", and in general I like the holes better and has way less blind shots. I have a hard time bringing myself back to the Falls because it only takes another 30 mins to get to Paw Paw heading that direction.

 

[Jank]

Played Giles. Wow are those thorns legendary. Only saw 1 tick (or at least I think it was a tick). But those thorns are definitely intimidating. They get into your head when your throwing cause you slow down your shot to be more controlled and by doing that it ends up messing up your shot.

I lost one DX Valk which I consider a victory cause after losing it on the 5th hole I figure i'd lose alot more but I didn't.

The map helped me out but it was even still hard to figure out where the next hole was with the map.

 

[Jank]

I need another place to play tomorrow. I've now played:
Seneca Creek
Giles
Bluemont
Burke Lake

I can leave from work at 5pm tomorrow from Arlington to go somewhere before it gets dark. Friday I'll have more time cause I'll be out around noon leaving from Arlington and will have the rest of the day to go somewhere. Need recommendations

 

[optidiscic]

Played Giles. Wow are those thorns legendary. Only saw 1 tick (or at least I think it was a tick). But those thorns are definitely intimidating. They get into your head when your throwing cause you slow down your shot to be more controlled and by doing that it ends up messing up your shot.

I lost one DX Valk which I consider a victory cause after losing it on the 5th hole I figure i'd lose alot more but I didn't.

The map helped me out but it was even still hard to figure out where the next hole was with the map.

we have a believer...it's funny how no one understands the horror of those thorns until they have played them