US Hiking & Backpacking Club (US-HBC)

Lovettsville, VA, US

4,739 members · Public group

Organized by Ray Smith and 7 others

What we’re about

Who we are:
US Hiking & Backpacking Club (US-HBC) is an United States based outdoor group led by volunteers. Our mission is to model and contribute to a healthy life-style while leaving an ever-decreasing footprint.

US-HBC was founded in 2015 by, then, Washington, DC resident Jin Zhang, a passionate outdoors lover. In 2021 she created another outdoor club, Budget International Travel & Trek Club (BITTC), to focus on outdoor exploration via international travel, hiking and backpacking while making it affordable to most outdoor enthusiasts.

The US-HBC promotes and supports both local and national hiking, trail maintenance and watershed cleanup organizations and participates in such volunteer endeavors.

WAIVER
Your participation in any club activity resulting in bodily injury and/or death, and personal and public property damage or losses is your sole responsibility. You are responsible for your own safety, preparedness and mental & physical wellbeing. You need to know your trip-related skill level, experience, physical fitness and medical condition. Event hosts may suggest alternative route to you for the benefit of yourself and the group. You are expected to be fully cooperative.

You are solely and fully responsible for any cost or fees accrued to you in case of search, rescue and evacuation involved.

Your attendance on any organized event signifies that you have read and accepted the terms of this liability waiver and absolve the US-HBC of any responsibility.

10 Essentials
(http://hikesafe.com/uploads/PDFs/hike_safe_10_Essentials.pdf).

EVENTS:
We focus on hiking, bike-packing, backpacking, kayak/canoe paddling, touring and other activities.

ACTIVITIES
These are the main activities US-HBC plans to have:.
Class A: Hiking and Backpacking.
Class B: Trip leading related training, skills & certificate classes.
Class C: Canoeing, Kayaking, SUP paddling, Swimming and Sailing.
Class D: Camping.
Class F: Trail maintenance & watershed cleaning voluntary events.
Class G: Sightseeing and traveling.
Class H: Other events hosted by the Club.
Class I: Other events not hosted by US-HBC leaders.
Class J: Other events cross posted by other groups.
Any success of a group depends on the contribution from all the members. We welcome and encourage all our Club members to participant in leadership by self-learning, training, co-leading and leading trips. It's a great personal growth and leadership skill learning opportunity.

EVENT FEES USAGE
“Pay it forward … according to need.”

MEMBERS & MEMBERSHIP
(1) Everyone is welcome to join DC-HBC, free of charge. Members are encouraged to learn, to share and to grow through participating in our events.
(2) Members are expected to follow Hiking Etiquette and "Leave No Trace 7 Principles" while participating in hiking events.
(3) Members should try their best to avoid last minute cancelation or "NO SHOW" to the event they signed up. Unexpected things do happen, please change your RSVP or message the Event Host ASAP.

Featured event

Sat, 24 May 2025, 11:10 am EDT4M Mod Pace/Women's Suffrage Memorial-Burns Museum/Scenic Occoquan River Loop

Lorton Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton , VA

4M Mod Pace/Women's Suffrage Memorial-Burns Museum/Scenic Occoquan River Loop cover photo

Weather: bit.ly/4kj2zJV

This walk is an ongoing, monthly recognition of the women suffragists' dedicated perseverance in pursuing their pivotal protest to get the right to vote. Their Lorton imprisonment and the horrific torture they suffered was largely due to their simply protesting outside the White House.

We’ll congregate in the workhouse's farthest south parking lot just beyond the Workhouse Arts Center's Visitors' building, with colocated restroom. Stay on Workhouse Way, bypassing the first parking lot until you see your guide's small grey suv with our US-HBC sign displayed on the windshield.
https://www.workhousearts.org/visitor-information
9518 Workhouse Way, Lorton, VA 2207

Our walk route will end at the Suffragist Lucy Burns Museum, building W-2, open 11-6pm in the southeast corner of the arts center. It's a one-minute walk away from our parked vehicles. You may also want to visit the other co-located art center buildings. Plus the now repurposed for retail main Lorton Prison Yard or Brickmakers Cafe at Occoquan Regional Park. The cafe is located next to the kiln that was used by prisoners to make the bricks that built the infamous Lorton Prison. Though it was envisioned by Theodore Roosevelt, and originally built, as a "work-house/farm" emphasizing rehabilitation: A model now used in some Scandinavian locales.
https://nvretail.com/liberty
https://www.novaparks.com/parks/brickmakers-cafe
https://suffragistmemorial.org/memorial-dedicated-may-16-2021/

We will strive to walk a 2.75 hour pace on this initial, 300' gain loop: The first mile of which we'll walk in silent remembrance. We'll utilize a lovely, pine-forested portion of the 40-mile Fairfax Cross County Trail (CCT) to reach the very scenic river view along the shoreline of the Occoquan Regional Park. Upon approaching the Suffragist Turning Point Memorial stop, we'll note the park’s Brickmaker’s Cafe’ location for your later reference. Then return to the CCT and Lucy Burns Museum, just beyond where your vehicles are parked.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/virginia/occoquan-regional-park-loop
https://www.novaparks.com/parks/brickmakers-cafe

Upon returning to the Workhouse Arts Center parking area and ending this first four-mile loop segment, some may choose to depart and others may visit the Lucy Burns Museum, open 11am-6pm, Saturdays. Though it’s generally “free of charge,” there is a $5 fee for an optional guided tour of a mock-up depiction of a suffragist prison cell. Some may chose to do another three miles including the quaint little town of Occoquan on the opposite side of the river.

The Occoquan Park's Brickmakers' Cafe’ is open 11am-5pm..
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Many of the nearby Laurel Hill former main prison ground buildings now comprise the repurposed Liberty Housing area. Perhaps, ask your host/interpretive guide what it was like to be “imprisoned” there, so to speak. Always, please ensure that you inform your guide upon ending your walk.

There are several restroom opportunities, starting with the Workhouse visitors' center close by the Lucy Burns Museum.

Manageable, maximum five-foot leashed dogs are welcome. Please keep your dog to the far side of you and avoid interaction with other dogs. It is important to drink fluids in any weather. Please wear well-broken-in, quality insert footwear. Using a hiking pole/walking stick is always wise though we will be walking on pavement, largely, and well-kept, hard-packed trails.

This monthly walk is personally dedicated to the memory of your guide's sentinel, Edwina Alverta Reeves: “A Girl of the Limberlost.” Who's your hero woman?