Inner Meadow Trail at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

---

See the Hiking Trails web page for a trail map.

---

Length:  .5-mile one way
Time:  20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to moderate with a short but very steep climb at the end

The Inner Meadow Trail at Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a half-mile out-and-back trail (1 mile round trip). However, it is doubtful that anyone would make an out-and-back hike out of it, as the only sensible way to proceed is to combine it with other trails to make a loop. Options are to return on either the Outer Meadow Trail or the Forest Trail. This report covers only the Inner Meadow Trail.

Before starting out on any of the trails at Fort Necessity during the summer, be aware that gnats are a huge problem. I highly recommend wearing a hat and mosquito net on your head, otherwise you are likely to have the pests buzzing your ears, flying up your nose and into your mouth, and your arm will fall off from waving it in front of your face the entire time trying to shoo them away.

As with all trails at Fort Necessity National Battlefield, you must first walk out to the reconstructed fort on a 300-yard paved path that begins at the back of the Visitor Center. Follow the TRAIL TO FORT sign. To get to the Inner Meadow Trail, look for a wayside exhibit just past the benches where park Rangers give talks about the fort. At the exhibit is the trailhead for a connector trail that will get you to where you want to go. If you reference a trail map, the connector is the grey line that passes through FRENCH CAMP.

Paved path from the Fort Necessity National Battlefield Visitor Center to the fort

Connector trail to the Braddock Road Trace at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Take the connector trail for .1 mile until it dead ends into Braddock Road Trace. Turn right at the intersection to get to the Inner Meadow Trail.

Connector trail dead ends into the Braddock Road Trace at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Braddock Road Trace is an original segment of an old road built back in George Washington’s day. In fact, it was actually built by Washington and later improved upon by British officer General Edward Braddock. Of course a road in the 1750s was nothing more than a wide, dirt trail, and that’s exactly what you will find today.

Braddock Road Trace at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

The Braddock Road Trace heads downhill into a shallow ravine and crosses over Indian Run (a small creek) via a footbridge. At the bridge is an intersection with another trail that connects back to the bench area—the red trail on the map. Just beyond this is an intersection on the left (Indian Run Trail) and seconds later another intersection on the right, a connector trail that begins at Fort Necessity itself. By this time you will be on the Inner Meadow Trail, for Braddock Road Trace simply turns into it.

The trail continues through the forest for a short stretch beyond the third intersection, but soon spills out into a beautiful meadow on a mowed path through the grass. You’ll be hiking uphill, and short sections of the hike are pretty steep. In a little over a tenth of a mile you’ll reach the top of the hill.

Hilly section of the Inner Meadow Trail at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Believe it or not, a hike through this pretty meadow can be dangerous. Why? I’m going to call them gopher holes, but regardless of what animal dug them, they are everywhere. The smallest are as big around as a softball and the largest a baby could crawl into. To make matters worse, you can’t see them because of the grass. You could step into one of these holes and snap your leg in two. There’s not much you can do about it other than stay off the trails. In the photo below, you can see my foot in one of the holes—my heel is buried up to the top of the shoe.

Shoe in a gopher hole on the Inner Meadow Trail at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

No sooner do you get to the top of the hill than you’ll be heading down one. It’s a short descent, and once at the bottom it’s uphill again until the trail ends. On the way you’ll come to an intersection with a trail on your right that connects to the Outer Meadow Trail. However, if you were planning to make a loop with that trail, this is not the time to do it. Stay straight to continue on the Inner Meadow Trail.

The last 200 feet of the hike is up a tippy-toe steep hill. That’s a hill so steep that you must push off on the balls of your feet to move forward, and your heels never touch the ground. The average grade is 20%, and most hikers agree that strenuous begins at 15%. Luckily the climb doesn’t last long, and at the top, the Inner Meadow Trail dead ends into the Outer Meadow Trail. Another wayside exhibit with a trail map marks the intersection.

Intersection of the Inner Meadow and Outer Meadow trails at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

If you want to return on the Outer Meadow Trail, take a right. If you want to return on the Forest Trail, take a left, though you’ll remain on the Outer Meadow Trail for a while before coming to the Forest Trail intersection. Either way you have about a mile hike back to the starting point.

YOU ARE HERE map at the intersection of the Inner Meadow and Outer Meadow trails at Fort Necessity National Battlefield

Back to the Top