Well, I tried to do this hike yesterday, but encountered parking issues. The book said to park at Fletcher's Boathouse off Canal Road, but I couldn't get there. It might have been because Canal Road is only one-way into DC during rush hour, but there was no way to turn into the parking lot from the direction I was going. And there's nowhere to park on Canal Rd after you've passed some of the locks further up north. So I ended up on GW Parkway headed north on River Rd to try Hike 17. I might try this hike again, but I might need a DC native to go with me because the directions to get there are really vague: "walk down the Capital Crescent Trail and find a tunnel" or "north of the flowershop, there's a field that leads to the path." Really?
OK, it's almost three years later and I finally found the park! The trick is to go at it from the north, not the south. This time I took the metro to Tenleytown, walked a few block to Van Ness, and the "trailhead" is in that vicinity. It's mostly a dirt path in the middle of a field...not the best-marked thing in the world. But thanks to Google Maps, I only overshot it once! This is actually one of my new favorite hikes. It's sort of weird because you're in the middle of a forest and then you're on one of the busiest streets in DC and you repeat that a couple times. But it's really quite straightforward and lovely. All sorts of people are on the trail walking their dogs, trail running, taking a break from work...
I happened to be on the trail a day after a major thunderstorm that almost knocked a tree branch onto our car and broke our patio umbrella.
I mention this because this created some very interesting road blocks that appeared intermittently during the hike. One you just sort of crawled through, one you walked around, and the third one you had to climb over.
But pretty soon, you make it to the Capital Crescent Trail, which somehow connects to the C&O Canal Towpath, and tada!, Georgetown is right there! I've never been to Georgetown, and that seems a travesty after living in the area for almost fifteen years, so what's the first place I visit? Georgetown Cupcake, of course! Plus I was getting hungry. One chocolate hazelnut cupcake and and Izze soda later, I was ready to explore!
I walked back to the waterfront, where people were playing in a community fountain, lounging around in the grass, and eating a riverside lunch. Everyone in Georgetown looks like they belong in a really high tax bracket. :) I wandered down M Street and found the Old Stone House, which is a historic building from the 1700s.
After that, I decided I'd walk back up Wisconsin as far as I could before hitching a ride on a bus to go back to the Metro station. Deciding where to eat lunch was rather difficult - I wasn't exactly dressed for a sit down place, and eating at Subway in Georgetown seemed like a waste. I found a really cute deli and had a smoothie and tuna sandwich. And then I found a place that made homemade ice cream and chocolate! Of course, I made myself sick eating all this stuff. Sigh. Trudged slowly to Tudor Place and wandered around the gardens there.
Thought about going to Dumbarton, but that one cost $10, so I'll wait until I have out-of-towners to visit there. At this point I was getting pretty tired of the sun (I forgot my hat), so I hopped on a bus and made it back none the worse for wear!
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