Hike 31: Fraser Preserve

I tried to do this one the same afternoon as Scotts Run, but the parking situation here is REALLY ODD, so I gave up.  Basically, the gate into the camp area is locked so you have to park on a single-lane road that doesn't really have room for you to park on, go through the locked gate (sketchy, if you ask me), and then hike a mile to the trailhead on a gravel driveway.  I bailed after I tried to park and nearly fell in a ditch.

Hike 27: Mount Vernon Trail and Fort Hunt Park

Totally did not know you could hike to Mount Vernon!  From Fort Hunt Park, it's not too bad! 

 

This is a pretty straightforward multi-use trail. 

We spent some time at Mt. Vernon as well, although it was rainy and sticky humid and Mt. Vernon was under construction so we didn't linger.

Hike 30: Scotts Run Nature Preserve

This area is tucked into a little corner of Falls Church next to the Potomac. 

 

There are signs everywhere telling people not to swim, but that's pretty much completely ignored.  Most of the people on the trail with me were wearing bathing suits and the waterfall that spills into a little pool before flowing into the Potomac is filled with teenagers splashing around. 

It's actually a little obnoxious because there are a lot of remnants of drunken parties lying around what should be a beautiful area.  The trail itself is also poorly maintained on the eastern half of the preserve so you have to scrabble through a lot of brush.  But it makes things a little adventurous, I suppose.  And a little spooky...  :)

Hike 25: Holmes Run Parklands

I did this hike while Chris was out of town and ventured into Virginia all by myself!  :)  This was in a area near Alexandria.  You start near Duke Street in a parking area behind a library.  You cross a bridge onto the walking trail to Holmes Run Greenway. 

 The directions in the book are actually really confusing so I didn't follow them.  I just followed the trail all the way to downtown Alexandria.  It's quite scenic, but there isn't a lot of shade once you get to the part of the trail that parallels the driving road.

Hike 38: Magruder Branch Trail

Chris and I did this for our anniversary celebration!

It starts really close to our home, at a rec park with a huge soccer field and baseball diamond too.  You have to walk from the parking lot to a paved loop trail that lots of people use for running before you get to the turnoff to the dirt hiking trail.  It's pretty straightforward with some areas that are a bit overgrown (I made Chris go first in those sections).  Eventually you pass this open field area behind a bunch of giant mansions and then you run into Seneca Creek.

 It looks like you should be able to continue across the creek to the Seneca Greenway Trail, which we've done from the other end.  It was a nice spot to munch on our PBJ sandwiches.

On our way back, Chris picked a nice ripe blackberry - it was actually really sweet!  He really wanted to see a black bear, but no such luck.  :)

Hike 24: Watkins Regional Park

This place is fantastic for kids!  There's a great nature center that you start at and lots of little trails. 

The longest one is called "Spicebush Trail" and it takes you the whole way around the park.  It's a little overgrown and I don't think many people walk the trail.  I was periodically freaked out by spiderwebs strung across the trail, but it wasn't awful.  The book says the trails are "mostly names, signposted, and color coded" and that's true for the most part but sometimes the trails end very abruptly in a field of nothing. 

And Spicebush Trail sort of dead ends into a parking lot and I never found the rest of the trail, so I wandered around and eventually followed a road back to the nature center.  But that's when I discovered the best part!  They have an old farm that wasn't open that day, but you can wander around outside the fence and they have PEACOCKS!  I took pictures and videotapes for a good twenty minutes.  They were so cool.  They also have turkeys and chickens and probably some mammals too, but I couldn't see them.

Hike 13: Capital Crescent Trail

I was originally planning to bike this trail, but when a friend asked if I wanted to go on a hike with her, I had a brilliant idea to hike from Bethesda to Georgetown, have lunch down there, wander around and shop, and generally make a day of it!  Of course the day we planned was one of the hottest days of the year - mid 90s and humid.  I woke up kind of icky, but I figured I was just hungry so I had some breakfast and we met up with Caitlin.  A few texts back and forth to figure out where on the trail we were meeting, but we got started with no problems.  Lots of chit chat about work and such and we made it to the Daelcarlia Tunnel, "built in 1910 to carry the railroad line under both Conduit Road (now MacArthur Blvd) and the pipes carrying river water to Dalecarlia Reservoir."

I was starting to slow down a bit, but I figured it was just hot, so I kept drinking my water, but it wasn't helping.  We made it to a refurbished ex-railroad bridge right after leaving Montgomery County, and I had to take a break and sit on an electric box or something.  Caitlin did some research on where we were and Chris went down to Fletcher's boathouse to check out the facilities there.  Caitlin went up a small trail to see if it led back to a main road where we could hop off and go home.  I thought I was doing better until I threw up behind the electrical box.  :(  After that, I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to soldier on, so when Chris came back from the boathouse, we went up the little trail back onto Arizona Ave.  Caitlin and I got drinks at a Starbucks and she started calling cab companies.  Chris, who was feeling totally fine, ran up Wisconsin Ave to meet us at Tenleytown Metro.  Of course, he beat us there!  That was pretty much the end of that hike.  It was sort of pathetic...

Hike 8: Military Sights in Upper Northwest Washington

This hike started at the Nature Center in Rock Creek Park.  I stopped in to grab a map of the park and it's a good thing, because the trails aren't particularly well marked and I sort of turned the wrong way after seeing Fort DeRussy.  Which isn't much of a fort, actually - now it's just a plaque saying that a fort used to be there.

I had intended to do a loop up Oregon Ave to the north side of the park and then come back down on the Beach Dr side, but I ended up do a little zigzag.  I was tooling along at a nice little pace with trail runners passing me in both directions when it started to thunder in the distance.  The weather forecast said the rain was supposed to start around rush hour, and it was only about 2PM, so I figured it was far enough away that I would be fine.  Or not...

Honestly, after a while, you don't even notice being wet.  Luckily I had a hat on, otherwise my glasses would have been completely covered and I would have been blind.  I walked through torrential rain for about 30 minutes before it tapered off.  It actually stopped raining for a while, but I still had a few miles to go.  I didn't really stop to sight see, but the extra water from the rain made Rock Creek quite picturesque.

About ten minutes from the parking lot, the thunder started rumbling again, and not a minute after I made it back to the car, PHOOM!, the sky opened up even more than before!  It was way darker at this point too.  It made driving out of the park pretty interesting with all the road flooding.  One of the more exciting hikes I've done, that's for sure!

Hike 7: Brookland

After a few years doing other things, we're back!  I am on a Kilimanjaro training mission, and will be spending a few days a week hiking again.  I meant to do more in the spring, but it's tough finding the time!  This hike was a special treat for me - I played hooky from school on a beautiful spring morning and met up with an old friend from college afterwards.

The first stop, conveniently located by a parking lot, was the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  It's a long name, but a beautiful building!  Apparently, it's the world's eighth largest church.  Who knew?  Right in the middle of DC!

I spent some time wandering around inside (it's a bit intimidating, but everyone is very welcoming), and then, of course, got lost headed in the wrong direction from the map.  Interestingly, I found Trinity University, which several of our students attend.

Eventually, I wound my way back around and headed up to Rock Creek Cemetery, passing a couple interesting sites along the way, including the Saint John Paul II Memorial Shrine and the Washington Retreat House.

According to the book, this is the city's oldest burial ground (1719).  I didn't actually enter the cemetery, but it had some very interesting gravestones and monuments that you could see from the surrounding fence.  After the Rock Creek Cemetery, you can also see the U.S. Soldiers' Home National Cemetery, which dates from 1861 as a burial ground for Civil War soldiers.

Last stop on the "official" hike was Brookland Metro, which I took into Union Station to meet up with my friend.  I actually got there a little early, so I made a quick stop into the U.S. Postal Museum, which I'd never been to before.  I learned all about Owney, the postal mascot!