The nicest routes for woodsy rambles in my extended neighborhood are along streams. A few quick reviews and commentaries, in case anyone would like suggestions for strolls in the northern DC suburbs:
- Rock Creek Trail — ~14 miles north from the DC-Montgomery County line to Lake Needwood ... paved, good water fountains every 2-3 miles, generally clean and safe, sporadic trailside emergency phones, excellent scenery, a couple of major road crossings, hilly in the northern half. The Montgomery County "Marathon in the Parks" follows ~9 miles of the path ...
- Sligo Creek Trail — ~10 miles from Wheaton Regional Park south from Montgomery County into Prince George's County, to where Sligo Creek flows into Northwest Branch ... a couple of water fountains and several tricky road crossings ... good scenery ...
- Northwest Branch — ~7 paved miles northwestward in Prince George's County, from the merge with the Northeast Branch (which forms the Anacostia River) ... not much drinking water along the way, some bad road crossings, but interesting urban-park scenery. North from the paved trailhead a rugged unpaved path continues ~5 miles farther along Northwest Branch to Wheaton Regional Park, where it is possible to cross over a few ridges to meet the Sligo Creek Trail ...
- Northeast Branch — ~5 paved miles in Prince George's County northeastward from the Anacostia/Northwest Branch to College Park Airport, where connections exist to the Indian Creek Trail, the Lake Artemesia loop, and the Paint Branch Trail. Paint Branch in turn proceeds to the Capital Beltway ~5 miles farther north; on the way it crosses the University of Maryland campus (in College Park) where it is easy to cut over to the Northwest Branch Trail (via University Blvd.) and make a fine ~11 mile loop run ...
- Rock Creek Park — ~11 miles from the Kennedy Center (or Thompson's Boat Center) north to the DC-Montgomery County line ... mostly paved, but water fountains are sporadic and unreliable. The route follows the road (Beach Drive) north of Tilden Street and thus isn't good except on weekends when cars are excluded. Also in Rock Creek are some excellent unpaved routes, esp. the Western Ridge Trail and the Valley Trail. These are fun but quite strenuous in places, sometimes muddy and overgrown, have minimal or no services along the way, and negligible supervision or safety features — but also present superb scenery and up-close wildlife ...
And there's also the abandoned/converted rail line:
- Capital Crescent Trail — ~12 miles from the Georgetown riverfront through Bethesda and into Silver Spring, paved until the final ~3 miles where it's gravel and crushed stone as it passes through a rather industrial zone. There are several good water fountains, some tricky road crossings, and excellent scenery, including the trestle over Rock Creek. This trail forms a fine ~23 mile loop when combined with Rock Creek Park's main trail ...
(for maps and other information see http://www.montgomerytrails.org, http://www.pgparks.com/places/parks/anacostia.html, http://www.silverspringtrails.org, and http://www.cctrail.org; see also RockCreekTrail (31 May 2002), HealthyTrails (24 Nov 2002), AnacostiaTributaries (28 Jan 2003), CapitalCrescentCoordinates (5 May 2003), LoopCourse (24 Aug 2003), TenLeagueLeyLines (23 Nov 2003), ... )
TopicRunning - TopicPersonalHistory - 2004-08-15
(correlates: ThreeNewLoopRuns, SixProjectStages, 2004-03-12 - Sligo Creek, Northwest Branch, ...)