Walking Roosevelt Island Maryland

Walking

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Walking

Walking with the Walrus

ROOSEVELT ISLAND VA/DC USA - 11 KM VOLKSMARCH
APRIL 5, 1998

by Kevin Shaw

On Sunday, April 5, 1998 my pooches Peaches and India joined me to walk the Pentagon Pacesetters' volksmarch to and around Roosevelt Island VA. This was the alternate trail to the Cherry Blossom trail; the Cherry Blossoms were all gone due to our early spring, so I opted for this alternate trail. It has greater variety in my opinion, with the natural trails on Roosevelt Island breaking the pavement/ sidewalk environment of the rest of the walk.
The start point was the typical start point for Pacesetters' events; the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club (POAC). There is a huge lot to park for this event; the Pentagon North Parking Lot. As usual I made a wrong turn getting to the start point, and since I was running late which is also par for the course of late, I got to the start just about 1 PM, just before they closed the start point down. Registration was well organized as usual. I had to leave the pooches in the car, since they weren't allowed in the POAC. I saw several fellow volksmarcher friends who I visited with briefly, and picked up some brochures, since I knew I wouldn't be back till very late, and they probably would be all gone. I picked up the directions, and off I went. The pooches were very anxious to get going, and led me along the long Pentagon North parking lot to get us into the walk really fast.
Both trails started out the same for about 1KM or so, then we split off and walked north along the river while the other crossed over the Potomac on the 14th Street bridge into Washington D.C. Great views of the city were afforded along the hiker/biker trail we followed for about 3KM or so to the pedestrian foot bridge over to Roosevelt Island. It was a gorgeous day, with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 50s.
Roosevelt Island is a pedestrian only accessible island, with a great big statue of Teddy Roosevelt in the middle of the island. We walked through many trails on the island, enjoying the beautiful day and meeting many fellow walkers and pooches. We reversed the pattern from the walk I did here three years ago, and with all the wet weather, a bridge over a stream in the lower end of the island was damaged and marked the turn around point for us today. The swamp on this lower end was full of water, and the vegetation was just bursting out from all the recent warm weather. Tom and Joyce Andrew said they found 15 species of wildflowers and they were still looking. All sorts of interesting sights abound, including unusual flora and fauna, great views of the downtown D.C. and VA skyline, and of course of the Potomac River itself. The island has a unique sense of capturing and preserving what it was like in the area many years ago, and the National Park Service has done a great job in keeping it that way. I finished a roll of film on this walk, and the last four pictures were at this damaged bridge. At one spot, I went down to the waterline and noticed this old range marker structure that must have been used to line up either to come in to the island or to perhaps mark a measured distance along the river.
The circuit around the island was probably 3 kilometers, and the only checkpoint for the walk was located under a shade tree on the mainland side of the bridge, after finishing all the walking on the island. Just before finishing up on the island, the directions turned over on the back side of the page, and lo and behold, the printing was partially wiped out and I couldn't really read the rest of the directions! I hinged my hopes on finishing the walk on the gentleman staffing the checkpoint having a better copy. This worked out just as I hoped, as he was glad to give me his copy that was completely printed for the rest of the walk.
We walked through the parking lot for the Island after thanking this gentleman at the checkpoint, heading upriver a bit to another pedestrian bridge, but this time over the highway along the river, and into the city of Rosslyn. Walking along North Lynn Drive we passed by numerous office buildings and restaurants, which was quite a change of pace. We crossed major highway route 50 on a bridge, and then into the IWO JIMA MEMORIAL, a great tribute to that epic World War 2 battle, which I last visited three years ago when I last did this walk. There is a great view straight across the river of the Washington Monument and the D.C. skyline, from up at a much higher vantage point than earlier parts of the trail which were along the river. I wished I had another roll of film to shoot more shots, but I didn't have any more! Many out of town, out of country visitors on tour busses and such were definitely in evidence.
Walking down hill a bit along a road, we came upon the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, but since I had the pooches, I walked along the fence outside the cemetery grounds. We ambled up the interchange ramp from route 110 to the main thoroughfare for the cemetery, crossing it with a bit of difficulty just short of the Metro stop. As per the instructions, I picked up the blue-tipped white stake trail markers at this point, and used them to take me the rest of the way into the finish. The pooches and I turned right after the subway stop to the right, and headed into the finish, paralleling the right of way for the Metro Subway from the Cemetery stop to the Pentagon stop. Just at the extreme north entrance to the Pentagon North Parking lot, we rejoined the Cherry Blossom Trail on into the finish. I took my time on this walk, visiting with many fellow volksmarchers on the trail, and stopping several times to shoot pictures or give the pooches a drink from water on the trail.
So it was about 4 pm by the time I was at the finish, and the Pentagon Pacesetters were putting a rap on this once again successful event. I missed the "Best of the Wurst", the famous Ron Hamner treat but I really wasn't that hungry at that point, just thirsty. I got my books stamped, picked up a few more brochures, said goodbye to a few remaining volksmarch friends, and thanked the volunteers for another outstanding event. Unfortunately I forgot to get a count for the walk, but I am sure the numbers were well up there for this very popular walking event in the mid-Atlantic region.
Many thanks to the Pentagon Pacesetters for this outstanding event, which I might add had an optional 20 km trail crossing four bridges today, but one I couldn't do since I had such a late start. Roosevelt Island is truly a unique environment that is always great to go back to visit and explore in, and I only hope that we can return here once again in the not-too-distant future.