Walking with the Walrus

Despite threatening skies and in fact some early morning showers, I still headed out in the mid-morning hours for my Seneca Valley Sugarloafers' club walk out of the Montrose Baptist Church in Rockville, only about 11 miles from my home in Gaithersburg. Fellow club member/organizer Dot Marshall helped arrange for a great inside start/finish point at her church on Randolph Road in South Rockville for the past few years, with a partially new trail (10 km, rated 1+) this year to maintain new interest.
My usual walking friends all cancelled out for a variety of reasons (mostly weather), so Peaches and India were my only companions on this walk. I registered quickly as walker # 100, and was out on the trail in no time, right about 11:00, the closing time for the walk. There was actually a total of 107 walkers out today, as another clipboard of registrations were started earlier that I found out about after I completed the walk.
After about 1 km of walking on the sidewalk on busy Randolph Road, which also allowed for me to interact with several volksmarchers heading in at the end of their walk, I turned on to the Rock Creek Hiker/Biker trail for the next 3 kilometers, in woodlands and open fields and small, developed recreational parks. Kids playing soccer and baseball, walkers/joggers out and about passed on by on this stretch.
A right turn on Knowles Ave after crossing under the railroad tracks I take every day to work and back headed me uphill into the community of Garrett Park. Some of the yards in these neighborhoods were quite colorful with flowers and trees in full spring bloom. I caught up with a nice couple from Chambersburg PA doing the walk around this point, and walked with them for a while, till we reached the Garrett Park Train Station, which marked the only checkpoint on the trail, an unmanned spot where you just had to answer a question about a store there.
Walking along Rokeby Ave. after the train station, the colorful yards increased in intensity and quality. One yard was particularly beautiful with every type and color of azalea bush I have ever seen! Perfect timing for this walk to see these gorgeous bushes in full bloom!
A barricade stopped one section of Rokeby Ave, then the next section opened up as a newer area, eventually running out of pavement onto an asphalt trail through a small neighborhood park, uphill past tennis courts and a playground onto a corner of the White Flint Mall. Crossing here and back with the dogs proved a bit tricky with not a lot of walking room outside of the road itself, but luckily while we were traversing this section there wasn't a lot of traffic. We then walked through a shopping center, including a Petsmart store that India and Peaches especially enjoyed. After the Hollywood Video store, a right turn to Nicholson and then another right took us past more stores and retail outlets, to Boiling Brook Parkway. My friend Ed Branges told me about this great bagel place, but it was a bit off the route so I did not check it out, though I did see the store in this area.
A turn onto Boiling Brook Parkway eventually got us into more residential areas once again. Another turn onto Rocking Horse brought back fond memories of my younger days when I used to play softball near this area of the trail. More pooches in this area of the walk, keeping India and Peaches on their toes. Also squirrels were quite active. A turn back onto Randolph Road and the finish was in sight, with our great club banner blowing about in the breeze marking the start/finish. The pooches were especially grateful for the finish and a big bowl of cold water, as the sun came out towards the end with conditions becoming quite humid, temperatures climbing into the 70s.
The walk directions were expertly written, with an accompanying map incorporated on the same sheet. In some places it was quite difficult to describe where to go, but in those places, directional markers/arrows were strategically placed to make it easy to find the way.
Many thanks once again to my club, the Sugarloafers, and especially walk organizer Dot Marshall and her helpers Don Suloff, Ed Branges, Carole and George Fries, Faye Foote, Louise Osborn and many others who helped to put on this event. With lots of other walks around and the threatening weather, the turnout was good. This enjoyable trail mixed with just about everything you could want in a walk is one we should repeat again.
Our next club event on May 31-June 1 out of nearby Bauer Drive Community Center with two 10 km trails with a 15 km option in honor of National Trails Day is only a month away; I hope all of those who came out today can come then also, and those who missed today's happenings can join us then for two great trails and a lot more; this will be one of our two "big" events for the year!

On a cooler, drier Sunday, my daughter Robin, my faithful pooches India and Peaches, and I headed south out of Gaithersburg for Gunston Hall VA and a 10 km volksmarch there at the Gunston Hall Plantation in Mason Neck VA. We met our friend Marty Brumback there at the start point about 10:45 AM or so, with a full parking lot of volksmarchers indicating lots of walkers out on the trail.
Boy Scout Troop 118 Volksmarch Club put this walk on. This walk was held both yesterday and today, with a grand total of 476 walkers out for the two-day event. There was a choice of two 10 km trails, one more in the woods rated 2+, and the other more on roadways rated 1+. We opted for the one marked with pink ribbons, which wound up being the 2+ rated trail.
The trail wound around a gorgeous open field at first, then plunged into the woods for the first few kilometers. A true wandering, and a very well-marked trail with plenty of pink ribbons! We looped around a section of woods, passing very near the start/finish point, then headed to the Gunston Hall plantation, home of George Mason back in the 1700s, once a center of a 5500 acre tobacco and wheat homestead.
We had to put the pooches in the car, necessitating a move of the car to a more shady spot in an isolated part of the parking lot since the pooches were not allowed in the old home and grounds of the plantation. We walked through a museum first, with many great displays on the history and development of the plantation, then out the back to the actual home where George Mason lived. We toured the whole house, which had 7 bedrooms since George Mason had many children.
We saw a real smokehouse, and an intricate weave of garden paths, eventually passing a gazebo where checkpoint 1 was. However when we passed we saw no one or nothing there, so we kept going on, turning a few corners and heading back onto paths in open fields and woods. We had exited out the back of the plantation, but saw no way that we could get back to the car to get the pooches to allow them to continue the walk. Major bummer for India and Peaches!
We wandered through the woods, gradually working our way down to the river. Great views through the trees of Pohick Bay and the Potomac River in places, with steep bluffs plunging down right off to our side. Some short plunges that caused me to amble slowly, to protect my still somewhat weak right leg from my surgery last January. But we made it finally to the Potomac River Shore, for a brief unobstructed view of the Potomac River. We doubled back a ways on a parallel trail.
Eventually we flattened out through some lovely forestland and out onto a roadway. We followed the roadway for a bit. A staffed checkpoint 2 was tucked in a little cove right off the road, where lemonade and candy gave us an energy boost.
Heading back into the woods, we found a lost tabby cat heading towards us. She started walking along with us till we crossed a bridge, then she went on her own way. I don't think she would have done so if we had had the pooches!
We came back on to the plantation grounds, and wound around a cemetery, a small pond, and more of that gorgeous field we started with. A brief stroll on the approach road brought us into the start/finish, where we could finally retrieve the pooches from the car (we had left all the windows quite open, and they were fine in this shady spot on this relatively cool, quite breezy day). We got our books stamped, handed in our start cards, and thanked the workers at the finish for a fine trail/walk. The bratwurst, burgers and hot dogs at the food tent behind the start/finish tent were superb, and really hit the spot!
Despite the slight problems we had with not finding Checkpoint 1 and the not being able to get the pooches back after the tours of the museum, gardens and grounds (I could only put 5 km in their dog books!), this was a great walk on a beautiful day. Many thanks to Boy Scout Troop 118 for hosting this great event in a most interesting location.

Seneca Valley Sugarloafers
AVA Walking Clubs and Events
About.com Washington DC
About.com Baltimore, MD
US National and State Parks

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