Walking Ft. Belvoir

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Walking

Walking with the Walrus

FT BELVOIR VA USA 10 KM VOLKSMARCH
JULY 4, 1997

by Kevin Shaw
It's the Fourth of July, and what better way to celebrate it by walking at Ft Belvoir in suburban Virginia, south of Washington DC. A well-established army fort steeped in tradition, the Ft. Belvoir Outdoor Recreation Group sponsored the 5 and 10 km one day walk in honor of Independence Day, tying it in with a big Freedom Fest celebration on the grounds of the Fort. The start/finish table was right there, with plenty of parking.
I met my friend Marty Brumback there, along with his fiancee Cheryl. It was too hot for the pooches, so I left them home. Having walked on the base before, I know that some of the trails are shady, and some are very sunny, so not knowing exactly where the trail was going to be taking us today, I decided to keep the pooches home. It turned out to be a wise choice, as there was a mixture of sun and shade, but the sunny parts, near the end of the walk, would have been really rough on the dogs, especially black-coated, long haired India. When I drove off from home this morning, the pooches were disappointed, but I will walk them this evening and all will be forgiven.
The trail was very well marked with the Ft Belvoir Club's unique yellow stop sign shaped markers that were frequently placed all along the route. The trail snaked around the base, through beautifully landscaped residential areas, open sidewalks, and after the first checkpoint, a nice wooded area around building ruins. The walk was rated a 2, because of this natural trail section, which had a fairly long, fairly steep downhill section with some loose gravel, where unfortunately a female walker, accompanied by two pretty large dogs, slipped and injured herself. At the finish, they still did not know how badly she was hurt, but I do know the ambulance came to give assistance. We climbed uphill after the downhill part, and was afforded great views of the Gunston Cove/Potomac River waterways. We completed this loop, passing by checkpoint 1 again, not having to check in again, but getting some water to ease our parched throats. Checkpoint 2 was near the end of the walk, but was out of water, and then the Dunkin Donut store across the street just closed, so we had to tough it out till the end of the walk. We made it, it wasn't far at all!
The Freedom Fest had food, drink, entertainment, plenty of goods being sold, lots of people, and an interesting program pertinent to the Fourth of July. We got our books stamped and picked up a few brochures, and then relaxed and enjoyed the food, drink and entertainment. Many thanks to the Ft. Belvoir Outdoor Recreation Department for a great walk on this special Friday. When we returned about 12:30, with 30 minutes left to go, they had registered 506 walkers, a great turnout for this one day holiday event.

Kevin Shaw