Walking Rockville King Farm Volksmarch - Maryland, USA

Well after a very rainy, windy, inclement week of weather, a simply cloudy day with no rain proved to be a significant improvement in walking conditions for my club's (Seneca Valley Sugarloafers) 6/11 km walk in Rockville Maryland on this mid-winter Saturday. We got an inside start/finish, the Rockville Senior Center, which was really nice, though temperatures were moderate in this mild El Nino winter. I met my friends Jeff Stuart and Eric Johnston at the start point about 10 AM (the start window being 10-1130) but before we actually all got together and out on the trail it was more like 10:30. Of course, my canine cohorts, India and Peaches, were also with me, very eager to get going on the trail as usual.

There was quite a mob at the start point at 10 AM, and several clipboards of waiver sheets/ start cards were definitely needed to take care of the crowds. Still, it didn't take long, having a bit of patience and understanding were traits fortunately to be held by all that I saw at the start. Many new walkers, but also many of the long-time regulars were ready to get out on the trail.

The 11 KM, rated 1+ trail was mostly on pavement, with 3 checkpoints, unstaffed that were simply questions about sites along the trail. The walk led out of the Senior Center through a grove of trees and across busy Gude Drive onto Piccard Drive. Corporate businesses, quiet during the weekend, lined this street on both sides, nicely interspersed with trees and lawns. A turn onto Redland Road quickly changed the scene, however, as we approached the King Farm development. Occasional breaks in the sidewalk yielded some rough walking on mud and into the road, but this wasn't too bad and only lasted 1 km. Besides, we got to look slightly downhill into the still early development of the King Farm. Eventually this will be full of hundreds of homes, parks and such but right now it is mostly mud and outlines of streets.

At the 2.7 KM mark we reached route 355 and the first question checkpoint. Turning right (south) on route 355, this very busy road wasn't the most pleasant to walk on, but the only way to get to our next nice area to walk in, Montgomery College. The rest of my family even drove by us while we were walking along this point, honking and yelling at all of us. We were busy talking here and didn't mind the busy traffic and occasionally smelly cars and trucks.

About 4 km into the walk we turned off route 355 and onto North Campus Drive and the campus of Montgomery College. The main campus of this county college is surprisingly large. We came across a girl kneeling down on the ground waiting for a bus, just the right level for the pooches to greet her. She was a dog lover, so they all loved it. There were plenty of campus buildings, tennis courts, a track/soccer field, parking lots, etc. to walk through, with light traffic and pleasant surroundings. We got to thinking about some of our college experiences at this point, especially dealing with mathematics, since Jeff was a Math major.

The trail wound around to the south as we circumvented a duck pond, which Peaches failed to notice was populated with a few birds thankfully. The only somewhat confusing point in the directions was reached next, as street signs were lacking at this key intersection, and we momentarily got confused along with several other walkers. But reading further on the directions we found this white MC sign laying flat on the lawn, and that helped us find the correct path.

We left the campus area and entered the last part of the walk, all through a variety of neighborhoods. Checkpoint 2 was at this school, after which I noticed this unusual sculpture out on the grass across the street. Following Mannakee Street a while longer, bending around to the south once again, we turned on Anderson after going around a circle, a traffic engineering nightmare to handle heavy flows of traffic, but in light traffic areas in residential areas works very well, and is actually quite scenic.