Walking Calverton, Maryland

Well there were no scheduled events that I knew of in the DC area this weekend, so it was time to get my Starting Point book out and see what one we should do. I wanted to do some specific shopping afterward so I decided on doing the College Park walk in College Park Maryland, since the stores I wanted to shop at where in that area. This Saturday was mild and cloudy, but rain was not due till the evening. We got a late start, but starting at 3 pm we still had plenty of time to get this walk in before dark.

I found the start point, which I had been to before at walks in past years, from a brief glance at the directions in the 1998 Starting Point. The Operations building of the College Park Airport, the oldest continuously running airport in the United States, gives a rather different but highly functional and safe start/finish point to this year round walk. I registered and grabbed the written instructions. My daughter Robin and I were walkers 81 and 82 for the year so far. We brought all three pooches out to this walk, Peaches, India and Cosmo. As usual, they couldn't wait to start!

The trail left the operations building and after a few turns out on Paint Branch Parkway and the 94th Aero Squadron, a restaurant that harkens you back to the glory days of war pilots and the golden days of aviation. We later ate an early dinner there, watching the planes take off and land right out the restaurant window! We turned off on to a paved trail through Paint Branch Park, with the pooches meeting up with several of their fellow canines on this part of the trail.

The forsythia and other early blooming plants are already out due to the mild winter we have been having. Then we crossed a bridge and turned at a T and we were at the scenic Lake Artemesia. Lots of fishermen catching trout and bass, and others rollerblading and walking, enjoying the beautiful mild afternoon. Rain was due later in the day, so everyone was making hay while the sun was still shining. The Metro subway trains sped by every few minutes off to our left, not far away at all. After about 1 km or so, we exited the lake path and onto a street/path with more families on the trail.

Turning left onto Berwyn Road, we then had a different experience with the pooches going over the Metro and suburban Maryland (MARC) railroad tracks. This is a big bridge, with long, winding ramps on the way up and down. My daughter Robin went ahead, leaving the pooches back with me. I wanted to see how the pooches would handle navigating the bridge and ramps on their own, so I let them loose. No one else was around, and the ramps and bridge were all enclosed , so they couldn't bother anyone. India went through like a champ, but Peaches was confused and nervous, and went the wrong way, passing me on the ramp up. I had to rescue her, going back down, and steering her on to the correct way. Cosmo, our new puppy on only his second volksmarch ever, was following Peaches confused lead, instead of India's strong and correct one. My urging and Robin's cheerings and pleadings finally worked. I think Peaches couldn't figure out why she couldn't get to Robin easily, when she could see her so close, but yet so far, due to the winding ramps.

Finally this traumatic experimental period ended and we were back on Berwyn Road and terra firma.

We headed further on Berwyn Road, approaching the residential student neighborhoods of the University of Maryland. We missed the turn onto Rhode Island Avenue, and headed to Route 1. I figured out that if I headed down Route 1 for a few blocks, I would run into one of the cross streets that would lead me back on the trail. This worked out great. We met up with the trail at this nice neighborhood park on Lakeland Street, and through a nice paved trail in the woods till we emerged out near the intersection of Lakeland and Route 1.

We then crossed Route 1, and onto the campus of the University of Maryland. We passed several campus buildings, parking garages, the famous dairy barn (with their homemade ice cream), and large campus lawns with many out playing a variety of pick-up games in the late afternoon. We had to pay close attention to the directions through the campus area, since many roads and paths were not identified with signs. At the McKeldin Library there is a turtle statue that is used as the only checkpoint for this walk, answering a question about the Maryland mascot animal.

• 1
• 2