My club, the Seneca Valley Sugarloafers Volksmarch Club, hosted the 10 KM walk on this changeable (weatherwise that is) Saturday in the Olney Mill subdivision of the suburban Washington DC town of Olney Maryland. This was a one day event, with a 3 hour start window (from 8-11 AM). I had pledged to work the last few hours of the walk, so I had to get going earlier than usual to complete the walk first. My daughter declined to go, preferring to sleep in, so I could only bring India and Peaches, leaving our new puppy Cosmo home this time. I can only handle two pooches by myself!
I was familiar with most of the route there, but we as a club had never walked in Olney Mill, or Olney as far as I knew, for that matter. The start was at Rosa Parks Middle School. Our recent bout of unseasonably cold air was over , the day had dawned cloudy, with the threat of a brief shower in the air. There was plenty of parking available, and we had the start/finish inside the school, in case of inclement weather. I registered for the walk, keeping the pooches temporarily in the car since they weren't allowed inside the school, picking up the necessary directions/map.
The 10 km trail, rated a 1+, wound through the neighborhoods of Olney Mill on paved roads and sidewalks for most of the walk. Three checkpoints were simple questions about sights along the walk during the first half of the walk. Apart from the checkpoints, I preferred to follow the map, since I am a cartographer, or map-maker; kind of made it more fun for me. After about 5 kilometers, we entered the Olney Mill Family Park, a nice break. I had to follow the directions during this part, since the map didn't really show the paved walking trails we had to go on. Also, the turns were actually all marked with bright yellow arrows inside this park, really making it easy to follow the trail. We crossed some streams, passed some playgrounds, some small lakes, and some ups and downs with a bit of relief that made this park interlude quite pleasant. Some fellow walkers were taking pictures of the scenery, including several species of birds, mostly of the water variety. Peaches, ever the water and bird dog, really wanted to chase these birds through the water, inspired by their honking call, but I deferred to her desires, remaining calm and rational, leaving her in my complete control on the leash. We did a complete circuit around a pool, which caused me a bit of confusion at first glance. The pool was involved in the third checkpoint question, and as I was noting the answer on my start card, I noticed all these walkers going around the pool. Looking at the map, it didn't appear that the trail went around the pool, so I couldn't figure out what these walkers were doing. Could they all be searching for a potty? Well I found out later, it was part of the walk.
We emerged out of the park after about 2 km in this wonderful area, and finished out through more neighborhoods of the Olney Mill subdivision. We passed an elementary school, and found more hills at the end on Mount Olney Lane, with some semi-open vistas of a good part of the area, including a brief glimpse of this old restored log cabin on adjoining rural Brookevllle Road. We had some sprinkles of rain at this point, which got some people moving faster, despite the general uphill nature of the trail.
Eventually Mount Olney Lane did intersect with Olney Mill Road, which, with a right turn onto it, meant we were back at Rosa Parks Middle School and the end of the walk. I made sure my pooches got some water, then I put them in the car, and went inside to find out what was going on, and to get my books stamped. It was pretty busy when I went in, and I checked in with John Kinsella, our event coordinator, and my help was needed at the sales and information table immediately. I helped Muriel there for a while, helping out some new walkers and selling some new walker packets and event/distance books. I got my books stamped eventually during a slack period, and later on took over for other club members Dot Marshall and Janet Sayad at the finish table, stamping the books of the last few walkers on the trail. We finished up with 280 walkers on this day, a pretty good turnout for an uncertain weather day.
Thanks to my Club, the Seneca Valley Sugarloafers, and to the many fellow volunteers who helped out unselfishly on this day.
Next: Walking George Mason University
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