Adventuring LGBTQ+ Outdoors Club

Mid- to late-September should be the time for peak bloom for the pawpaws in our area. With a little bit of luck, their yummy fruits should be falling-off-the-trees ripe as we venture out to the higher elevations of Western Maryland.

This adventure will have two highlights. One will be harvesting pawpaws, if you're so inclined. Unfamiliar to many Americans, pawpaws are native to North America and quite tasty, although not everyone shares this opinion on that latter point. We should be able to find a good supply on or near the towpath if others haven't beaten us to them. The other highlight will be strolling through the pitch darkness of the Paw Paw Tunnel, probably the most impressive engineering marvel along the entire C&O Canal.

We will follow our traditional route for this annual venture, starting with a stroll of 3/5 of a mile through the pitch darkness of the Tunnel. We'll proceed downstream to a picnic area perfectly situated on the banks of the Potomac, where we'll lunch. We'll then return to our cars by taking the reopened Tunnel Hill Trail up and over its eponymous hill. We'll keep our eyes peeled for ripe pawpaws throughout the day. If you want to eat one or more it would be usefull to have a knife, spoon, and paper towels since they might be a little messy.

Total length of our moderate round trip will be 8 miles with several hundred feet of elevation gain on the Tunnel Hill Trail on our return leg.

We'll stop for dinner somewhere along the way on the way back to the East Falls Church Metro station.

We'll meet to form carpools at 8:30 AM in the Kiss & Ride lot of the East Falls Church Metro Station. Bring plenty of beverages, lunch, sunscreen, bug spray, a spoon, knife, and napkins if you'll be consuming pawpaws, and a flashlight for navigating your way through the Tunnel. Carpool passengers should pay their drivers $28 each which includes each passenger's share of the toll for the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway. In addition everyone will pay the $5 Adventuring trip fee.

Celebrate the end of summer and the advent of autumn with this comprehensive trek through a host of Northwest DC trails, both paved and dirt.

Starting at noon on Sunday September 21 from the Tenleytown Metro Station, we will first enter the Glover Archbold Park Trail via Van Ness Street and proceed south. In about a mile in we’ll proceed to the trail that takes us westward to the Battery Kemble/Palisades Park Trail. From Battery Kemble we’ll continue southbound to Fletcher’s Cove on the Potomac, where we’ll have lunch; bathrooms are available here.

Next we’ll head to the Capital Crescent Trail and walk east towards Georgetown briefly before we enter the tunnel that will take us beneath Canal Road back to the northbound Glover-Archbold Park Trail. Within the Park, we’ll make a right onto the short but surprisingly rugged Whitehaven Park Trail, moving east. After a stop at Trader Joes on Wisconsin Avenue for a bathroom/food break, we'll enter the Dumbarton Oaks Park area.

This trail system debouches onto the Rock Creek Park Trail northbound, taking us past Woodley Park, the National Zoo, Klingle Road, and eventually Peirce Mill, where we will have modern bathrooms. We’ll continue north to the Soapstone Valley Trail, which will deliver us to Connecticut Avenue and our end point at the Van Ness Metro Station. We should arrive roughly around 5 p.m.

Join us on a Fall hike in the northern section of Shenandoah National Park. We’ll start from the parking lot at the Mathews Arm Campground and hike an approximately 9-mile loop that includes a stretch along the Piney Run River and a climb to the summit of Hogback Mountain, the highest point in the northern section of the Park.

Total hiking distance will be approximately 9 miles. Combined with a cumulative elevation gain of a little over 1200 feet, this is a moderately strenuous hike.

Participants should have some hiking experience and be in good physical condition. Wear sturdy hiking shoes and bring a daypack with snacks, lunch (we’ll make a pit stop on the trip out), raingear (mountain weather can be fickle!) and at least two quarts of water.

This cost for this trip is the $5 Adventuring fee, plus $15 for your driver if you participate in the carpool. Additionally, there is a $30/vehicle entrance fee for Shenandoah National Park; but usually we have enough hikers with National Park passes to cover the occupants in each vehicle. There will be an optional dinner stop on the trip home.

Due to limited parking at the trailhead, carpooling is encouraged. We will depart from the East Falls Church Metro Kiss and Ride lot at 8:30 a.m. There will be a pit stop at the Gainesville Sheetz (7201 New Stable Way) on the trip out. For those meeting us at the Mathews Arm Campground parking lot trailhead, we will be there by 10:30.