Trails of Northwest DC Hike

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.

For those interested, our Happy Hour option will be at the https://www.rosedaledc.com/ restaurant, 4465 Connecticut Avenue.

Total length of this moderately strenuous outing will be about 10.5 miles, with moderate elevation changes over sometimes uneven terrain. Bring plenty of beverages, lunch, sunscreen, bug spray, good hiking shoes, and the $5 Adventuring trip fee (cash or Venmo). The hike leader will pay this fee for financially challenged hikers.

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