Purdum and Lewisdale

This past weekend I did another hike of some new-to-me trails in Little Bennett. Both are ones that start at the edge of the park, only connecting to other trails about a mile in.

I started at the Purdum Trail, which runs north-south most of the park's length. The southern portion is great for connecting loops. The northern part is not, but it is a pleasant enough journey. From there I got onto Browning Run, a segment I have done a few times. Then, finally, I did the Lewisdale Trail. It ends at a horse trailer parking area - not a place I would like to park a car. This trail feels like it was farmland somewhat recently; it is quite open and would be hot in summer.

Then, I did the same thing back to the car, for a round-trip of six miles.

Upper Rock Creek

I've been idly planning to do a series of hikes following Rock Creek from its source to the Potomac. I finally did the first of these earlier this month.

The creek starts just north of Laytonsville Golf Course, then flows through some residential neighborhoods. It then runs through the Agricultural History Park. I have no intention of playing the course, ever, but I probably should go back at some point and follow the creek through the neighborhood and into the park, just for completeness. But on this hike, I started in the Ag History Park and followed the stream south to the southern end of Needwood Lake.

A lot of this hike is parallel to - but not close to - Rock Creek. It is often out of sight. It is also a trail that is primarily used by cyclists. As always, people share the trail nicely as long as you stay alert. There are two road crossings as well that demand attentiveness.

Once the trail hits Lake Needwood, it changes dramatically. Here the creek is dammed to form the lake, and the trail follows its edge. It is also pedestrian-only and very heavily trafficked. I chose to follow the eastern side of the lake, then round back up the west side before retracing my steps back to the start of my hike.

At the southern tip of the lake, the trail turns into a paved greenway for 14 miles to the DC border. Most likely, I will wait until cool weather to do this (or at least an overcast day). Then, of course, it heads into Rock Creek Park. South of the zoo, it follows a narrow green corridor to the Potomac. The trail itself continues past the creek to end at the Lincoln Memorial.

My hike was 11 miles, but since it was an out-and back, I only covered about five miles of creek.

Bluebell season

It's bluebell season, so we went down to Bull Run Regional Park to see the Bluebell Trail in bloom. This hike was on the shorter and easier side - but the views were great.

There are lots of places locally to see Virginia bluebells; this one is very popular because the name makes it obvious what you are in for. It's also entirely flat, with the biggest challenge being mud from rain. So no solitude, although we didn't expect it.

Around Manassas Battlefield

I wanted a longer, but not too hilly, hike, someplace I had never been, but not too far away - and a loop, not an out and back. I managed all that at Manassas National Battlefield.

Battlefields aren't really my thing, which was why I hadn't made an effort to go before. I am not likely to go again, either, but it was reasonably nice. It's definitely not a place I would visit in summer; much of it is, unsurprisingly, open field, and the sun would be intense.

Luckily, it was sunny but cold. I chose to do the First and Second Manassass loops, going clockwise from the Visitor's Center, and a short loop to a historic house near the visitor's center. Both of these loops go in and out of fields and woods.

Notable points include a bridge closed on the First loop (you probably could cross it, but I took the horse ford), Stone Bridge, a stretch along Bull Run where the bluebells were starting to come out and the section around the Unfinished Railroad. If you want to see cannons, there are plenty of those too.

The hike came out to almost 11 miles, with about 650 feet of elevation gain. 

Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin

The cherry blossoms peaked unusually early this year, so I took a quiet day off of work and we went down to the Tidal Basin to see them.

So, first thing - there are lots of other places to see cherry blossoms. Many of them are in the DC area. And DC does not have a monopoly on them (even assuming we are talking about the U.S.) - I used to really enjoy seeing the trees come into bloom along Riverside Park, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a fantastic section. However, DC offers the chance to see them alongside iconic monuments, which is half the appeal. Admittedly, it does also offer crowds.

Which were somewhat ameliorated by it being a cold, blustery weekday - the temperature was in the low 40s. We also got there relatively early; there was still plenty of parking. (We were sensible and took the train in.)

Stumpy, we're gonna miss ya!