WHEN I'M IN A BIG, flat city like Washington D.C. and need a good hill to climb, I've got about three decent options: climb the long hill up Wisconsin Avenue from the Potomac River to the National Cathedral once or twice, speed-walk up the really tall escalators at the DuPont Circle Metro or walk up and down all those granite steps on Capitol Hill. With any of these treks, I get to take a little elevation AND get my heart rate up a bit.Still, for a country girl, each leaves something to be desired. So today, I bit the bullet and drove out to western Maryland, one of the prettiest parts of the country, and found and hiked two sections of the Appalachian Trial that traverses Maryland. I'll be hiking another of these AT sections this Saturday with hikers from the Mountain Club of Maryland.
Today was cool, cloudy and a bit breezy, in other words great walking weather. I only partially wore myself out, but I had so much fun, I drove back to D.C late this afternoon with a smile on my face and color in my cheeks again. Great part of the country if you can get out into the countryside. And some fairly decent elevations gains to boot.
Looking south (above), the AT overpass that takes hikers over I-70.
Leaves aren't quite changing yet but the berries are resplendant!
3 comments:
Have you thought of walking up the steps of the Washington Monument!?
Good get, and yes. But being in that stuffy enclosed stairwell to the top doesn't appeal to me at all.
I have the AT down on my bucket list...
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