Walking to The Island

Teddy welcomes visitors to his nationalpark

It was a 10-mile walk this morning, 5 miles on The Mount Vernon Trail from Crystal City to Theodore Roosevelt Island and the same (although somehow it seemed longer) trek back again.

We were accompanied by hundreds of fellow Washingtonians getting their serious Saturday morning exercise.  There were sprinters, and joggers, and marathoners.  There were young running married couples pushing their infants in specially designed baby strollers.  There were single bikers, biking pairs, tandem bikers, bike teams, and even a group-leading, highly-perched uni-cyclist, all shouting "on your left" as they streamed past us.

The 18-mile trail, one of the most popular exercise areas in all of D. C., winds from the Virginia estate of 1st President George Washington to the island preserve named in honor of Roosevelt, our 26th president. The trail is bounded by The George Washington Parkway on one side and the Potomac River and the sights of  DC on the other.

Roosevelt Island, where cars and even bicycles are banned, provides a quiet oasis in the middle of the bustle that is part of the nation's capital.  Besides a rustic relief station, the only other man-made object on the island is a 17-foot-tall statue of the nature-loving Roosevelt and 4 massive granite tablets bearing his words which rise from the wild overgrowth like remnants of a lost civilization.

For the most part, at least on our way to the island, we kept up a good walking pace. We did stop for a short time at Gravelly Point Park to watch and listen to jets, as, at much less than a football field over our heads, they cruised about one a minute to a whining touch down at Reagan National Airport.

We also stopped once for Judy to make a sneaker adjustment.  There, we were approached by an older, sweat-drenched, smiling Japanese woman, who expressed some concern about our walking method. "You've been out here a long time. You need water,. You get one of these," she said, pointing to the bottles and gadgets on a special runner's belt circling her waist. "You get it at the runner's store at the end of M Street in Georgetown just over the bridge." Completing her motherly advice before darting  off to continue her workout, she added. "I run marathons.  I ran my first one at 50. Now, I'm 60 and I have run 82 marathons. I know these things."

We were also cheered on by a half-dozen or so shout-outs prompted by the fact that Judy was wearing a bright orange and white Tennessee T-shirt.  "Go Vols," a group of 3 young female runners drawled as they passed us. "Tennessee number 1."

Travelers' Tip
If you do plan to walk any part of the trail take water and pay attention. There are some serious exercisers out there.