Overview
Located in the northwestern neighborhoods of Washington, D.C., Rock Creek Park serves as a lush natural oasis spanning more than 1,700 acres in the bustling heart of the nation’s capital. Established in 1890, it has the distinction of being the oldest and largest urban park in the national park system. The park offers a variety of trails, consisting of a mix of dirt-surfaced paths for hikers, runners, and equestrians, as well as paved paths for bicyclists, wheelchair users, inline skaters, and walkers. The Rock Creek Park Trails offer 8.5 miles of paved multi-use trails that span large sections of the park.
About the Route
The multi-use sections of Rock Creek Park exist in two main sections, but sections of Beach Drive open to bikers and pedestrians can help trail users traverse the whole park. The northern section's main access point is located at the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium and forms a loop of the northern section of the park from there.
One piece of trail heads north, mainly alongside Oregon Ave. NW, passing by the Rock Creek Park Community Garden in its route. This section heads north to Wise Rd. NW, but to continue along the loop, trail users can turn right onto Bingham Rd., where the trail closely parallels the road. Where Bingham Rd. meets Beach Dr., the trail turns south again and the paved path weaves along Beach Rd. This section of trail, while paved, is much narrower than a typical multi-use trail surface, and can be crowded on the weekends. Road traffic is sparse through here, and bikers often share the road with cars.
Along Joyce Ave. NW, the trail crosses Rock Creek and heads back east along Military Dr. to complete this northern loop of the park.
The southern section of the Rock Creek Park Trails has a northern endpoint just below Broad Branch Rd. NW and heads south alongside Rock Creek on a wide asphalt trail. Shortly after this northern endpoint, the trail passes Pierce Mill, a still-operational gristmill from the 1820s. As the trail continues south, it crosses Rock Creek twice in just a mile. This section of the trail also frequently intersects with the hiking-only trails popular in Rock Creek Park, and signs point trail users in the right direction.
As the trail meanders along with the creek, it passes the Smithsonian National Zoo (which is free year-round). Just after passing one of the zoo entrances, the trail approaches the Beach Drive/Zoo Tunnel. From 7 am to 5 pm every day, the trail diverts users around the tunnel, but if traveling in the evening or morning hours, trail users must navigate the narrow pedestrian sidewalk, which although protected from traffic with a small metal gate, can still be a tight squeeze.
South of the tunnel, the trail climbs a short hill as it passes underneath the scenic William Howard Taft Bridge and Glover Memorial Bridge that loom hundreds of feet overhead of the trail. Here, the trail crests a small hill and passes the Rock Creek Park Exercise Course.
As the trail approaches Georgetown, both Montrose Park and Oak Hill Cemetery are visible between the trees, high up on the hill across the river. The cemetery's beautiful Civil War-era tombs and mausoleums are visible from the trail, although it would take a steep climb out of the park to access this park.
As the trail approaches its southern end, it loses the wooded serenity that characterizes most of the route. The final southern portion of the trail though is equally as scenic as it takes trail users southeast on the Potomac River with views of Arlington, VA, and Theodore Roosevelt Island, as it approaches the Lincoln Memorial, where the official southern end of Rock Creek Park is located.
Connections
The central road of Rock Creek Park, Beach Drive, is mostly closed to car traffic in the northern sections of the park. These sections are open to pedestrians and cyclists alike and intersect often with the Rock Creek Park Trails.
Just after passing under Porter St. NW, the trail intersects with the short but scenic Klingle Valley Trail.
In the Georgetown neighborhood, the Rock Creek Park Trails connect with both the Capital Crescent Trail and the Chesapeake & Ohio National Historical Park.
The Rock Creek Park Trails are part of the Great American Rail Trail, a 3,700-mile route from Washington to Washington D.C.
The Rock Creek Park Trails are part of the Capital Trails Coalition, a series of interconnected trails in the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Region.
Just after the Pennsylvania Avenue underpass, don’t miss the opportunity to connect to the epic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath, which follows a northwest course 184.5 miles to Cumberland, Maryland. Look for the narrow brick pathway heading west along the C&O Canal. A scant 0.1 mile farther south, you’ll head under the Whitehurst Freeway; nearby, you can hop on the Capital Crescent Trail, which heads north to Bethesda and Silver Spring. All three trails are part of the developing 800-mile Capital Trails Coalition network, a Rails-to-Trails Conservancy TrailNation project that aims to connect the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
The trail ends less than a mile farther south, a short distance from the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall. This final tip of the trail is part of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Great American Rail Trail, which spans the United States between Washington, D.C., and Washington State.
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