Saturday on the Island

For the past few days, I have been hobbling around due to the blisters I got during my walks last weekend. While the blisters are quite sore, my muscles and joints have bothered me more. (I'm starting to sound like Dr. Seuss!!) In an effort to lessen the pain of the blisters, my gait has changed, and that has thrown off everything else. Even my back and shoulders have been sore. All from seven (not so) little blisters. I'm a wreck!

Consequently, as you may imagine, I was apprehensive about walking this weekend. Not only was I worried about my feet and legs giving out, but I was also concerned I might get new blisters. In an effort to prevent this, I spent about ten minutes this morning getting my feet ready.

With my feet all taped and mole-skinned, I hit the road at about 9:30 this morning, with beautiful blue skies overhead and a temperature in the mid-70s.

Walking east on the Custis Trail (a route I could now walk in my sleep!), it took a mile or so for me to get into a comfortable stride. While the moleskin I'd put on my feet made my blisters hurt less, it also made my sneakers fit differently, which took some getting used to. By the time I passed by the green turtle pond, just about a mile from home, I was starting to feel better.

Just after passing the Maywood neighborhood on the trail, I decided it was time for a snack and pulled out a Clif Bar , which I enjoyed as I continued walking eastward on the Custis Trail.

Shortly after mile 4, I reached the end of the Custis Trail and continued southward along the Mount Vernon Trail along the west bank of the Potomac. Over my right shoulder, I had a great view of the tall buildings in Rosslyn, high above my head.

As I followed the trail south, I came across something that I must explore further sometime soon: a marker for the Potomac Heritage Trail. Until today, I had never heard of this trail, but I'm quite excited to explore it. Apparently, this trail is part of the the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail Network, which is made up of 830 miles of trails running from the mouth of the Potomac to the Allegheny Highlands, covering ground in the District, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The 10-mile Potomac Heritage Trail runs from here up to the American Legion Bridge, which spans the Potomac between Virginia and Maryland.

Walking farther south on the Mount Vernon Trail, I soon arrived at the pedestrian bridge that connects the Virginia side of the Potomac to Roosevelt Island. This is the only bridge that goes out to the island.

Roosevelt Island, named for President Teddy Roosevelt, was given to the American people by the Theodore Roosevelt Association in his memory. The island, which is part of the District of Columbia, is just under 90 acres in size and has about 2.5 miles of shoreline. If you are interested, you can see a map of the island here.

Here is a view of the Key Bridge and Georgetown from the footbridge. The towers to the left are the top of Healy Hall at Georgetown University (where I had a number of orchestra concerts from 1996 through 2002) and the red building a bit to the right of center is the Car Barn, which used to serve as trolley car depot and now houses the Georgetown School of Business. Looking to the south from the footbridge, I had a view of several kayakers out on the water and of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge in the distance.

Once I arrived on the island, I spent a minute looking at the trail map to figure out which way I wanted to go. There are three trails on the island: the Woods Trail, the Upland Trail, and the Swamp Trail. I opted for the Swamp Trail, because it was the longest of the three, and I'm really happy I did, as the scenery along the way was incredible.

For the first half-mile or so, the Swamp Trail passes through the wooded part of the island.

Toward the south end of the island, the woods turn into tidal marsh at a point where the Potomac River flows into an inlet. Although the water level changes here with the tides, the water is fresh, not saline. If you look closely, you'll see a blue heron right in the middle of this picture.

From the swamp, I also had a good view of the base of the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge, and the top of the Lincoln Memorial is visible in the center of the picture.

From the marsh, located at the southernmost end of the island, I headed north, along a wooden walkway built over the swampy area.

As I crossed back into the wooded part of the island, I came across the best surprise I've had on a training walk: a six-point buck!!! I'm not sure who was more surprised to see whom, him or me!

I didn't want to disturb him for long, so I went on my way, stopping to take one more picture of Georgetown from the island before heading back across to the Virginia side of the footbridge, where I took a picture of some flowers along the river.

From there, I walked up to Courthouse where I met up with Belle, and the two us then walked to Rio Grande in Ballston and had a lovely two hours of chatting, drinking margaritas, and enjoying queso and chicken tacos. We felt so grateful that it was cool enough to sit outside on this last Saturday in June!

We parted ways shortly after 2:00, and I walked a mile-and-a-half west for a soccer game with my favorite dog. We had so much fun!

When all was said and done, I walked 12.4 miles today. I think this isn't bad at all, considering earlier in the week, I wasn't even able to walk a mile on my sore feet.