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OUR RIVER: THE ANACOSTIA
Peaceful Summer Walks along Our River and Its Streams
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ummer is the time for all of us to discover and enjoy quiet walks along our Anacostia and its streams. Some of these can be hidden places, while others are right along the river but provide relaxation and time with nature. Starting at the confluence with the Potomac and working upstream, I suggest five such special places for walks and short hikes inside DC, and another three upstream in Maryland that you might not know about but would be worth the drive to a starting point. 1. Walk the East Bank Trail from the 11th Street Bridge downstream to the Frederick Douglass
by Bill Matuszeski
except for a wide range of wildlife, Trail Bridge over the railroad upstream of hike Pope Branch, a deep stream the pavilion. Photo: Bill Matuszeski valley that is hard to believe is in the midst of Anacostia. You are completely surrounded by nature the moment you enter, and you simply follow the stream up the valley, taking paths when they occasionally appear. I have been welcomed upon entry by owls, by deer and by very noisy frogs! You simply follow the stream for magnificent curving bicycle and pedestrian bridge a few blocks until it emerges and with great views all around, then enters a wooded crosses Massachusetts Avenue to join walk before passing under the East Capitol Street Fort DuPont Park, where well-marked bridge and emerging in the pleasant River Terrace and well-used trails emerge. The best neighborhood park. A short walk on Benning Road starting point for this amazing wilderness Bridge over the river takes us to our next suggested experience in a deep valley with no sign of walk. the surrounding neighborhoods is to drop 4. Walk the trails of Kingman and Heritage down a wooded slope east of Minnesota Islands. These lie between Benning Road and Avenue at M Place SE, where the guardrail the RFK Stadium and have been designated for curving around from the avenue comes conversion to all-native plantings so we can see to a quick end at the street signs. If this how the riverside and adjacent areas once looked. appears too difficult, walk up M Place The projects to achieve the removal of non-natives one block more to enter easier on the and replacement with native species are receiving other side of Branch Avenue. You can View across our river through wildflowers on East Bank Trail. a great deal of expert analysis and neighborhood return to your entrance by following Photo: Bill Matuszeski involvement. You can observe areas where the Pope Branch back and not entering the invasive plants have yet to be removed, areas where Bridge. You can return the way you came or cross the tunnel under Minnesota Avenue, or by walking they have been removed but not replaced and Douglass Bridge and return via the Navy Yard in a through the neighborhood. areas where the newly planted native species are three-mile loop. What is special about the East Bank 3. A very different walk begins at the Anacostia Trail is the preponderance of Skating Pavilion, a natural plants and flowers short distance north of all along the way from the Pennsylvania Avenue, walkway to the water. In before the road along places, you want to stop and the river ends in a large take a picture of the mix of parking lot. From there, colors down to the water and the walk north along the the wildness, compared to all river has some peaceful the development on the other amenities. First is a nice side of the river. It inspires Anacostia River Museum peace and appreciation of next to the pavilion with nature. A road alongside the displays that attract all walkway doesn’t carry much ages. From there, the traffic and is easily ignored. River Walk continues Wilderness along Pope Branch. Photo: Lotus in bloom in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Photo: Bill 2. For complete isolation over the railroad on a Bill Matuszeski Matuszeski
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