Today on CityCast DC, it's day two of our fall getaway guide, and it would be ridiculous
if we let this week go by without talking about the most obvious of fall activities, leaf
peeping.
We've got a studio of full of producers today to talk through the best local spots to
see beautiful foliage, all without a car.
It's Tuesday, September 26th, I'm Prankatilve, and here's what DC is talking about.
Susanna Julia Kayla Hi.
Hello.
Hi.
Hello.
I'm so excited to talk with you.
I'm a big fan of just fall generally, but also especially the way the trees all change.
I feel like when people think of leaf peeping in the area, they think of Shenandoah.
That's the obvious.
Yeah.
No, for sure.
It's not only is it the obvious one, but it's like you make a whole day trip out of it.
You're there and like you're sweater, you're cozy, you're there and you're little bean
boots.
You're strolling along, you're looking at all of the gorgeous scenery outside of New England.
I think Shenandoah is like, and Skyline Drive in particular, is like one of the best places
to see leaves and the changing colors in the fall.
Yeah, pretty spectacular, yeah, fully agree.
But as someone who doesn't have a car, I am very grumpy about the fact that there's no
way to get there.
Otherwise, like why is there a carpool?
We can carpool.
Well, sure.
And I would love to go leaf peeping with you Julia, but why isn't there a bus to Skyline
Drive?
Or like a train stop that takes you anywhere you're there.
Gatekeeper.
Yeah.
You're right.
It's gatekeeper.
And it makes me mad.
And so that kind of inspired us to talk about places that you can see pretty leaves and
not have to own a car.
So yeah, I mean, Shenandoah, you were looking at a Harper's Ferry, right, which is like
a cool spot to try out.
Yeah.
So actually the time I went to Harper's Ferry was in February.
So I would say not ideal Harper's Ferry time, but you know, I went for Valentine's
Day.
It's just a little town teaming with romance, but I think more than that, it's a wonderful
place to go for fall foliage because it's basically all a national historic park.
So you can get there really easily via Amtrak.
I got tickets on Amtrak for $14, it takes about an hour, yeah, it's really great.
And you can stay at a BNB there.
It's a really cute little town.
And there's so many different opportunities to check out the trees.
One fun thing is that it's on the AT.
It's actually sort of known as they call it the psychological halfway point of the AT
in an Appalachian Trail.
Yes.
Yeah.
So it's not geographically the center of the trail, which goes from Georgia to Maine,
Maine to Georgia, but it is sort of the mental halfway point for hikers who are doing
the whole thing.
That's a fun thing to see hikers along the way.
They're, you know, feeling really good.
You can hike part of it, or I guess, you know, if you're really ambitious and want to
do more.
Harper's Ferry is at the confluence of the two major rivers in the area, the Potomac
and the Shenandoah, which means it's just like a really cool space to look at trees,
but also see the water.
And there's this area called the Point, which is sort of near John Brown's Fort, which
is an area you can very easily Google Maps when you're in Harper's Ferry.
You can both see a really pretty view of the confluence of these rivers, but also you
get to see three whole states, which is really fun, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
There's just tons to do there.
There's a C&O Canal Trail, just a ton of ways to like be out in nature, be in a cool little
get away away from DC that's really not that far.
And because it's a national park and has all of those beautiful hiking trails, it's like
an obvious spot to see pretty leaves.
So yeah.
It's really great.
I guess my tip for the area is that I'm a little bit of a history nerd and there's
a ton of really interesting history there.
If you like historical tours or maybe ghost tours, some fun things to do in the fall, they
offer a lot of that at Harper's Ferry.
So you can really make the most of a trip to see leaves and also just really enjoy the
area.
Yeah.
I feel like this is also one of the ones that's more like get away versus some of the other
ones we're going to talk about.
It's also like this, this really gives like New England leaf peeping vibes, which I think
is what people consider like the goal.
And so I mean, you mentioned the like stay a cute little Arabian bee.
There's a lot of history and like all of that atmosphere, I think adds to the foliage
you'd see there.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Going in a completely different direction, Kayla, you're really looking at like what
foliage opportunities there in Alexandria, right?
Yeah.
So closer to home, but still like something special, especially, you know, if you live
here in the district, it's just taking the metro down to Alexandria.
Or if you want to make it a really special trip, you can take the water taxi, which will
land you right, you know, on the waterfront.
So you can take the yellow line.
It's a bit of a walk.
I think it's like 15, 20 minutes down to the water, getting off at the King Street station.
It's I think similar to Harper's Ferry is the fact that like yes, there's a lot of great
foliage there and there's a lot of beautiful trees and parks, but there's very much, it's
like a day trip.
Like there's things to do that are fall oriented, you know, there's like again, historical
tours, ghost tours, restaurants, like little cafes with pumpkin spice lattes.
It's the whole vibe is like very much perfect for those like fall excursions and to really
show off your fall fits.
If you're looking at like specifically for trees and foliage, I would recommend going
to James Point Park, which actually has one of the largest silver maples in the area.
And like you really can't miss it.
It's like this bright red, enormous bright red tree in the middle of the park.
That's absolutely gorgeous.
I have photos of it and it's great.
Yeah, it's huge.
And then for Ward Park is also has like dozens and dozens of red and orange trees.
And I guess they have six state champion trees there, which I'm not entirely sure what
that means, but I think it's a good thing.
It's really a great option if you don't have a car and it's like a day trip, right?
You don't need to spend the night.
You don't need to like go out of your way.
It's like literally 20 minutes.
And I think the trolleys and Alexandria are free as well.
So if you get off the metro and you don't want to walk down to the waterfront, there's
a trolleys of reds on King Street.
Yeah.
One of my favorite things to do also is if you have a bike, I love it.
I love biking down like the Mount Vernon Trail down to Alexandria.
It just has like beautiful foliage.
It's like the wind is in your hair.
It's so, it's just so luxurious.
Yeah.
And coming off the humidity of summer, it's just nice to be able to do like physical activity
outside in the fall and not just like drown in your sweat.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The capital Crescent Trail is also a good place to bike and see foliage, right, Julia?
Yeah.
So this is the one that I tend to go to with my family, obviously like I grew up in Bethesda.
So this one is extremely convenient for my family and myself.
The way to get there if you're trying to get there via public transport is option A,
take a bus into Georgetown, come from the south and go in that way.
You can take the circulator bus in Georgetown to any bus that crosses the bridge from Roslyn
into Georgetown.
Any of those buses will get you there.
The other option is if you're taking Metro proper, he had off at the red line at the top
of the trail in Bethesda.
One of the cool things about the capital Crescent Trail, at least for me, is it's just like seven
miles of unadulterated, no cars, you're in nature, foliage.
But yeah, this one is definitely, it's not for the faint of heart if you're going to do
all like seven miles of it, bring water, bring snacks, like make a whole thing out of it.
I did it with my family, took us like three and a half hours to walk it, we were kind
of walking at like a, a brisk pace, but it was also the summer, so we're like pouring
sweat.
I imagine the fall, it's a little easier, but we're comfortable walking shoes.
The other thing you can do, the one thing that my brother and I used to do growing up
was we would take little like side quests, especially closer to the Potomac River, because
the trail like parallels that there's like woods everywhere, just surrounds it.
So you can just like hop off the trail and there are little like different trails that
like curve back around and go back to the section of land that has like payment on it.
You can take a scooter on it, you can bike on it, you can roll or blade on it, you can
anything with wheels except for a car, you can probably do on it.
So highly recommend.
I will say that's one of my favorite bikes in the city, like one of my favorite Sunday
activities, especially in the fall, is like to start, I start from the Georgetown end.
And it's all like very faintly uphill towards Bethesda.
And that means that on the way back, you've like done all your work out and like you can
just kind of like zoom along past the river and all the way down into Georgetown to get
yourself like a little ice cream or a little coffee or something to round out your trip.
It's a perfect bike ride.
I don't know if I would walk it.
That seems hard.
If you're getting on, like there are different points where you could get off like you
could get off at Massachusetts Avenue, you can get off near the sea in Oknell, but like
I highly recommend like if you're planning on doing this and you're just like, I'm
going to go.
I'm going to walk seven miles today and just peep the foliage, like please wear comfortable
shoes, please bring water, like mentally prepare yourself to be like kind of sweaty at
the end.
One thing I recommend.
Note that it's seven miles one way.
Yeah.
So you would have to come back.
Well, yeah.
And I mean, you did just describe how you can use public transportation to get to either
end of the trail.
So you can just get back home that way.
Yep.
So that's pretty sick.
I love that.
And I love the little side adventures that you and your brother would go on because
that, like just adds a whole different level to the like nature aspect of this.
If you like kind of want a hike, but you don't really want a hike, this is for you.
Well, also if you want to hike, but don't really want to hike, windy run park is a really
good spot to check out.
It's an Arlington.
And there's actually a lot of great like hike type spots in Arlington that are leisurely
easy to get to, but you walk a few minutes and you forget that you're in the city, which
is really cool.
And so when you run the best way to get there is to take the 55 bus, which you can get
from the Roslin metro stop, like it's one of those many bus stops right outside the
metro.
And so you take the 55 bus, it's a 10 minute walk from there to the actual park.
And it's a really cool spot because like I said, it feels like you're not really in the
city anymore.
It's 14 acres.
There's a waterfall right along there called cow falls, like C-A-O falls if you want to
route to that while you're walking around.
And the falls go directly into the Potomac.
So it's pretty because then you're right along the water again and like right across from
Georgetown.
Another cool thing about it is that if you do have kids, there's a park really close to
their called Woodmont Park, which has a jungle gym.
So you can always like tire out the children there if the hike doesn't do it for them.
But yeah, it's like very secluded.
So that makes it a really good spot to see foliage because there aren't that many people
there.
Now we're advertising them.
We're ruining the seclusion.
I know.
That's true.
Don't all go at once.
Coordinate with each other.
We'll help you.
But yeah, it's just like really beautiful.
And then because it's on the water, you can see all of the like colorful trees on the other
side of the Potomac too, you know.
Hot tip, if you do want to make it like a full day thing, there aren't a lot of places
to get food near the falls or like near Wendy Run Park itself.
So definitely grab food near Roslyn, like near the metro, take it with you, and then you
can have a little picnic right by the falls, which would be really beautiful.
That sounds so nice.
That does sound so lovely.
Right?
Oh my God.
Yeah, so it's a great way to spend a day.
It's going to feel true.
Exactly.
We should have done this from there.
That's what we should have done.
We should have a live tradition by the falls and the balkers.
Exactly.
We should have done this from there.
That's what we should have done.
But next year, that's a great idea, exactly.
But we know that some of our listeners are too lazy to even go to Arlington, which like,
I don't know if I blame them.
So let's throw in one option for people who like really, really don't want to leave
the city, but want to see some pretty trees.
Julia, what do you got?
Okay.
Theodore Roosevelt Island is like technically in between DC and Arlington, right?
It's in the middle of the river.
It's an island.
You are probably going to have to cross the bridge to get to Rosland to get there.
I'm sorry, but like desperate times call for desperate measures, you know?
In terms of getting there, the GW Trail, you can bike it or walk it.
And also you can take the Metro to Rosland and then walk there.
The cool thing for me about Roosevelt Island is that like, it's straight up in island.
You are in nature.
There are sections that have like wooden boards and slats and some of them have gravel
on it.
But like you're in the woods.
You are on an island in the middle of the Potomac River.
In terms of trails, there's the Woods Trail, it's a short little third of a mile trail.
It's right through the heart of the island.
It includes the Memorial Plaza with the statue in the fountains.
That one is paved.
If you're looking for something a little bit more adventurous, there's the Upland Trail,
which is a three quarter mile trail, which goes the width of the island.
Passes through some forests, loops around the former site of the Mason Mansion, which
is kind of cool, but runs all the way through.
And if you're really like, I am up for an adventure, you could do the swamp trail, which is a
mile and a half and it's a loop around the island.
It just takes you all along the coast of the island.
It passes through like swamp woods and cat tail marshes, sections of it, RP gravel and
some of it is boardwalk, but like you're on dirt and rock, but yeah, there's options for
kind of everyone.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Okay.
So we've gone through a bunch of options this weekend, which spot are you going to go to
to see foliage?
Teddy Rose by the island.
I feel like it's one of those things where like you make a day of it.
Like you just decide, you know what?
I'm going to wake up.
Hopefully it's not too crowded.
You go there.
You do your mile and a half loop.
You get as close to the Potomac as you can get without actually stepping foot into the
Potomac.
You see the leaves, it's all pretty.
And then when you're done, you just pop into Georgetown for like a coffee or lunch or
snack or whatever you want to do.
That's my move.
I really want to check out Harper's Ferry.
I've been before, but not in fall.
And I really want to do some hiking and climbing there.
And yeah, I think it'll be really fun.
Yeah.
Tomorrow, September 27th will be my one year anniversary of living in DC.
And so maybe I'll celebrate by leaving DC going to Alexandria.
The water taxi sounds really cool.
I've never done that.
Absolutely.
Really fun.
Yeah.
It's really fun.
Yeah.
You feel like you're like in Venice or something.
That sounds great.
That sounds amazing.
Yeah.
Alexandria is my pick too because the trees that you talked about really sold me.
I mean, any time of year I would be enticed by that, but especially when it comes to
foliage.
Yeah.
A true leaf peeper.
Indeed.
Well, thanks guys.
This was so fun.
Thanks for y'all.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And before you go, here's some quick news.
If you're going to be driving in Arlington, there's a new traffic law that you need to know.
Drivers can now face a fine up to $500 if they don't stop completely for pedestrians who
are in the crosswalk.
The previous law only required drivers to yield, but that led to some incidents of pedestrians
being dangerously cut off.
Also, Bandcraft Elementary School on Mount Pleasant now has too many higher income families
to qualify for the Title I federal grant.
That's $90,000 that the school is losing.
A decade ago, 77% of Bandcraft students received free and reduced cost meals.
Now only about 25% of the students are eligible, an indication of the area's gentrification.
Some are worried about Bandcraft remaining on multiracial and bilingual school.
And lastly, dangerous incidents that killed or injured patients in Maryland's hospitals
have more than tripled between 2019 and 2022.
Let's say the dangerous missteps are likely fueled by staffing shortages and the strain
of the pandemic, but they also may reflect larger systemic failures.
That's all for today here on CityCast DC.
If you enjoyed the show, tell a friend who loves traipsing around the leaves in their
fall fit.
And subscribe to our newsletter, because Kayla's got even more foliage tips for you
in tomorrow's edition.
You can sign up for free at dc.citycast.fm.
We'll you back tomorrow morning with even more news from around the city.
Bye!