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Ceci n'est pas une piste (The Treachery of Google Maps)

January 5, 2021 (Afternoon)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
The Potomac Heritage Trail is a bit surreal, and by surreal I really mean not real, at least between Gulf Branch and Chain Bridge. No matter! Emilia and I forged our own trail, mostly over boulders, vines, broken concrete and piping from the GW Parkway, some roots and abandoned railroad tracks, and plenty of rapids. It kinda rained a bit but then decided not to. Coming back over Chain Bridge Emilia’s legs apparently rebelled at the 20-minute pace we’d been going because I suddenly found myself doing a tempo run. Never have I gone out so slow and come back so quick! We were gone a total of 2 hours and covered about 8 miles (Stava is a bit uncertain how to chart our course or which portions to count as running).

The Potomac Heritage Trail is a dirt hiking trail on the Virginia side of the Potomac. In theory, it runs from the Teddy Roosevelt Island parking lot up the Potomac River for 10 miles to American Legion Bridge where the Beltway crosses the river. The sign at the outset says it's 4 miles to Chain Bridge, and I'd long hoped to traverse that route, though my forays into Virginia over the summer suggested that parts would be hard to run. In fact, the first mile is pretty easy, and the next two miles are mostly run-a-able provided you're willing to cross some streams by hopping from stone to stone. The final mile is where things get tough, though apparently it's because the trail actually ceases to hug the waterline and heads up to the top of the cliffs, a detail we failed to notice and hence our bushwhacking our way up the shore. Regardless, we had a good time.