Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hiking Potomac Overlook Regional Park

Arlington County may be one of the smallest counties in the country, but it never ceases to surprise me with what it offers. Today, we explored Potomac Overlook Regional Park. We wanted to get out and enjoy the heatwave (50° F) and thought some light hiking would do the trick.

The park, does indeed, offer a handful of trails. With all the leaves off the trees, there were a number of spots where we could see the neighboring houses. And the park is also in the flight path of National Airport, so every 10 minutes a jet liner would fly by. But, even with these distractions, the park is still a hit. We got a nice walk in the woods, and managed to come across a family of deer ("family" being the technical term, of course) which made for a nice bit of excitement. And we did all this within a 12 minute drive of our house.

If you want a nice two mile hike in the park, here's what you do:

  • Park at the parking lot next to the playground
  • Walk just a little ways down the road until you see a road on your right marked as "Farm Road"
  • Walk along the road until you to hit a a junction - then keep going
  • You'll arrive at the original Potomac Overlook point. At this location is marked a 1 mile hike down to the Potomac
  • Hike in and out

Even if you just do as we did, and wander around some of the trails off the road, it's still worth your time.

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