January ’16 – Trail Condition: That time they predicted mind-boggling amounts of snow

[Arlingtonrider]

My most important ask to NPS regarding the MVT is from FMR trail to the 14th Street Bridge. I’m surprised that ABAC didn’t include that whole segment in the list mentioned above. It seems like it would be a fairly easy one to do (easy access for equipment from Gravelly Point and no wooden segments) that would help a whole lot of people!

[Tim Kelley]

All of the W&OD Trail in Arlington has been cleared by the NVRPA!

https://twitter.com/NOVA_Parks/status/692453911945482240

[PotomacCyclist]

Capital Bikeshare has reopened partially. Only about 20 percent of the stations are available right now. Check the official website or the Spotcycle app to see if your target station is open yet.

Most of the available stations are located in DC and Arlington. Two appear to be available in Alexandria. None of the Maryland stations are available yet.

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/news/2016/01/22/service-alert-january-2016-snow-event

More stations will be opened once they have been cleared and verified, but it will be a slow and ongoing process. They are not rebalancing stations at this time. All of their efforts are going toward clearing stations of snow.

If you see that a station is clear but not yet activated, you can inform them through email or social media. Once they confirm that the station is usable, they will activate the station. Contact info is available at the webpage listed above.

[slowtriguy]

I rode Ballston Metro->Fairfax->Custis->W&OD->Railroad->streets in Falls Church starting around 1600 today.

Fairfax is narrow, but rideable if you are comfortable taking the lane. The connector from Fairfax to the Custis has about 2 meters of unplowed snow at the base of the Beaver Pond Hill, and the overpass was slick. Custis & W&OD are clear until you get to Van Buren, except for wet patches from melt. Looks like the W&OD has been plowed east of the Custis interchange, but I didn’t ride it.

There’s no clear path from 19th to the main W&OD so you’ll have to portage there.

W&OD is plowed down to ~1″ of slushy, icy snow from Washington Blvd to Railroad. Scattered pavement but mostly slushy, icy snow. I was able to ride it on my CX bike but only because I was too stubborn to be smart. Once it gets cold and things refreeze, I wouldn’t ride it except maybe with good studded tires. The streets are probably a better bet until things melt down a bit more.

Some pictures so you can judge for yourselves:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10679[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10680[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10681[/ATTACH]
End of the plowed bit

[hoffsquared]

@Tim Kelley 133440 wrote:

All of the W&OD Trail in Arlington has been cleared by the NVRPA!

https://twitter.com/NOVA_Parks/status/692453911945482240

Yeah! This morning I walked part of it (with bike). This afternoon was able to ride most of my route — there are still slushy spots and I did walk but tomorrow’s warm weather should help clear everything.

[PotomacCyclist]

MVT under 14th St bridges still appears to be covered in a lot of snow this evening. From the Metro train, I saw tracks. Maybe truck or snowmobile. They looked fairly deep. I didn’t have a close look, but if I had to guess, I’d say there was still at least a foot of snow on that section of the trail.

[TwoWheelsDC]

The W&OD from Little Falls to Van Buren is about 2/3 clear and 1/3 sketchy as hell. And the path to Van Buren isn’t dug out, you have to take the path parallel to 19th, which is fine with studs, but otherwise horrible. There is also melt-water all over in Banneker Park, which is going to be solid ice in the morning.

[romandc]

Rode from Crystal City to DC this afternoon through the LBJ grove and over the wooden bridge. The bridge was quite frozen over in the morning but coming through this afternoon, there is a small clearing on the north side of the bridge. Almost rideable. But from the bridge to the LBJ parking lot is still a mess. See photos.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10688[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10687[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10686[/ATTACH]

[PotomacCyclist]

A lot more melting on the way soon.

Preliminary high temperature forecasts on Weather Underground

Thur. 40-42F

Fri. 39F

Sat. 44-46F

Sun. 47-49F

Then on Monday, 57-62F

Tue. 59-61F

****
No rain or snow predicted for those days (except to the south and east of DC on Thur. night).

Possibility of rain on Tue. night and into Wed. but temperatures will stay in the low to upper 50s, which means a lot of melting. Maybe the MVT could actually be usable by the middle of next week. Most or all of the remaining closed CaBi stations could also reopen by that time.

Some trails and roads will still be messy and inaccessible this week, especially in the mornings, but it may not be long before nearly everything is clear again.

[Judd]

@romandc 133472 wrote:

Rode from Crystal City to DC this afternoon through the LBJ grove and over the wooden bridge. The bridge was quite frozen over in the morning but coming through this afternoon, there is a small clearing on the north side of the bridge. Almost rideable. But from the bridge to the LBJ parking lot is still a mess. See photos.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]10688[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10687[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]10686[/ATTACH]

Sad story… the tire tracks on the left in the first picture are mine from the time I over optimistically dragged my bike through LBJ both before and after I over optimistically dragged my bike over a portion of the Mt. Vernon trail.

[KayakCyndi]

Why hasn’t anyone put up a morning report?? I need to know exactly how bad and where the ice is. People, you are falling down (I hope not literally) on the job here!

[Anonymous]

@Amalitza 133428 wrote:

I rode from Belle View into old town last night. On the way in, I tried the Rt 1 pedestrian bridge. It was blocked on the south end by big piles of plow snow and looked to still have deep snow on the path anyway, so I didn’t bother trying it and took the lane on Rt 1 to get across the beltway instead. (I would not do this at busier times of day, and didn’t much like it last night.). Observation of the north end at Washington st on my way home last night, and further up the bridge from the south end as I drove past it this morning– it is completely clear once you get off the “sidewalk” part at the south end and onto the “bridge” part, and I saw someone riding a bike up it this am. If you are able and willing to portage over the snowplow piles and through the snow at the bottom for maybe 100ft, you could use it.

I got another look at this on my way in this morning. I believe the “portaging” part might be more challenging that my description yesterday conveyed. It’s hard to tell looking at it from the road. It may be doable, but I don’t think I’d try it with a pannier-laden bike on my way to work without a backup plan.

[Kitty]

@NickBull 133436 wrote:

I just find it amazing that the “National Park Service” places the highest value on being a local highway department. Teddy Roosevelt would be rolling in his grave if such a thing were possible.

@Arlingtonrider 133439 wrote:

My most important ask to NPS regarding the MVT is from FMR trail to the 14th Street Bridge. I’m surprised that ABAC didn’t include that whole segment in the list mentioned above. It seems like it would be a fairly easy one to do (easy access for equipment from Gravelly Point and no wooden segments) that would help a whole lot of people!

Ironically enough, my biggest “ask” would be access to the Teddy Roosevelt bridge, or at very least Memorial, from North Arlington. They can plow all of Custis, but if it deadends at the bike counter, it doesn’t really help.

I try to avoid any commute through Georgetown via M street on a good day, but right now it seems to be the only connection into the city (from Key). Under best conditions I would only recommend this to a confident (if not foolhardy) cyclist at M street quickly devolves into “Thunderdome.” Based off of yesterday you’d better have a steel spine and think like a Jeep because there is no “shoulder” or room for error.

I’m about to try it again this morning… If I don’t make it, tell Teddy I loved him (and his bridge).

[Sunyata]

@KayakCyndi 133480 wrote:

Why hasn’t anyone put up a morning report?? I need to know exactly how bad and where the ice is. People, you are falling down (I hope not literally) on the job here!

Not that my commute will help many people out…

I rode from Fairlington down 31st Street to Shirlington, down Four Mile Run (the road, not the trail), north on George Mason to N Pershing to Irving to Fairfax. The roads were not bad, but there were a LOT of icy spots.

From last night: The W&OD from George Mason to Wilson is a frozen chunky ice mess. Studded tires recommended. Hopefully the sun and warmer temperatures will melt the last inch of snow left on the trail.

[Tania]

@Kitty 133485 wrote:

I try to avoid any commute through Georgetown via M street on a good day, but right now it seems to be the only connection into the city (from Key). Under best conditions I would only recommend this to a confident (if not foolhardy) cyclist at M street quickly devolves into “Thunderdome.”

Agreed! I only take Key when I’m coming in super early so that I’m riding through Georgetown around 6:30-40am. And honestly the only reason I switched to Key is because the glare of oncoming traffic there along TR Island makes me see too many halos (poor night vision exacerbated by grimy contacts). Once days are longer and I’m not coming in so early, I’ll go back to TR Bridge.

[Author]

Posts