Sandy – Trail Report – W&OD

[Dirt]

W&OD from West Street (Falls Church) to Mile 0 is generally good. Bluemont Underpass is taped off, but appeared to only have about 6″ of water running over the trail. The overpass was easy since no-one was out at 0530.

Carlin Springs underpass is clear:

The Shirlington Connector and 4-Mile Run from Shirlington to the MVT has a few branches down, but nothing difficult to go around. I moved off what I could. The Rt1 Underpass is fenced off, but I have it on good authority that the trail is clear and not under water. I sense that the water level was still about 12″ below the trail. It was very cool that Arlington fenced it off anyways just to be safe.

[Dirt]

Guapos marketing team had suggestions for my breakfast:

[crysb]

@Dirt 34683 wrote:

W&OD from West Street (Falls Church) to Mile 0 is generally good. Bluemont Underpass is taped off, but appeared to only have about 6″ of water running over the trail. The overpass was easy since no-one was out at 0530.

At first I thought they just threw down an old bed frame to block off the trail.

[Dirt]

@crysb 34690 wrote:

At first I thought they just threw down an old bed frame to block off the trail.

I didn’t get what it was when I first rode up on it either. It was good that they put up something to mark the routes that were not really safe to be riding. Hats off to Arlington for doing that. The entrances to 4-mile run that have low bridges all had a fence thing like that to tell people the crossing wasn’t safe. All could be bypassed, but at least people were warned.

[Greenbelt]

Beltsville’s clear for an awesome road ride. Sunnyside is flooded, but passable on bike, there’s a tree down over Springfield Road near Lanham Severn, and I had to bunny hop some downed wires on Beaver Dam near the Parkway underpass.

Did I ever mention that it’s awesomely crazy wonderful to have a road ride this good right in your backyard: http://app.strava.com/activities/26490882

[eminva]

I walked about 1/4 mile of the W&OD just east of Maple Avenue. It is wet and covered with leaves, but not too bad. There were lots of small limbs down and I tried to remove them. Here is a picture.

Liz

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[acc]

As much as I’d like to spend the day licking guacamole off my fingers and sipping Diet Coke, I’m going to jump on Thor (my mountain bike) and ride towards Herndon this afternoon to see if anything needs clearing on the W&OD. And I don’t mean the joggers. :rolleyes:

[Greenbelt]

River levels along the Prince George’s trails are heading down. I bet the flooding was pretty serious though, and will probably be lots of mud and debris on the trails tomorrow morning: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/uv?site_no=01649500

[Dirt]

I saw something that said that flood waters on the Potomac are not expected to crest until tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. That means that the Shirlington Connector between mile 0 of the W&OD and the Mount Vernon trail will likely be flooded as early as this afternoon. Water was only about 12″ below the trail when I rode through there before 0600 today. With water steadily rising, it will be smart to take those sections VERY easy and pay attention to the barriers that they have set up.

[viennabiker]

I rode from Cedar Lane to Old Reston Avenue around noon today. Path was fairly clear except for a large number of twigs, acorns, and the like; here were the only larger issues:
1. Thick cover of leaves between southeastern border of Vienna (1/2 mile west of Cedar) to Park.
2. Thick cover of leaves a bit east of Hunter Mill
3. Tree blocking most of trail about 1/4 mile east of Hunter Mill (you could squeeze by it)
4. Very thick cover of leaves between Sunset Hills and Wiehle Ave

[mstone]

@Dirt 34705 wrote:

I saw something that said that flood waters on the Potomac are not expected to crest until tomorrow (Wednesday) evening. That means that the Shirlington Connector between mile 0 of the W&OD and the Mount Vernon trail will likely be flooded as early as this afternoon. Water was only about 12″ below the trail when I rode through there before 0600 today. With water steadily rising, it will be smart to take those sections VERY easy and pay attention to the barriers that they have set up.

Hmm. If it hasn’t crested yet, better get the hip waders.

http://river-depth.com/graphs/01638500

[mstone]

@viennabiker 34708 wrote:

I rode from Cedar Lane to Old Reston Avenue around noon today. Path was fairly clear except for a large number of twigs, acorns, and the like; here were the only larger issues:
1. Thick cover of leaves between southeastern border of Vienna (1/2 mile west of Cedar) to Park.
2. Thick cover of leaves a bit east of Hunter Mill
3. Tree blocking most of trail about 1/4 mile east of Hunter Mill (you could squeeze by it)
4. Very thick cover of leaves between Sunset Hills and Wiehle Ave

The only places I didn’t see a mess of leaves is where a stream overflowed and washed them off. The best spot in the neighborhood stream valley trail is the false trail created when Irene overflowed, scooped up the gravel, and deposited it along the stream–this storm washed off all the leaves, and left a very clear gravel trail to…nowhere

[OneEighth]

Now why didn’t I put my blurb here where it belonged?
Rode the Custis to the W&OD, 4 Mile Run, and MVT north into town. Lots of debris and wet leaves, closed underpass under Wilson, closed-ish underpass under Route 1, one tree across the MVT by the 14th Street bridge. All passable on 25mm road tires. Might switch to cx tires for tomorrow.
Heading home in a little while will post again afterwards.
Beautiful day to ride.

[bobco85]

I hate to repost a link 3 times, but I have pictures from the MVT, 4MR/WOD, and Custis trails. Here’s the link: Post-Sandy Ride October 2012

Also to note: between National Airport and Bluemont Park on Four Mile Run/W&OD, the only stoplight that is out is the one at Columbia Pike.

[acc]

I rode from Vienna to a little past Herndon this afternoon.

I only found one spot that was blocked. About 200 yards east of Hunter Mill.

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