I’m going to be in Arlington over the weekend +, in the Crystal City area. It looks like it may be noisy running near the Reagan airport. Suggestions would be appreciated
It may be noisy by the airport, but the Mount Vernon Trail goes for miles and miles north (to DC) or south (to Mount Vernon). No worries about cars or stoplights. Sorry, I can’t help you with where to swim. Will you have a car or bike?
Wakefield Pool at 1325 S. Dinwiddie Street is new and has lot of lap swim hours. You can pay $7.75 for the day.
You can take the yellow line to Rosslyn and then transfer to orange out to Ballston - 3/4 mile walk to washington & lee pool, where they have a track (free) and pool (day pass). Wash & Lee used to be my old stomping grounds. Good pool, though for some reason none of the NOVA public pools allows you to use paddles unless you have the lane to yourself.
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The Mt Vernon trail is fine. Planes fly over very low over gravely point park. Should be gorgeous. It goes 15 miles south from CC and maybe 5 miles north to Georgetown, or you can cross the 14th street bridge two miles up from CC to get into DC tidal basin monuments area.
If you’re staying in CC, you’re probably in one of the usual hotels like the Marriott or Hilton. If you just want to swim, LA Fitness and Sport and Health are both in Crystal City walking distance and both have 25yd pools. I think LA Fitness will give you a five day pass or something for free to try out the club and Sport and Health will do something similar. There are two LAs and two Sport & Healths right there, but only one of each has a pool. Don’t go to the wakefield pool mentioned as the area is pretty sketchy, though there is an REI nearby, and you would definitely need a car. The W&L pool mentioned is the best in the area if you’re looking for a masters class arlington-masters.org?
There is also the Custis Trail which connects to the W&OD Trail (rail-to-trail) that goes west through the Virginia suburbs for about 45 miles. http://bikewashington.org/trails/wad/custis.htm
The cherry blossoms will be coming out. I’d run north on the Mt. Vernon trail and cross the 14th Street Bridge to DC. Run around the Tidal Basin and also a 3 mile loop of Hains Point/East Potomac Park. Don’t do this Sunday morning because the Cherry Blossom 10 miler will be going on on those routes.
All the other running posts are correct… The nice thing with the running/biking trails around DC is they all sort of connect. From Crystal City you can hope on the Mount Vernon Trail and run into DC across the 14th Street Bridge and run ALL over downtown seeing all the memorials / sights/ Cherry Blossoms (beware of the crowds this time of year near the Cherry Blossoms - run early). The Mount Vernon Trail also connects to Custis Trail (as other’s point out) if you want hills, 4 mile run if you want to run away from town (both 4 mile run and Custis connect to the W&OD trail which goes for ~44.5miles). You can also take Mount Vernon to Roosevelt Island and go up the bridge to the Key Bridge and run into Georgetown. Once in GeorgeTown you can run on the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) and run along the Potomac into Maryland…
So, really staying in Crystal City is the perfect place for connecting to any of the major trails in the area. Just google any of the trail names (above) for details.
- C
I’m going to be in Arlington over the weekend +, in the Crystal City area. It looks like it may be noisy running near the Reagan airport. Suggestions would be appreciated
MV trail is a good bet for running, and quite nice. I run by the airport regularly, and you can hear the jets, but they’re not bothersome.
For swimming, here’s the link to the info for Wakefield and WL. WL is easier to get to by metro, but also busier. http://www.apsva.us/Domain/98#wk. At Wakefield on Sunday you can sometimes snag a lane to yourself; WL you may end up sharing with 4 or more.
Another option for the weekend, if you want to venture into DC, is Wilson Pool. 50M and gorgeous. Opens at 9 am each morning. http://app.dpr.dc.gov/dprmap/details.asp?cid=3
Wilson is also metro accessible.
You can take the yellow line to Rosslyn and then transfer to orange out to Ballston - 3/4 mile walk to washington & lee pool, where they have a track (free) and pool (day pass). Wash & Lee used to be my old stomping grounds. **Good pool, though for some reason none of the NOVA public pools allows you to use paddles unless you have the lane to yourself.**Have you ever seen someone after they got hit in the head with a paddle? Not pretty. The old school ones would get pretty sharp edges on them. Not really the case with the newer ones, but better safe than sued.