Teddy's Island

Ok, so it's actually Roosevelt Island, but I think Teddy's Island has a nice ring to it.

No matter what you'd like to call it, I can finally check it off the DC To-Do List as done

Teddy is polite too, waving to greet his guests

The island is in the middle of the Potomac River, between Rosslyn and the Georgetown waterfront. It's not huge (according to wikipedia there is 2 1/2 miles of shoreline) but it's a decent size, with a variety of walking trails. The trails branch off immediately after you cross the footbridge onto the island, but I figured I needed to go visit Teddy first, as the polite thing to do since I was visiting his island.

Peeking through the trees towards DC

After visiting the statue I set off to on one of the trails behind it. It started off as a nicely cleared, gravel covered path, but as I got further into the woods it definitely felt more like I was out for an actual hike in the wilderness and not still (technically) in the District of Columbia.

Some people were out there with strollers and while that works for a bit, you eventually get to a point where it really, really doesn't. And then, right after that point (which involved lots of climbing over rocks) I arrived at a lovely elevated boardwalk, which was totally stroller, jogger and even elderly person walking with a cane, friendly. The boardwalk area was pretty long, maybe about a mile, and it runs through the swamp and marshland on the island.

The boardwalk through the Swamp Trail

At times, along the main path, and then towards the end of the boardwalk path you've got some great water views and less aesthetic views of various highways and bridges to remind you that you are still in DC.

After I finished the main trail I took a reading/snack/water break back by Teddy's statue and then decided to try one more trail before heading home.

Welcome to my walkway trees. 

That one was a bit trickier.... from the beginning I could tell it was a bit more natural than the others. It was a cleared path still, but not gravel or paved and it got less and less "cleared" as I walked. I climbed over several downed trees in the path without issue, but as I kept going to noticed the grass getting taller and taller and the visibility of the path getting smaller and smaller. I decided to turn back, as there was really no reason when I was by myself that I needed to continue further into the unknown (aka home of a million ticks.)

When I got back to the main entrance and looked at the island map I saw that last trail I was on was a shorter path, leading back to the main trail that loops the island, on the side I didn't go to. So, I know which direction I'll be heading in first on my return visit to Teddy's Island!

 

While I still think Teddy is polite, from this angle it seems
like he's a grumpy old man yelling at the plane to stop making
all that racket and stay away from his island! 

Ps. Between exploring the island and a running errands on foot in my neighborhood last Saturday was a 19,000 step day!