There are many massive old trees along the Mount Vernon Trail in Belle Haven Park south of Alexandria. A few years ago a true behemoth started falling apart and was taken down. Over the weekend storms claimed another tree, much smaller but still a welcome producer of shade along the trail. This is what the tree looked like this morning.
Ten hours later this is what remained.
Sad face.
There were several other much smaller trees and limbs that had fallen across the trail. These were cleared before this morning’s rush hour.
The credit here goes to the National Park Service that maintains the trail and the nearby George Washington Memorial Parkway.
No good deed goes unpunished around here, however. If the Park Service can provide such excellent storm debris clean up, it can do other things that trail users have wanted for years. Here are a few:
- Plowing and treating the trail after winter storms
- Grinding down the bumps from tree roots
- Repositioning stop signs so that they force cars to stop not trail users.
- Finding an alternative bridge material to the wood that is currently used. Wood bridges become skating rinks and cause many bike crashes. I don’t know if she fell on a bridge but I saw a young cyclist tending to a very bloody wound below her elbow this morning.
Tonight on my ride home I was flagged down by Adam Schildge. He and his wife Amy are new homeowners down my way in the Fort Hunt neighborhood. They were signing people up for a new bike advocacy Facebook group called MVT South. If you are a user of the southern part of the Mount Vernon Trail (south of Old Town Alexandria) check it out.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 