[SkateDC] Skate Across Virginia and Maryland Heights Hike (7/24/10)

[George Marinkovich]

Some people have expressed interest in doing this on Saturday (7/24/10) so here are more details...

The weather forecast for Saturday is sunny with hot temperatures (99 degrees hot enough for you?).

The Skate Across Virginia is about 2.8 miles long (round trip) and I anticipate it should take about half an hour to complete.  We put our skates on in Maryland, skate across the Potomac River (which should be scenic), through a tiny corner of Virginia, enter West Virginia where we turn around and skate back to the start in Maryland.  If you want to go to on this trip but don't want to do the skate you will only have to wait for half an hour.  Obviously this is not a very serious skate, the whole skate thing is more in the nature of a lark.  A mere appetizer.

The main course to follow could be either a Maryland Heights hike or River Riders tubing on the Potomac River.  Either activity would take about 4 hours.  We could bring our lunch and eat either at Harper's Ferry Overlook on the top of Maryland Heights (if we hike) or on the river (if we tube).

The Maryland Heights hike has a strenuous uphill followed by an easy downhill ;-)  You need to carry your own water and if you are anything like me in 99 degree heat you will want to carry a lot of water.  http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/maps/maryland.htm

Potomac River Whitewater Tubing, on the other hand, has almost no hills ;-)  More details here:  http://www.riverriders.com/RRMain.asp?Option=Detail&Activity=Tubing&TripID=12

Start time would be 11 am at the Cindy-Dee restaurant in Knoxville, Maryland.  I can pick up passengers at Shady Grove Metro Station or the Quince Orchard Park and Ride in Gaithersburg at 10 am for the one hour trip to Harpers Ferry.  I will have room for three passengers in my car.

So, let me know if you're interested, and what you are interested in doing (hiking or tubing), and we can make our plans accordingly.  If we opt for the tubing we can get a discount by booking the trip online.

There's nothing particularly sacred about the start time of 11 am, so if we need to move the time it's a possibility.

Cheers,
George

--- On Mon, 7/19/10, George Marinkovich <skatewash at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: George Marinkovich <skatewash at yahoo.com>
Subject: Skate Across Virginia and Maryland Heights Hike (7/24/10)
To: "WAR Skate List" <skatedc at skatedc.org>
Date: Monday, July 19, 2010, 7:17 AM

Saturday (7/24/10) Skate Across Virginia and Maryland Heights Hike, starts at 11 AM at Cindy-Dee Restaurant, Knoxville, MD (Directions:  http://tinyurl.com/cindy-dee-restaurant), led by George Marinkovich.  Maybe if it's an extremely hot day, river tubing can replace the hiking.  

If anyone is interested in this let me know and I'll work out the additional details.

As far as the skating goes...

Here's the long version of the skate route:

Skate Across Virginia Route

Route Map:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3777227

Starting Location:

Cindy-Dee Restaurant
19112 Keep Tryst Rd
Knoxville, MD 21758
301-695-8181
Directions:  http://tinyurl.com/cindy-dee-restaurant

R (E on) Keep Tryst Rd (State Hwy 180)
L northbound shoulder of US Rt 340
X Bridge over Potomac on
 northbound pedestrian walkway
Enter into Virginia at end of bridge
Becomes Jefferson Pike (US Rt 340)
Enter into West Virginia
Reverse Direction and return to Cindy-Dee

Total distance:  2.8 miles

The short version is that we skate on the shoulder of US Rt 340 from Maryland, across the Potomac, into Virginia, into West Virginia, and then backtrack into Maryland.  At all times we are on the shoulder of US Rt 340 except for the Keep Tryst Rd part to get to and from our cars.

Obviously, the Skate Across Virginia is just an appetizer; the hike up Maryland Heights is the main course.  It's hard to imagine the entire skate taking more than a half hour including time spent posing by the "Welcome to Virginia," "Welcome to West Virginia," and "Welcome to Maryland" signs ;-)

It's just a silly one-time-only skate just to say been-there-done-that.  The hike however, is a nice
 workout.

Cheers,
George