Hike: US National Arboretum in Washington D.C.
Time: Approx. 2.5 hours
Length: Approx. 3.5 miles
This was my first hike with The Mid-Atlantic Hiking group and I t
horoughly enjoyed myself. I had never even heard of the Arboretum until I saw it on the group’s webpage. My mom said she’d be interested in visiting it as well so I signed us both up for the hike. The Arboretum is not the easiest location to get to so we took Metro to Union Station and then took a cab from Union Station to the Arboretum, which is about a 10 minute ride (this worked well as there’s a Yellow Cab station on Bladensburg Road not far from the Arboretum's entrance on R & 24th so it was easy to get a cab back as well). However if you’re looking for a less expensive option there is a bus that drops you within a couple blocks of the Arboretum.
We arrived a
t the Arboretum and met up with the group. There were 42 people in attendance. We split into groups based on pacing preferences. My mom and I chose to go in the “social pace” group because we wanted to be able to enjoy the sights, and take pictures. This ended up being the perfect group for us. They were very friendly and everyone was flexible when people wanted to pause to see things or snap photos. You didn’t feel pressured to go faster and you didn’t feel like you missed out on seeing anything this way, which is good because there’s a LOT to see!
The Aboretum is has a lot of different route options for hiking/walking around. We passed through the Youth Garden, the Capital Columns, The Chinese Garden Pavillion, and the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The Youth Garden is a vegetable and flower garden maintaine
d by student volunteers and the produce is donated to soup kitchens. There is a Nature Explore Classroom where visitors can visit various stations to build, climb, or create art using natural resources (think tree stumps, pine cones, twigs, etc). The Capi
tal Columns look almost like a Coliseum in the middle of the park. These majestic columns were taken from the old Capital building. The Chinese Garden Pavillion and the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum had the most amazing collection of Bonsai trees I had ever seen! I could’ve photographed every last one of them, they were just so unique! There was also a large Coi pond where you could purchase pellets of food to feed the fish. The Arboretum was a great mix of scenic views, gorgeous gardens, historical information, and educational information about various trees and plants.
I’ve already signed up for The Mid-Atlantic Hiking Group’s fall hike through the Arboretum to see how it changes with each season. Can’t wait to go back and hope to do a loop of the whole park next time!
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