WaPo LTTE: The winter wonderland that is the C&O Canal

[mahatmakanejeeves]

First, the big disclaimer: this is an activity that you engage in at your own risk.

The winter wonderland that is the C&O Canal

Letters to the Editor

January 16

The season’s first crop of ice on the C&O Canal may be disappearing now, and it’s a pity. But at least we had a solid week to enjoy what may be one of the world’s longest skating rinks and winter’s magical transformation of liquid to solid.

I didn’t want to miss any of that magic, so I commuted from my home in Bethesda to my office in Georgetown by ice skate. Over just those five miles, I glided through scores of continuous (and canal-wide) hockey games along with hundreds of other touring, spinning and figure-eighting skaters. One elderly woman I encountered was so smitten that she was out there happily skating with her walker. There were even ice fishermen huddled together around certain strategic locations — hopefully without beer since, after all, it is a national park.

The National Park Service adopted a “skate at your own risk” policy in recent years instead of continuing its usual protocol of draining the canal (to crack the ice) and patrolling the towpath with squad cars to scare off any citizens on skates. Without the threat of arrest, the experience is much more pleasurable, and many more Washingtonians now can take advantage of this fleeting but lovely natural phenomenon in the wonderful urban resource that is our area’s own C&O Canal National Historical Park.

I’m looking forward to the next polar vortex.

Dan Wittenberg, Bethesda

Say, that name sounds familiar. Every few years, there's an article about how he occasionally commutes to work in DC on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on skates.

A Little Bit of Heaven Along the Canal

the commute
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

It's the question everyone in this area asks and is asked: How long is your commute? The 30-minute commuters feel superior to the 45-minute commuters, who feel superior to the hour-long commuters, who have abject sympathy for those folks hauling all the way in from West Virginia. Yes, there's a thousand different commutes. Here is one of them. An occasional Page Three feature.

I've got the best commute in Washington -- perhaps in the world. I live in Brookmont. That's in Bethesda just over the District line, and it also happens to abut the C&O Canal National Park. ... For 20-odd years now, I've commuted the five miles from there to my office in Georgetown by way of the C&O Canal towpath and/or the parallel Capital Crescent Trail.

Depending on the season, I do it by bike (an unalloyed pleasure), by rollerblade (a bit more work), by cross-country ski (a lot more work), by ice skate (exquisite when it's doable) or by foot (rarely). If all else fails I can take the bus down MacArthur Boulevard, which actually takes slightly longer.

The only traffic jams I encounter are too many deer blocking the path during the rutting season. The only road rage I see is the occasional malevolent Canada goose protecting its goslings.
....

Most people dread their commutes. I absolutely adore mine.

-- Dan Wittenberg, Brookmont

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Ice Hockey on the C&O Canal in Georgetown

Continuing with this theme:

Ice Hockey on the C&O Canal in Georgetown

They call it "Canal Hockey" and the name tells the story.

That's exactly what a group of Georgetown University business school grad students were up to this morning on the C&O Canal near the Key Bridge. I spotted their game as I drove back from Palisades and, delighted, quickly hunted down a parking space. By the time I got parked, grabbed my camera, ran down 34th Street, crossed the bridge and arrived at their spot they were done. Darn. But good news, I took a photo of the group, which I sent to them, and in return, one of the players, Ryan Bowden, sent me some of his pics.

Here's the big disclaimer again: this is an activity that you engage in at your own risk.