A Mile in Their Shoes: Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail

Suddenly I was curious: whose land was I on, anyway?

Walking the Mount Vernon Trail, an 18-mile bike and pedestrian path along the Potomac River across from Washington DC, I wasn’t sure who had jurisdiction over the land on which I tread. That got me thinking about what else I was missing — and what others might see and experience differently on this familiar route.

And so a series was conceived — in four parts, I hope — looking at a place from multiple perspectives. I call it “A Mile in Their Shoes”.

This first episode features the people who have chosen to care for this bit of Earth, the big-hearted, hard-working, fun-loving Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail. They have found community, purpose, and lots to be curious about…

And there’s that expression that I love that you can climb a hundred mountains in your lifetime or climb the same mountain a hundred times — and you do learn: it’s different every day. 

Choose to be Curious · Ep. #227: A Mile in Their Shoes: Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail

Listen to Choose to Be Curious #227: A Mile in Their Shoes: Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail

Many thanks to my Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail volunteers/guests Susan, Laurie, Austin, co-founder and president Judd Isbell, and Alexandria City Council Member Sarah Bagley, with special appreciation for Cameron Taylor who embraced my vague pitch and put me in touch with all these lovely folks.

Check out Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail: https://mountvernontrail.org

Want to experience the Mount Vernon Trail virtually? View “Biking the Mount Vernon Trail” on YouTube.

It’s a road, it’s a park, it’s the George Washington Memorial Parkway! Mount Vernon Trail follows 18 miles of this national park, designed for recreational driving. The GW Parkway links sites that commemorate important episodes in American history and preserves habitat for local wildlife. https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/index.htm

Austin mentioned using the app iNaturalist to ID plants. It’s a great tool and curiosity community: https://www.inaturalist.org FoMVT is hosting a “BioBlitz” event with iNaturalist April 28. More information and registration here. 

Hungry for more about nature, walking and connection to place? Try these C2BC Classics: Street Wisdom, with David Pearl; Beyond Your Front Door, with Dina Pavlis; Citizen Science Is for Everyone, with Caroline Nickerson; Our Man in Arlington, with Charlie Clark; Taking Curiosity in Stride; A Capital Naturalist, with Alonso Abugattas.

Photos used with permission of Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail.

Music for this episode by Warmbody, via Blue Dot Sessions.

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