I had been having trouble getting from the Capital Crescent Trail to the North Bethesda Trail, mostly because I was following this cue sheet which is riddled with errors.
Here's what I have now. Coming from the south,
- Turn left on Little Falls Parkway and stay on it until it turns into Glenbrook Road.
- Follow Glenbrook all the way to Rugby Avenue
- Follow the trail through the park straight ahead. This will take you to the NIH campus and the paved path on the south side of the perimeter fence. But be warned:
The purpose of the paved path was to provide a paved route for non-NIH pedestrians outside the security fence around the southern campus perimeter. It was not intended or designed as a formal bicycle trail.
turn left on the paved path and take that out to Old Georgetown Road.
turn right and follow the sidewalk/side path to the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Charles St.
There you'll find the North Bethesda.
Alternatively you could just turn left off of Glenbrook onto Old Georgetown. For more directions around NIH look at the NIH Bike Commuters Club website.
The "paved path" along the south side connecting Old Georgetown to Jones Bridge is nice, but why not create a formal bicycle trail? What they have now is too narrow and meanders.
Comments