Leading the McLean loop – Remote sections within the DC metro area – The environmental impact of oversized houses – Mardi Gras in New Orleans – Evening statistics
I led the McLean Loop for the Vigorous Hikers today, the same route I scouted two days ago. This hike is held in winter because as a rule that season tends to be drier than the others, a desirable attribute for a hike that goes alongside rivers and involves several stream crossings. Unfortunately, this month has been unusually wet for the time of year. The water levels were even higher today than they were on Sunday. The crossing at Scott’s Run had to be navigated by means of a fallen tree trunk. It was fairly broad but I went on all fours instead of walking upright on it because I could not be certain whether the effects of the recent rain would make it slippery, particularly as my boots were already muddy by the time we reached it. At Dead Run the recently added stepping stones were completely submerged. After we reached Fort Marcy and had lunch, I decided to avoid the remaining crossings over Pimmit Run completely by means of little detours, and I’m glad that I did. In most conditions it is sufficiently placid, but sometimes it becomes, as it was today, turbid, swift, and full-flowing. The stepping stones at its official crossing point on the Potomac Heritage Trail have long been washed away; and while it is possible, when the water is at lower levels, to improvise another crossing upstream, it would have been a bad idea to attempt it today. However, the rain and snowy mix that was prophesied earlier did not materialize; and in fact it became rather warm, going up to the high 40s. The higher temperatures, of course, meant that all of the snow and ice from the previous snowfall had melted, making the trails muddy in many areas. For all of these disadvantages, we greatly enjoyed ourselves pacing through what I called “the wilds of McLean.”
The hike is an example of one of the paradoxes of the Washington DC metro area: in the midst of densely populated urban and suburban neighborhoods it is quite possible to wander along paths that appear as remote and far away from human habitation as British Columbia or northern New England. The portion of the Potomac Heritage Trail included in our route went alongside the Potomac, with no buildings visible on either side of the river; and on account of the winter season and overcast skies we encountered scarcely any other person. MC, who grew up in New England, said that he could have easily believed himself to be in Maine. The Potomac is perhaps 1/3 mile wide in this area, bordered on each side by thickets of marsh plants, tangles of brambles, dense forest, and undergrowth. An occasional heron flits over the surface in search of fish. It is a tidal river, and high tide was approaching as we rambled alongside it.
The hike also goes through a number of suburban developments, many of them featuring so-called “McMansions,” or large houses on lots on which the original houses have been torn down to make way for these more imposing or, depending one’s point of view, more garish structures. HL, who before he retired was an engineer working in riparian management, was explaining how such the water runoff from such houses place a greater burden on the environment; and indeed we could see this for ourselves: along Pimmit Run we saw areas whose erosion caused by collapsing along the river banks was on a scale as to dislodge sewer pipes.
Interestingly enough, I learned about a story concerning another aspect of the river when I returned home. White’s Ferry, the historic ferry that was forced to shut down as a result of an acrimonious legal wrangle, has been bought by a local businessman who has pledged to work with the owners of Rockland Farm (the land on which the ferry is located) to restore the licensing agreement and make the ferry operational again. The ferry was established in 1786, and its restoration is not of sentimental interest only. Hundreds of vehicles used the ferry every day for the purposes of commuting; and since its closure in December drivers have been forced to use longer and more inconvenient routes, adding to the traffic burden in Montgomery and Loudoun Counties.
Today is Mardi Gras – a very muted Mardi Gras as a result of COVID. The famous festivities of New Orleans were not held this year, since the celebrations of the previous year gained notoriety for being one of the first super-spreader events. For this year, bars were closed, Bourbon Street was blocked off, and there were no parades. The citizens of New Orleans, however, have shown some ingenuity in coping with the situation. Over 3,000 houses in the metropolitan area featured “house floats,” decorating their houses in the same manner of the floats used during the parades of previous years. The New Orleanians are calling this manner of observing the holiday “Yardi Gras.” Thus one house was decorated to resemble the “Playhouse” of the Peewee Herman Show, another displayed enormous tentacles emerging from the windows and calling itself “Release the Kraken” (an illusion to the phrase used by Sidney Powell for her plethora of conspiracy theories), a third was laid out with an immense rainbow arching over the figures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion, and so on. Not only has this gesture helped to mitigate what otherwise could have been a depressingly bland holiday but several of the homes commissioned the design and construction to numerous out-of-work local artists, who in many cases have had no jobs for months.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 110,018,229; # of deaths worldwide: 2,428,130; # of cases U.S.: 28,378,979; # of deaths; U.S.: 499,815.