Dumbarton Loop

A sprawling 8-mile loop in NW DC that takes place almost exclusively on dirt trails scattered around the city.

 

Location: N.W. DC by Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Glover Park, and Rock Creek Park

Length: Approx. 8 miles

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22/12/2024
 	

 		

 	
 	
 	
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ROUTE GUIDE

As with all loops, you can start this route anywhere along the path since you’ll always finish back where you started.  My guide begins at Sidwell Friends School since that is where I start this loop from.

The route begins on Wisconsin Avenue in front of Sidwell Friends School (3825 Wisconsin Avenue).  Cross the street and enter Rodman Street.

Take the road until it ends, then make a left onto 39th Street.  A little park should come into view on your right.

Enter the park and run to behind the swing sets.  You should see a descending staircase, which is the entrance to the trail.

When you get to the bottom of the downhill, turn left.  If you stay on the dirt path, the trail will eventually toss you out onto a green field by Massachusetts Avenue.  This part of the trail is mainly uphill but nothing bad.

If you follow the dirt path through Massachusetts Field, you will get to Massachusetts Avenue (surprise!).  At this point, you are about half a mile into your run.The entrance to the Glover Archbold Trail is

The entrance to the Glover Archbold Trail is directly across the street, but in order to get there safely, we must make a right onto Massachusetts Avenue and run to the crosswalk, then make a U-turn there to get the other side.  (The Glover Archbold Trail is part of the Dumbarton Loop)

Be warned that going up to the intersection will be a long (but not very steep) uphill.  As you run back down Mass, you will see the entrance to the trail on the right:

This trail will take you all the way to the Capital Crescent Trail in Georgetown.  It is divided up into 4 legs, meaning that this trail is composed of 4 mini-trails that make one large trail.  However, we will turn off from Glover halfway through the 3rd leg.

The first leg is about half a mile long and ends on Cathedral Avenue.  Cross at the crosswalk and go down the steps to enter the second leg.

The second leg is only about .2 miles long.  Nothing really interesting here.  The second leg ends on the corner of New Mexico and Garfield.

As depicted above, you will have to cross the road twice to get on the opposite side of the intersection.  The red circle indicates the entrance to the 3rd leg.  It can be hard to see when all the leaves are out.

The third leg is about 1.5 miles long, but we don’t want to stay on the main path for that long.  We want to turn off to a side path about .8 miles into the third leg.

There will be several side paths to the left, but the one we are looking for is marked by a storm drain.  So, after about .8 miles into the 3rd leg, if you come across an intersection with a storm drain, you are in the right place.  It can be hard to distinguish otherwise because much of the trail looks exactly the same.

You will also know you’re in the right place if the side path is uphill.

This side path will eventually connect to a grassy field on a hill (Whitehaven Park).  Follow the trail until you get to a fork.  Go right at the fork towards the trail that runs along a black fence.

When in doubt, follow this black fence and it will take you to the field.  This side path is quite short but very steep (approx. 140 ft elevation).

Once you get to this park, all you need to do is continue to follow the black fence that runs along the perimeter of the park on your right.  Doing so will lead you to the next part of our route:

However, after this, stop following the black fence.  The path will fork again, and this time make a left turn away from the fence:

This path will lead to another grass field that will lead to 37th St.  Cross the road and up the road directly across (Whitehaven Pkwy).  After a couple blocks, you will hit Wisconsin Ave.

Once you hit Wisconsin, you should see a road (Whitehaven St)  like this off Wisconsin.  This is where you have to go.

Remember how we started on Wisconsin Ave. just up the street?  For whatever reason, if you want to cut your run short, you can turn left on Wisconsin and run back to where you started for a total run of 4.5 miles.

As you run down Whitehaven St, run as it starts to bend, you will see the entrance to the Dumbarton trail on the right side of the road around the bend.

This is when you will start to see the most scenic parts of the trail, as well as a nice consistent downhill (until the final uphill grind).

You’ll go down some steps and some hills and until you get to a creek.  Once you locate the creek, stay on it.  If there are ever forks, go in the direction that follows the creek.

Here are some pictures from this part of the route.

As you follow the creek, you’ll get to this bridge.  Cross it.

After crossing the bridge, you’ll go through these barn-doors and get to an intersection.

Of the two paths, go left.

You will once again be faced with a split path.  Take the right path (away from the bridge).

Doing so will keep you right on the creek.

The next junction you will see will look like this.  Go right.

You’ll know you’re on the right track if you go under a bridge that looks like this.

 

 

This entire section of the Dumbarton Loop is by far the most complicated.  However, you will find this for not just this trail but many other trails, following the river/creek will take you on the right path 80% of the time.

Anyways, once you cross under the bridge, there is only one junction left: a T junction where you have to go right.

 

This is the aforementioned T-junction:

If you hang a right here, you will exit onto the Rock Creek Trail:

So once you exit, go left uphill.

At this junction, stay to the right.

You’ll have to cross here.  I don’t know if it’s true anymore, but a while ago there was a sign that said pedestrians had to yield for cars.  So, be alert while crossing.

Immediately after crossing, take the right path downhill:

Eventually, you will get to this tunnel.  When there is no construction nothing should be blocked off.  When you get near the tunnel, you should see a pathway immediately to the left of the tunnel.  This is what you want to take.

However, you can go through the tunnel instead if you want to take a shortcut (provided that the tunnel is open).

Here is the aforementioned opening to the left of the tunnel.

This trail goes past the Smithsonian Zoo.  It’s just a nice alternative to the dank and dangerous tunnel.

At this stop sign, go straight through the intersection.

The trail will exit onto Beach Dr.

Notice that if you turn around, you see the tunnel- you get to the exact same place.

The one benefit of construction is that there is a surplus of porta-potty’s stationed around the trails:

Cook out .8 miles along this pathway and you will get to a little wooden bridge that you cross.  After crossing, take the right path upwards.

As you approach this intersection, go right.

From here it’s relatively short to the next junction.  You will quickly approach the bridge shown below.  Cross it and make a left.

About .3 miles later, you will get to yet anther brown wooden bridge.  Cross it and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the Tilden Hill.

But to continue, look for this trail opening directly to your left:

This is where the ascent begins.  In the last 1.5 miles, you will have to make up 300 ft.  The trail you just entered (Melvin Hazen) will start relatively mild with a few stream crossings but will get extremely steep towards the end.

After .5 miles, you will exit onto Connecticut Ave.

Note that the trail entrance to the next part of Melvin Hazen is across the street.  Go right up the road to cross safely at an intersection or try to cross here if your brain’s not working properly.

Once you’ve crossed the street, enter the parking lot and go straight to the back.

All the way to the back.

You will find the next trail entrance hidden in the back of a parking lot.  I have no idea why it’s here and not somewhere else.

This part is not too bad.  There are a few rolling hills but nothing too steep.  It’s not very long either.  Before you know it, you’ll exit out onto the corner of Reno, Springland, and Tilden.

Immediately after exiting, make a left and cross at the intersection to go up the Springland culdesac.

Cross:

Up Springland:

At the end of the culdesac is a trail opening up to Hearst Field.  Hearst is right across the street from Sidwell so we are basically done.

Go up a few staircases.

Cross the field:

Up one more staircase:

And you’ll find yourself at the rear entrance to Sidwell Friends School on 37th St.  This marks the end of the Dumbarton Loop.  You can go up one block to get to Sidwell’s main entrance, which is where you started, but that’s trivial.

NOTES

Despite the fact that this loop is only 8 miles long, the hills make it quite a challenge.  It’s definitely not something I would choose to do on a recovery day.  However, it does boast some of the best sights of nature in NW DC.  It is amazing how you are also so close to urban areas yet fully engulfed in nature at the same time.

I consider to Dumbarton to be a loop made up of some of the best trails in NW DC to create one conglomerate “super-trail”.  Aside from the fact that it’s pretty complicated at some parts and can be difficult to remember all the steps, it’s definitely a rewarding run.

 

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