Battery Kemble Park, nicknamed the “Foxhall”, located on the corner of Nebraska Ave and Foxhall Rd is a hilly field great for hill workouts.
Location: Wesley Heights
Description:
Tucked away behind trees and residential neighborhoods, the Battery Kemble park is a modest clearing that consists of a steady incline of 170 ft spanning 0.8 miles and an incredibly steep hill of 100 ft spanning less than 0.1 miles.
Battery Kemble Park, aka “The Foxhall”
The park can be hard to find, but you can use the Battery Kemble trail guide to find it since the trail runs through this park.
0.8 mile incline
MAP
ROUTE GUIDE
The start of this incline begins past the park. So, if you are in the central area of the park, go down this path:
It will be all downhill (coincidentally we will be running back uphill). A bit over half a mile down, the trail will stop being downhill and will level out a bit. This is the starting point of our hill run. The start will also be marked by an extremely large and fairly overt rock.
The large rock marks the start
From here, you run all the way back up the way you came, past the central area of the park, all the way up to a set of staircases that you go down while initially coming to the park.
Stills going up (1)
Stills going up (2)
Stills going up (3)
Stills going up (4)
Half a mile in, you’ll exit out to the central section of the park. If you run straight through the park and continue along the upwards trail (up towards Nebraska and Foxhall which is probably the path you used to enter the park), you will reach a staircase that marks the end of the 0.8 mile ascent.
The upwards descent goes through the park and past it
These steps marks the terminus
0.1 mile incline
“This is where the fun begins”
MAP
ROUTE GUIDE
This one is pretty self-explanatory. When you’re in the central area of the park, you will see a giant hill. It is impossible to miss it. Run straight up it.
I warn you that it is bigger than it looks. Once you crest the hill, there is a second, even steeper section of the hill that is hidden from the view at the base.
The giant hill you cannot miss.
The part of the hill hidden from view. For some reason, in this picture, the hill looks level but I promise it is super steep.
The peak
NOTES
Although this park is not very accessible by metro or even by car, it’s not hard to run to from the Tenleytown region and offers not only steady long ascents but incredibly steep and short hills as well. Unfortunately, the park does not have bathrooms (but it has bushes), although there are water fountains.
These hills are great because they are exclusively dirt/grass/gravel so they are easy on your knees and for the most part, very well shaded. If you’re exerting a fairly vigorous effort on these hills, after a few reps your legs will probably start to feel weak.