being not doing

The last ride I took on Pearl, back in July before our trip, was up the Northwest Branch Trail along the — wait for it — northwest branch of the Anacostia. I’d never been up beyond University Boulevard, and likely won’t go again. Not because the trail wasn’t nice; it was, even with the stretch of gang-tagged trees making me only too aware of the spate of sexual assaults taking place in our area.

The non-fear-based downside is that the trail ends in rocks only a few miles from my house, at the Beltway overpass, so it’s not really made for a nice long ride. I ended up at the rocks right around high noon, so it wasn’t the best light for photos either, with the stark contrast of canopy and glare. Nonetheless, I parked Pearl — taking the probably unnecessary step of hiding her behind a huge rock — and walked up the trail just far enough to see the small waterfall. I have to admit, I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic when the kid coming out of the woods carrying his bike told me there was a ‘waterfall’ up a bit, but it was nice for what it was.

Pearl and the rock:

‘Waterfall’:

The Beltway:

As for wildlife, I saw loads of larger birds — flickers, grackles, robins, a thrasher, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker — but nary a small one. I’m guessing they were quite a bit higher than the trail, up at the tops of the trees that were growing up the rather steep banks.