Please Note: This tour is conducted in person and limited to 20 registrants. CDC and Smithsonian Covid-19 guidelines in effect at the time of the program will be followed. Updates will be posted to SmithsonianAssociates.org. Protocols such as distanced seating, mask mandate, and/or proof of vaccination may be required. Read the COVID requirements prior to registration.
Spend a fall morning exploring the verdant wooded trails of Rock Creek Park with naturalist Melanie Choukas-Bradley, author of the award-winning A Year in Rock Creek Park: The Wild, Wooded Heart of Washington, DC. She surveys the botanically diverse native trees of Rock Creek Park’s floodplain forest and upland woods and covers the history of D.C.’s woodland gem, the oldest urban national park in the country, twice the size of Central Park. View the outcrops where an exuberant President Theodore Roosevelt led his famous rock scrambles and get acquainted with the well-maintained trail network that now provides recreation for millions of local residents and visitors annually.
The walk begins near Peirce Mill, the historic and recently restored grist mill that celebrates the region’s agrarian past. Participants view the adjacent fish ladder that opened the spawning route for migrating shad and herring, dubbed the “herring highway.”
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General Information
- The tour meets next to the parking lot across from Peirce Mill, 2401 Tilden St NW, Washington, DC; parking is available in the lot and on nearby side streets; restrooms may be open.
- Bring water, a snack, and comfortable, sturdy shoes.
- This is an easy-to-moderate walk.
