Forest Hills Connection || News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield
by Marlene Berlin Last weekend, our late-arriving fall colors finally popped. (The Washington Post says it was the best in years.) It was a glorious time to be out walking in Rock Creek Park and the neighborhood. With a picture perfect blue sky and brilliant sun, the yellows, oranges and reds danced off the waters […]
“There seems to be a persistent and pervasive problem in Forest Hills (and neighboring areas) of dog walkers failing to leash their dogs,” Forest Hills neighbor Paul Walters recently wrote in an email to Council member Mary Cheh: This is dangerous for the dog, the owner, and others. A dog’s behavior with people or other […]
by Marlene Berlin The spring and late summer rainstorms were relentless. So are the volunteers who repair storm-damaged hiking trails. The DC chapter of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) regularly brings volunteers to improve the Melvin C Hazen and Soapstone Valley Trails. They repaired this Melvin Hazen stream crossing in August: The Soapstone trail’s […]
by Marlene Berlin The National Park Service tree crew can turn this: Into this: In a flash. They move so quickly to clear the trails that I saw more and more of their work, but no trace of them. They started to take on a mythical quality. But in August I happened upon them while […]
There’s a Forest Hills Park community meeting on Thursday, September 13th. It’s for planning a Halloween party, organizing a fall cleanup, and to determine whether there is enough community interest and help available for future park events. Friends of Forest Hills Playground’s last concert of the summer may have also been their last ever. The […]
by Marlene Berlin We’ve had more than our fair share of torrential rains in recent days. And on July 25th, our own Broad Branch Stream became a dangerous torrent itself. WTOP’s Dave Dildine shared this footage on Twitter: Broad Branch Road. Again, this is a road — but it is not one to be driven […]
From Friends of Forest Hills Playground: The April cleanup at Forest Hills Park drew more than 50 amazing volunteers. Planning is now under way for another volunteer event in the fall. You’re invited to join park stewards for an hour-long walkthrough to identify potential projects. In April, those included rain garden cleanup, removing invasive plants, […]
by Marlene Berlin As they’d promised after work on the Soapstone Valley trail in May, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club returned on Saturday, June 16th to do more repair work on the trail and creek crossings. On a Sunday morning walk, I noticed the difference right away. The trail had a new water bar. And […]
by Marlene Berlin It had been raining heavily at times on Sunday, and around 2 p.m. I was driving home on Rock Creek Parkway after dropping off Jim, my husband, at the airport. I wondered if I could get through on Broad Branch Road to Brandywine Street given the National Weather Service flood warnings. Usually […]
by Marlene Berlin The deluges over a record seven consecutive days this month brought down more than buckets of rain. They brought down trees. I found quite an obstacle on the Soapstone Valley trail on Sunday, May 20th. One tree had brought down multiple trees in one location which took a bit of finesse to […]
