Pounding the Pavement in DC

Sunday was a lovely warm spring day and as a spur of the moment decision, I went on a hike in D.C. with a friend that was advertised in the Washington Post. There is also a PDF map on the link showing the route. It was listed as a 9 mile hike so we followed the advice of the previous walkers and had brunch at the Florida Grill.

The diner was very 1950's with walls covered in autographed photos of famous personalities. The staff were very friendly and my omelette was delicious but my home fries were the weirdest I've ever tasted so those were abandoned in favor of the wonderful biscuits.

Feeling full, we headed up the hill and walked through quiet neighborhoods with quirky house fronts and people coming home from church. I thought the window display above was great.
Before long, we were at Rock Creek Cemetary. The map seemed to indicate that we went around the perimeter on the outside so we headed for a gate on the lower side. That was locked so we had to walk full circle to get in and start looking around.

This graceful bronze sculpture marking the grave of a couple was one of many beautiful works of art adorning the graves.


These mausoleums all had intricate stained glass windows at the rear and the one in the foreground was in an art deco style from the 30's. The window is in the corner of the photo. Melville Bell (1819–1905), Scottish teacher and inventor, father of Alexander Graham Bell, Emile Berliner (1851–1929), German-born American inventor of the gramophone and Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966), President of the National Geographic Society are buried in this cemetery.

This Russian memorial was only erected a few years ago but had many Russian headstones surrounding it, some with snowdrops flowering beneath them. We finally left the cemetery and continued our hike.

We saw plenty of black squirrels on route. These had originally escaped from the Washington Zoo and can be seen in parts of D.C. and out towards Falls Church. They are more inquisitive than their grey relatives and seem to be more intelligent.


The styles of housing was diverse in this area with plenty of color and we weren't sure whether it was because it was a Sunday, but the neighborhoods were very quiet.

We eventually reached Rock Creek Park which was founded in 1890 as one of the first federal parks and boasts over 1700 acres. We know this because we think we walked most of it. The map was very vague through here, with none of the roads marked, and once we arrived at the creek, our weary feet sizzled as we plunged them into the icy depths of the running water. We sat for about 20 minutes or so dunking our feet often, and then reluctantly put our boots back on to try and find the right road out of the park. A couple of miles later after being given wrong information by 2 locals, we reached civilization and houses again.

I thought the architecture of this house was intriguing and was amazed at the way it was balanced with weights underneath and tensioned cables at the top.

We had to get close for a better view of this plant as it looked too vivid in color to be real. I think it's an aloe plant but maybe it was plastic.

As we came to the summit of Washington D.C. we saw Fort Reno Park which was involved in the only Civil War battle to take place in the District of Columbia. The highest point of D.C. is marked here but after fruitlessly walking around the park and asking locals who were unable to help us, we had to admit defeat, and flopped to the ground to share a Clif bar and gulp the rest of our water. The photo below is one I obtained from the internet.


The view from D.C.'s highest point was rather disappointing and this was the best shot I could take. The other 3 sides were of fencing, satelite towers or office buildings, but regardless, we were elated that we had completed our quest, albeit that our steps towards the end were slow and words were few. Our midmorning feast was quite forgotten and our stomachs were growling.
Our poor feet had trudged over 14 miles in total thanks to some wrong turns, but our spirits were high because we'd achieved what we set out to do. It had been an interesting hike covering parts of the city we'd never seen before. That night I slept like a log.

Suitland Bog, MD

Today, a small group of us visited the Suitland Bog in Maryland to help with some conservation work. This is one of the few remaining bogs in the Washington DC area and came close to disappearing forever during the 1960's when the immediate surrounding area was mined for sand and gravel. The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission purchased 20 acres in 1975 and a small area of the bog is now fenced off to protect the natural habitat.

Much of the bog's vegetation is resting at this time of year but we saw evidence of much new growth and learned from Chris, the Park Ranger the need to pull specific plants and trees which were encroaching on the area and considered invasive.

A boardwalk has been erected to keep people off the area as invasive seeds can be brought in from the outside on the bottoms of peoples' shoes.

There are many rare and beautiful plants growing in the bog, much of which are considered endangered. Sphagnum moss lives here too and Chris demonstrated its ability to hold water by picking some up and literally wringing out a torrent of water.


The plants above are carniverous Pitcher Plants which hold rain water in a 'trap' to drown and digest insects and spiders. The photo immediately above shows a captured insect. There are also two types of sundew plants living in the bog which capture insects with a sticky flypaper method but these don't emerge until later in the spring.

We saw this pretty snake on the ground as we were putting our bags down and preparing to work. Chris thought it might be a Queen snake.

Our task for the afternoon was to pull Japanese Honeysuckle up as this invasive plant was getting out of control. The roots networked under the leaves and earth but pulling them up was relatively easy.

This was our pile of roots which we'd gathered, a small dent in the neverending workload that needs to be done in this protected area. If any groups want to help in this work, you can e-mail Chris, the Park Ranger, at chris.garrett@pgparks.com.

Obama Memorabilia

After a meeting in D.C., my boss and I visited the inauguration store next to the White House. A lot of our products had been sold here, and while Mike discussed business with the owner, I cruised around the shop looking for our products.

These bottles contain a white wine but I couldn't see any of the champagne bottles with the multi- colored logo. All these images were taken with my iphone hence the poor quality.


Above, are our playing cards, jigsaw bottles and charm bracelets.

At the entrance of the store, there was a recreation of the Oval Office, so I asked a passer by to capture this special moment of me with Obama himself. Sadly the moment was a little flat, (get it?)

Revisited Hospital, MD

On Saturday, a small group of us decided to return to a hospital we'd visited last year, and which had also been my first day of urban exploring. On our previous visit, I'd not had a tripod and had been so keen to document everything, that I had failed to be more creative with my photography. I'd been surfing the internet and had found a thread of a few other explorers commenting on this hospital. They had warned others not to go there as it was haunted and strange sounds had been heard as well as two people saying they'd seen mists rising in some of the buildings.

Feeling quite creeped out, we headed for a building which had previously been inaccessible. It was surrounded by barbed wire with bars at the windows. A previous visitor had staged these CPR dummies successfully as in the gloom this scene was quite haunting. There were medicinal drugs scattered around and we took great care not to touch anything as we'd heard rumors of the place being an HIC testing center.

We found an old day room with bars at the windows and a metal box that once surrounded the TV. There were numerous old computer monitors on the floor and I took this shot of the room focusing on a spider web coated in dust.

There was a scrabble board and pieces scattered on the floor and I couldn't resist leaving our signature on the board.

I loved this decaying office with the daylight pouring in.

This is the back end of a derelict bus behind of one of the buildings. I love the way the color of the seats matched the light panel.


The two shots above are from inside the chapel. I took a lot of photos here as sadly someone had been throwing stones through some of the glass windows and I suspect that they won't be intact for another visit.

I doubt that these two lovely old soda bottles will be around for much longer, so I was really pleased to be able to capture them. We only managed to cover about half of the buildings before the dusk crept in and we had no intention of staying longer. One of us had been in a courtyard taking shots when I made him jump as I tapped on the window. His alarm was explained as he had been certain that I was behind him as he'd heard distinct footsteps but I'd been in a different part of the building! I had also taken two cameras, as is my policy now, so that I always have a backup, yet in the same building, neither of them would work despite constant fiddling for about 20 minutes, and when I borrowed another camera, the battery died as soon as I turned it on. All cameras worked fine once I'd left the building. Weird, huh?

Power Station, PA

On Saturday, I got up at 3:00am to make a trip with friends to Pennsylvania to visit an abandoned power station. We met at 5:00am and drove up stopping for breakfast at Pat's in Philladelphia, famous for Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. We headed for the power station and entered with me hoping that there wouldn't be too much climbing on such a full stomach.


My fears were justified, there was some climbing through broken doors, up ladders and up the coal chute below to access the main building, but my adrenaline was running high and I was eager to get moving.

We ended up on the roof and had fabulous views of the Delaware River. The building itself was built in 1917 and has a lot of art deco aspects. Many want to see it saved as it is one of the last of its kind, representative of that vanished era when Philadelphia was called the Workshop of the World.

As we stepped into the giant turbine hall, the magnitude of the place took our breath away and rendered us speechless. Silently, we looked at each other and smiling, walked up and down the balconies, leaning over and quietly taking photo after photo. These turbines are giant versions of the engines that were used in steamships and at its peak, the boilers that powered these turbines by steam burned 325 tons of coal an hour. The turbines generated enough power to light up most of northeastern Philadelphia.

As we walked around the balcony we came to the control room where the massive control desk sat, hardly damaged despite years of neglect. I couldn't see that any buttons were missing and it seemed that if I gave the area a quick dusting, I'd be able to throw some switches and start up the power. Wish!

On top of the green desk were some blueprints, one of which was dated 1924.

As we walked round, we came to some better lit empty rooms and corridors which had beautiful old doors hanging open. The letters on the wall at the end of the corridor say, 'Psychotherapy', but we never found any evidence in the rooms of this practice.

This room had some smaller generators with many light bulbs thrown around the floor and a wall of heavy duty switches. These weird cone things had me fascinated but other than them being something to do with electricity, I had no idea what they were for.

Down on ground level with the turbines in the main hall, there was a vast boiler room which was exceedingly damp, dark and cold. It was a little scary walking around and even our flashlights seemed to have difficulty penetrating the silent gloom. The icicles hanging from the broken dial above show how cold it was. There were patches of ice on the floor and my frozen fingers were slow to operate my camera.


Despite the cold and damp, it was easy to find beauty in this amazing architectural giant. The nuts and bolts on the turbines above created interesting patterns and the intricate ceiling was fabulous despite missing large pieces. The plant was recently nominated for the historic properties register maintained by the city’s Historical Commission but the nomination failed. It is being left to slowly fall apart under the constant attack of the elements, but we hope that since it has survived since being shut down in 1984, it can stand proud a little longer until someone can save it.

St Nicholas, PA

Just after 3pm, we were back up north and arrived at the old St. Nicholas coal breaker which was constructed in 1930. It closed in 1963 but the building is still in wonderful condition with no signs of childish vandalism or graffiti. The new St. Nicholas breaker is just down the road. Half a village was moved to make way for this breaker and it was, and maybe still is, the largest breaker in the world. This behemoth of a building was incredible and knowing we only had a couple of hours of daylight, we set off immediately.

This view was taken from the top of the building and made me feel dizzy. In the first photo, you can see the small platform jutting out at the top of the building from where this shot was taken.

The workers had a room comprising only of benches and hooks on the walls to get changed in, and this pair of boots had been left behind with a few others. It seemed as if the place closed down only a few years ago instead of 45 years as around the building were scattered boots, jackets over railings, along with bottles and cans of products they used.

I loved the light in this accounts room and there were plenty of records still left strewn around the floor.

A rusty can of hand soap, tools and other artifacts stood and collected dust.

We were certainly careful as we made our way along endless broken platforms, bridges and stairs, crawling under and over the machinery to find a way through.

It took me a few minutes to realize that these old sacks were cushions on seats for workers sorting the coal pieces as they passed through. I was so busy looking at them up close, it wasn't until I stood back that I saw the full picture.

All the machinery here was huge and crawling amongst it, I occasionally felt a fear of it suddenly coming back to life. The noise must have been ear splitting.

Nearly all of the walkways on all the floors looked like this. I often suffered vertigo as I walked across them and looked down to the many floors visible below. I actually made my way across this, you can see where my feet scuffed the dust away on the left, and I had to photograph it as proof!

This must have controlled much of the machinery and I was amazed at how well preserved it was.

Some facts: 20 miles of railroad track were laid, 3,800 tons of steel and more than 10,000 cubic yards of concrete were used. A mile and a half of conveyor lines, 25 miles of conduit,26,241 26,241 square feet of rubber belting, 118 miles of wire and cable and 20 miles of pipe were installed. When the breaker was constructed it was divided into two sides. Each side could be operated independently, producing 12,500 tons of coal a day. Once the raw coal entered the production process within the breaker it took just 12 minutes to pass through the entire breaker.
Wow!
We had explored in two pairs and gone in different directions and the building was so large that even though it was empty and silent, we could not hear the others when we yelled out to them, we had to phone them. This was the electrical room at the bottom of the building.

I found these manuals and parts records, the list on the right is dated 1961. We had made our way to the bottom of the building as it became dusk. Even though we had flashlights, the floors above were losing light rapidly and we weren't keen on having to negotiate the broken flooring and steps in the dark.

This was one of the offices downstairs, obviously a favorite haunt of the pigeons. We regretfully left the breaker as it was getting dark and got back to D.C. at midnight. A packed and successful weekend of exploring with hundreds of photos to sort and edit!