Jones Falls Trail Walk Through on a Snowy Morning


by Jonathan Cooper

The first real snow of the year did not deter about twenty Mt. Washington residents from participating in a walk through of a small piece of our section of the planned Jones Falls Trail, known as Phase V. Once completed, the Jones Falls Trail will be a walking/hiking/biking path, extending for ten miles through Baltimore City along the Jones Falls river valley, connecting twenty neighborhoods with the Inner Harbor, Mt. Vernon, and Lake Roland. In Mt. Washington, the trail will run from Cylburn to the Village, covering a distance of two miles.

Saturday’s walk through was led by Gennady Schwartz, Chief of Engineering Services for the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, hosted by the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, and organized by David Conn, who chairs the Jones Falls Trail Committee of the Mt. Washington Improvement Association (MWIA).

After convening in the warmth of the Pediatric Hospital’s lobby, we headed out into the wet and heavy snowfall towards the woods. Mr. Schwartz led the group, which included MWIA board members and neighbors of all ages, including two children, to the corner of West Rogers Avenue and Wildwood Lane to start the walk. You can refer to the map below, which was generated by the GPS log from my iPhone, to see the path that we walked. .
As we walked along West Rogers Avenue back towards the Pediatric Hospital, Schwartz discussed several issues related to that stretch of the trail. The trail will be eight feet wide along Rogers Avenue and will run adjacent to the current tree line. The existing sidewalk will be replaced by a strip of grass and trees, separating the road from the trail. According to Schwartz, the stakes with orange flags that are in the ground now were placed by a survey team and follow an initial computer-generated suggestion of the trail path, based primarily on topography. The trail will be ADA-compliant and cannot exceed a 5% grade at any point. The stakes will be moved to preserve existing trees, when possible. Schwartz indicated that all trees in the area of the trail that are one foot or greater in diameter will be marked and evaluated. The designers of the trail will make efforts to divert its path to avoid large healthy trees. We were shown an example of a large tree on Rogers Avenue that will be taken down to make room for the trail because it is not healthy.

As we approached the driveway of the Pediatric Hospital, we followed the tree line and entered the woods where the fitness trail starts. Schwartz mentioned that the builders would leave existing tree root systems intact and lay landscaping fabric and topsoil over them to avoid harming the trees. Once we entered the woods, we were shown examples of trees with stakes at the bottom, indicating that the computer had suggesting laying out the trail in that spot. We were then shown how the path of the trail would be adjusted to avoid the trees.

We wound our way through the woods following the marked stakes, which have been placed in a switchback pattern due to the extreme downward slope of the land. Even with the switchbacks, the grade still changes in excess of 5% across the eight foot width of the trail. Mr. Schwartz informed the group that instead of building retaining walls in each of these locations, the design now includes the use of boardwalks in certain sections. These boardwalks will help to reduce the environmental impact of the trail.
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<a href="http://www.mtwpost.com/2009/12/07/jones-falls-trail-walk-through-on-a-snowy-morning/">http://www.mtwpost.com/2009/12/07/jones-falls-trail-walk-through-on-a-snowy-morning/</a>;

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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