Excursion: Northwest DC Garden Hike

What better way to take advantage of the Fall colors, then via a walking tour highlighting DC’s beautiful gardens?

What: Northwest DC Garden Hike
Days to try: Saturday or Sunday
Start time: 10:00am
Gardens to visit: 3 or 4
Distance: 6-7 miles
Time walking: 3+ hours

Here’s a suggested route, but you can always map out your own gardens to explore.

Itinerary*
Start: Firehook Bakery (1909 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20009) – near Dupont Metro
1st Garden: Tudor Place (after walking 1.1 miles), costs $3 for the self-guided tour
2nd Garden: The Bishop’s Garden (after walking 2 miles)
3rd Garden: Tregaron Conservancy (after walking .7 miles)
Food/snack: Bring or stop along the way
Layover: Rock Creek Park Picnic Area #1 next to Peirce Mill (after walking 1.3 miles) to roast chestnuts on a campfire
Get home: Walk to Cleveland Park Metro or take an Uber/bikeshare

Meet at a location near Dupont Circle Metro, like Firehook Bakery (1909 Q St NW, Washington, DC 20009), at a reasonable time @ 10am.

Walk just over a mile to Tudor Place. Bring $3 for the self-guided garden tour, and spend 30 minutes strolling around the nicely appointed gardens surrounding the Tudor Place House.

If open, check out Dumbarton Oaks Gardens down the block (usually free in November, otherwise $10). It wasn’t open this time, so we snuck through the far side of Montrose Park and weaved down through the trails and roads to the National Cathedral’s garden, called The Bishop’s Garden.

After a quick look, we walked .7 miles to the Tregaron Conservancy, which has a pleasant path circling the entire conservancy, or you can sit by the pond or enjoy the open fields.

Just outside the entrance of Tregaron is the start of the newly opened Klingle Valley Trail. Follow that for .75 miles to Rock Creek Park and take the Western Ridge Trail over to the Rock Creek Park Picnic Area #1 (near to Peirce Mill). You can also try the trail along the west side of the creek, but it’s strenuous and a bit treacherous.

Build a campfire! And roast chestnuts! Because that’s what we did.

From the Picnic Area, you can Uber or find a bikeshare or continue the walk to the Cleveland Park Metro station.

For the Google Route Map, click here.

* Note: We wanted to include Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, but it’s closed for renovations until March 2018.

Tudor Place