since mike
whose idea it originally was
had to postpone our dcmdvan try
i too put it off mentally & headed directly for the blue ridge
instead
especially as the dc urbopolis is so crazy anyway
as well as hardly autumnal at all yet
etc

but a few wrong turns & traffic jams after heading out of frederick
toward mdvawv on saturday
& i found myself barreling willynilly down the freeway toward dcmdvan

& i justified this change of course
not only because mike had said to go ahead without him
but especially because i knew more prep would be needed if our
eventual try was to be a real success

& yikes
i didnt even have a gps receiver
which i expected would be essential if any real improvement was to
be made on the previous try

so i knew this would be in all likelihood strictly exploratory
& not really a distinct try
but i barreled on
mindful not only of mike
but of the participation of lowell & arif & brian too
& of all the unsolved puzzles that still remained

first the rendezvous & no parking puzzle

tho i had suggested to mike that we meet & try to park where the
potomac heritage trail emerges from fort marcy & crosses chain
bridge road
this was a complete bust
so it was lucky we never actually tried it

for one thing
the trail is unsigned & so indifferently blazed in such various hues
of blue & green that i never even caught sight of it til much later

& there is in fact no parking anywhere near there

then
i had to actually solve the parking puzzle for the first time
since you may recall jc had just waited for me in the car on the
arfa line with the engine running on my last try

what i learned is that there are really only 2 possible legal places

one is at glebe road & 41st
directly under the george washington pkwy overpass

& there is closer parking at fort marcy
but it is accessible only via the parkway
which you have to drive all the way down to the key bridge to access

& i used both of these areas at various times during my 24 hour try
which went more or less as follows

first a rude awakening

the previous dangerous tresspass route that i followed circa 1997
past the rich houses along the arfa line & down the cliff was no
longer even an option

these properties & practically all the others in the neighborhood
are now fully enclosed by iron gates & hi tech security etc

so my first approach was from the chain bridge as mike suggested

the view from the bridge is quite forbidding
& reminded me why i went straight down the cliff the first time

a very rocky & sheer right bank upstream as far as the eye can see

still i tried to descend right there but got only halfway down to
the river level before giving it up

it might have been possible to inch our way the full half mile from
there up to dcmdvan with finger & toeholds but it wouldve taken at
least all day

this left only the downstream approach via the potomac heritage
trail northbound from fort marcy

but the next rude awakening was that the trail doesnt just cross
chain bridge road & descend directly but
as i later learned in stages
it follows the road upstream for half a mile & then continues
another mile north wedged between crest lane & the parkway before
finally letting you down onto the river a good mile or more above
dcmdvan

very rude

so rather than just accepting such a fate unquestioningly
i next checked every possible loophole
examining every property line for a crevice
trying especially 44th street
which at first offered some false hope
& a path between someones hedge & someone elses fence
part of way
until you hit the nettle tree
etc
etc
all ends

so it was back to the potomac heritage trail in the morning
for the last best & only hope
short of kayaking the falls

but i see i am going to have to pause here
since my time is almost up at this computer