Rock Creek Bike trail from Lake Needwood in Montgomery County

     When we think of Rock Creek Park we think of the park in DC that goes by the National Zoo and down Beach Drive to the Potomac River.  The park actually begins in Montgomery County and the paved bike trail begins at Lake Needwood.  The beautiful lake is shown above.  The maps below show the northern parts of the trail.

   

    Our beautiful weather at the beginning of this week made for a bike ride with the fall foliage at their peak.

    The trail was mostly flat as it went along Rock Creek stream but there were a few steep uphills that required shifting gears.

   The overpasses like the new one at Viers Mill and the other underpasses meant that there were only a few streets to cross at lights.

  As seen above and below the scenery was worth the biking effort.  These are days we will look back on in a few months when it is too cold and snowy to bike.

  We only did 17.6 miles so we didn't get into the DC section of the trail but hope to find a day soon when we will explore the other sections of this trail.

P.S.
    To get to Lake Needwood go south on Route 29 to Route 198 west on Spenserville Rd which turns into Norwood to Avery to Lake Needwood Rd the park entrance on the left.