River Walk at Great Falls

 

Two nature girls enjoying the Great Outdoors!

Last week I met up with my friend Melanie Choukas-Bradley, a naturalist and author whom I’ve known for probably ten years now. I met her when I worked for The Nature Conservancy; she was taping an audio tour for TNC at Sugarloaf Mountain (which is now one of my favorite hikes in the DMV). Since then, I have gone on walks with her (including forest bathing!) in Rock Creek Park for Rock Creek Conservancy, congressman Jamie Raskin, the Women of Dartmouth in DC, and just the two of us on our own*.

Most recently, she took me along the river walk at Great Falls on the Maryland side, which I had never done before (even though I have visited the national park many times). It is a shaded walk along the Potomac River, which was perfect for a scorching day. We immediately started IDing birds we saw or heard. Some were easy, like a great blue heron or a Canada goose. But we used the Merlin app to determine bird songs; we heard a warbling vireo, and with the help of the app we were able to see a Baltimore oriole! Even though they are Maryland’s state bird, you really don’t see them too often, so that was really special. Their song is very melodic, almost like a wood thrush’s. And even with their bright orange foliage, they are still tricky to see up in the trees!

New word of the day: inosculation

Speaking of trees, we saw some HUGE trees along our walk, particularly sycamores, reaching tall for the sky with their white branches. They easily were over 100 years old, probably even more than 200 years old. I don’t think the two of us could have wrapped our arms around one to have our fingers touch! We also saw two trees of different species that had essentially fused together and are now sharing a common vein. This is called inosculation, and it was fascinating to see their branches intertwine (and I’m sure underground their roots do, too). I was excited to use some of my own ID knowledge that she had originally taught me, pointing out pawpaws, iron wood, and white oaks. We continued our identification with several flowering plants, some of which had a sweet odor that was lovely to take in. Some were tiny, like blue phlox, but others were small trees, like a fringe tree and black locust (you can actually eat the flowers of the latter, which is related to the pea family). Even though I am sure I had seen those plants before, I never knew what they were called. We have such a fascinating natural world around us, and it’s fun to try to understand and know it even while living in a modern, rat-race ecosystem.

Tiger swallowtail butterflies are some of my favorites, and they are easy to identify!

We took the tow path back to the visitors center, and on the way we saw lots of butterflies (tiger swallowtails and zebra swallowtails) as well as some Canada geese goslings! So fun! We wanted to continue on a little longer, so we walked down to the boardwalk-like path to see the rushing waters of Great Falls. Even though I’ve seen them many times, the falls always take my breath away. It was amazing that along the earlier walk, the river was nearly still and mostly quiet except for the birds; at the falls, the raging water is so loud, and it’s only a little farther downstream! We even saw a kayaker and some people rafting, so they were having a very close encounter with the falls! It still amazes me that something so wild is located just outside Washington, D.C.

Melanie commented on how confident the babies are. They know they're safe with geese as parents!

During our time together, Melanie and I talked about everything! I told her about my recent birthday party/bridal shower (read that blog post here), she showed me a cute video of her baby granddaughter, and we discussed books (we’re Jane Austen fans), politics (we’re feminists), and travel (she also leads walks for the Smithsonian Associates in the Badlands! Can this lady get any cooler?!). I always say she’s who I want to be when I grow up, and we already have so much in common, so I feel like I’m already partway there. We both have a connection to Dartmouth College, we’re lifelong learners, we both love nature and being outside, and we always focus on the positive. She is so joyful to be around, and her inner sunshine is infectious. She has WAY more knowledge about plants and the history of the region, but she has taught me many things that I have passed down to my other friends (I’m the go-to plant ID person in my friend group, and now they do “ear cupping” on their own hikes and nature walks.). I also don’t think I could ever write as many books as she has (I feel like every time I see her she’s working on a new one), but I dabble in writing with this blog, and we both enjoy writing poetry (well, I used to write poems, and she started during the pandemic; some of hers have even been published!). We’re sisters from different generations! As I continue to grow and become the woman I want to be (I’m only 35; hopefully there are a lot more years left for self-improvement!), I will definitely keep Melanie in the back of my mind as someone to emulate, my backyard hero.

*Read other posts I've written about walks with Melanie:

• 2017
• 2018
• 2019