Washington's wild wonder

Southern Living, Apr 1996 by Carlton, Michael

On a windswept hillside, leaves waltz on the early April wind as spring ferns poke tentative tendrils aboveground, heralding the change of seasons. It's quiet, so quiet you can hear something approaching. From around the far bend they come, announced by faint rustles in the undergrowth.

They step into a glade not 10 feet away, five white-tailed deer with ears twitching, eyes searching, and tiny hooves shifting. They sniff the wind, then discover you and bound away, tails waving like linen napkins.

Such moments with wildlife and wilderness are why we come to our national parks. To enjoy the wide and open spaces of our country. To explore the vast woodlands. To enjoy a slice of mostly unspoiled America.

But in Washington, D.C.?

Contrary to popular opinion, Congress doesn't have a corner on wildness in Washington. Rock Creek Park--2,774 acres of forest, glades, and gullies--offers refuge from the urban storm.

From the shadow of the White House to the Maryland border, Rock Creek Park explodes along a spine of road called Beach Drive, where commuters mutter in the madness of rush hour. Many don't realize that they are surrounded by one of the oldest national parks--and perhaps the most eccentric--in the U.S.

Rock Creek was created by Congress in 1890 as a "public park and pleasure ground" for the "preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, animals, or curiosities within...."

It's the curiosities that are the most fun.

It's curious enough that white-tailed deer flee across trails deep in the woods not 5 miles from downtown D.C. It's even odder that this national park includes such diverse attractions as the smallest national cemetery (41 graves), the oldest house in Washington, the only location where an American President came under fire during a war, and the last remaining one-room schoolhouse in the District.

No wonder Rock Creek has been called "The Park of Everything Else." It manages a myriad of disparate venues, from the only planetarium in a national park to one of the few National Park Service golf courses. Rock Creek includes a tennis stadium and courts, a creaking and elderly mill, even an amphitheater where Shakespeare holds forth in the summer months. But above all, it is a place to enjoy the outdoors.

"A lot of people here can't get to Yellowstone or Yosemite," says Tennessee-born park superintendent Bill Shields. "But they can visit Rock Creek and get a sense of nature. They can walk into the woods and almost feel they're in a wilderness area."

Park visitors can also learn about snakes.

Jodie Smolik is passing a corn snake around a circle of first graders from nearby Francis Scott Key Elementary School. "This is one of our spring babies," she says. "See--it won't hurt you." Jodie is educational director of Discovery Creek Children's Museum, located in the oldest remaining one-room schoolhouse in Washington, where children have been learning since 1864.

Later the children will walk the winding trails out back, which loop and leap down a hillside to Maddox Creek and all the way to the Potomac. These 12 acres contain some of the oldest trees in Washington. It takes 18 first graders joining hands to surround one old tulip poplar.

"A lot of urban kids have never been in the woods and do have fears that lions and tigers and bears live there," says Jodie. "Our hope is to alleviate those fears and help them appreciate nature."

At the other end of the park, near the Maryland border, National Park Service ranger Noelle Conrad is leading fifth graders on a bird-watching trek, pointing out flickers and warblers, grackles and sparrows.

Not far away, Bob Douglas is helping a novice rider settle into a saddle on top of Firebird, one of 20 horses ready to take a trail ride. "As you ride north from here you can fantasize you are anywhere but in Washington, D.C.," he says. "It's incredible."

Incredible too are the fountains and statues of Meridian Hill Park, a slice of Rock Creek Park just up 16th Street from the White House. Reminiscent of an Italian garden, the park bubbles and burbles with fountains, and trees burst with spring blooms. Statues of Joan of Arc, Dante, and James Buchanan stare stonily at visitors. All this--formal gardens and an old schoolhouse, wild ravines thick with brambles and brooks that sing over the rocks, tennis courts and golf courses, an ancient mill and even older houses, playing fields and white-tailed deer--is here for the urban explorer of this extraordinary park. Put on your hiking boots and join us as we hit the highlights.

* Fort Circle Parks: A series of 68 Civil War forts once made Washington the most heavily fortified city in the world. Particularly interesting is Fort Stevens (13th and Quackenbos Streets NW.), where President Abraham Lincoln stood on the ramparts as snipers shot at him. "Get down, you fool]" one officer was said to have commanded. Call Rock Creek Park Nature Center to inquire about ranger-led tours of several fort sites; (202) 426-6829.

* Rock Creek Nature Center: Offers a walk-through display showing flora and fauna of the area, a planetarium, and ongoing nature programs--ranging from live animal demonstrations to drafts. Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Call for a schedule of events. Located at 5200 Glover Road NW.; (202) 426-6829.