Green Line Gravel Grinder
The Green Line Gravel Grinder was created by Honey Beez Cycling and features rarely ridden gravel, grass, and dirt segments in DC and MD. Many of these segments follow power line rights of way and are ridden strictly at your own risk; other segments are 100% legal but are hidden in plain sight near very near popular trails like the Anacostia River Trail.
Honey Beez cultivates a friendly and casual environment, and this no-drop ride was no exception. There was a strong turnout of about 20 riders, and it was nice to see quite a few familiar faces in the crowd.
After setting off on the Met Branch Trail, we quickly arrived at a series of gravel and grassy power line access roads. While probably not technically legal, I was pleasantly surprised by the relative lack of gates or no trespassing signs. Sunday was also the perfect day for it as we didn’t encounter any active work on the power lines.
After a snack break at Vigilante Coffee in College Park, Honey Beez led us to the Anacostia River Trail via several lightly developed “trails” that connect to and roughly parallel the main paved trail. I appreciated being in such a familiar area that I ride dozens of times each year, yet seeing it from a slightly different perspective via grassy side trails that were new to me.
Another one of my favorite sections of the route was Colmar Manor Park. I’d ridden through the park a couple times before, but somehow hadn’t found the great beginner-friendly MTB trails or the peaceful Dueling Creek dock.
We also got a quick history lesson about how the Anacostia River used to flow through what is now the park, and the current hilly terrain of the park was formed by dumped massive amounts of sediment as part of the US Army Corps of Engineers project to dredge the Anacostia River. Thankfully, the area is now a large and beautiful multi-use park!
All in all, this was a great ride and opened my eyes to a variety of nearby off-road riding that I hadn’t been aware of. Honey Beez plans to organize another ride on this route, or here is the full route file if you’d like to check it out on your own:
