Walk 13: Berma Road And the Debris of History

The Berma Road extends into the C&O Canal National Park from Angler's Inn. The only logical explanation for this road is that 1) it served the gold mines in the area and 2) it was part of the construction of the Washington Aqueduct.

The inscription on the Washington Aqueduct built in 1867 by Captain Meigs.

But this is a good wet day walk because the 1.4 mile road is crushed gravel and sheds water easily. Although, of course, Loki will always find a puddle to lie down in to cool off.

I'm not doing this to get muddy, I'm hot!

When you look at the Potomac, and more to the point when you get a whiff of it, it's hard to think that is where most of DC's drinking water comes from, but is the source. Not exactly the Perrier spring source, but once it's worked over, at least it doesn't come out of the taps still brown. By the way, the Potomac belongs to Maryland. In most cases, where the boundary of two states is formed by a river, the state line goes down the middle of the river. Thanks to some colonial era chicanery, Maryland wound up with the entire river.

The Berma Road Lock house. In real estate, we'd call it a fixer upper or handy man's dream.

The road trail.

Even though the trail looks less than wild, you can always spot some interesting wildlife such as this Barred Owl which is commonly called a Hoot Owl.

The Washington Aqueduct inscription stone is not the only historical artifact on the trail. Right at the start of the hike, there is this pay phone. When was the last time you saw one of these. Sarah picked up the receiver but couldn't quite figure out if it was dead or just wanted a quarter.












Old telephones aren't the only thing caught in the space-time vortex along the Berma Road. Here'sa  car that took a sharp left in the 1960s and never regained the road.

Suitable for President Obama and his choom gang members.


Practical information. Park in the lots provided across from Angler's Inn on MacArthur Boulevard. On the weekends, the lots are almost always full and people ignore the no parking signs on MacArthur. The Berma road begins off of the upper parking lot.