Cabin John

If you love Wheaton, you’re going to love Cabin John. There are lots of similarities: both have a train, an indoor ice rink, large ballfields, a nature center, indoor tennis courts, a big playground and picnic area, and thick areas. Cabin John has an active group campground; Wheaton used to. But there are some differences as well. Where Wheaton is a roughly square hunk of woods with only a few incursions into it, Cabin John is essentially a wide stream valley park, with many apartments/condos/townhouses jutting into it. The park is bisected by a busy road, Tuckerman Lane. The northern portion is where the campground is, and most of the nicest woods. Both north and south have many trails, and you may find these to be your best option for getting around.

All the advanced courses will cross Cabin John Creek at least twice. In most places it’s not very deep, and if you look around you may find a place to cross where you can stay dry, but it’s likely your feet will get wet. Plan accordingly by bringing dry socks and shoes. One other feature Cabin John has that Wheaton doesn’t have is the large powerline running through the center.

Throw into the mix some short, steep hills and some areas of unpleasant vegetation, and what you end up with is a well-used suburban park with lots of constraints to course setting. I tried to err on the side of more vs. less fun, and if that means a longish trail run instead of bashing up a green hill, that’s what I aimed for. Most courses have a lot of controls, mostly to keep them from becoming too much of a trail run. This isn’t a navigationally difficult park (it may be a good time to move up a course).

The woods were affected by last summer’s derecho, with new rootstocks and thick areas. Mapper Nadim completed the fieldwork before the storm, but he did go out recently and make corrections in several places. Still, you may find a rootstock or some tree debris that is not reflected on the map. The green areas tend to be saplings with some thorns in the flatter areas; on the steeper hillsides, they tend to be mountain laurel. Most point features are on the small side.

Please be very careful going through the parking lots (most courses will have that as an option). Cars are not necessarily watching for you!

Please keep out of all the private property (the park boundary is marked with a gray line) – all the townhouse, apartment, and condo communities. The roads along the edges of the park are out of bounds as route choices.

Red and Blue courses: You will cross Tuckerman Lane twice. For both crossings, there are controls at/within sight of the road. Your time between these two controls WILL NOT COUNT toward your final time (the software will exclude it). This is to give you a chance to safely cross the road. Traffic can be busy but you should be able to get across within two minutes or so. Running along Tuckerman is not a good route choice and is discouraged.