Join WABA on Sat., Aug. 17 for a trail cleanup, ride, and community celebration along the Met Branch Trail!
As part of our Trail Ranger program, we’re planning a day around the Met Branch Trail to get people out on it, use their help to clean it up (we’ll provide the gloves, trash bags, and invasive-plant knowledge), and, overall, celebrate the MBT’s value in connecting communities in D.C. and Maryland. This is a free event, and we’ll reward your hard work: Afterward, cleanup volunteers will receive a free beer at
NoMa’s Beer Fest.
Read on for more details about the cleanup and the ride.
You can RSVP for the cleanup here and the ride here. Due to an overwhelming response to the cleanup and the ride, we have closed registration for this event. However, we still need ride marshals. If you’re interested in supervising the ride from Silver Spring to the Brookland Metro station, see
this page.
View MBT: Metropolitan Branch Trail in a larger map
Trail Cleanup
Trail Rangers have already cleaned up and weeded a considerable amount of brush and overgrowth, but there are constantly invasive species to be tackled—and, of course, errant trash. That’s where you come in!
Cleanup tasks will include picking up trash, removing plants and bushes that have overgrown onto the trail, cleaning/covering inappropriate graffiti along the trail, and other small trail maintenance duties. Volunteers will be given gloves, trash bags, and other needed tools and will receive specific instructions on how to perform trail maintenance tasks.
Volunteers for the cleanup should meet at the Brookland Metro station (
at the west side of the escalators, in front of the plaza area) at 12 p.m. on Sat., Aug. 17. The MBT runs along the Brookland Metro station. After a brief information session about the MBT by the Trail Rangers for both cleanup volunteers and trail ride participates, volunteers will split into two groups to clean up sections of trail north and south of the Brookland Metro station.
The trail clean up will end around 2 p.m. Everyone is welcome to head to NoMa’s Beer Fest to celebrate and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Cleanup volunteers will get a free beer at Beer Fest as a thank-you.
Register for the trail cleanup now!
Trail Ride
This casual trail ride will meet at 10:45 a.m. at the Silver Spring Metro station, where the MBT is planned to end. Participants will ride south through Takoma Park and Fort Totten, where the interim and planned trail is located, and will view current trail construction projects along the way. The ride will continue south, where it will stop at noon at the Brookland Metro station to meet up with the volunteer cleanup crew. Any riders interested in cleaning up the trail can bail here to help out.
Participants continuing on the ride will take the MBT south, veering off to First St NE to show the cycle track construction, looping in front of Union Station, then back to the MBT. The ride will end at Beer Fest, which begins at 2 p.m.; riders will have some time to cool off and explore NoMa.
If you don’t want to ride to the start at Silver Spring, remember that you can bring your bike on Metro on weekends. Be sure to check for track work-related delays.
Register to ride the MBT now!
Love the MBT—or have a burning curiosity about it? Ride it
and clean it up! When RSVPing for the trail ride (
here), check the box that indicates you’re interested in doing the cleanup, too.
Celebrate the MBT
WABA is partnering with NoMa’s
Beer Fest to celebrate the neighborhood’s connection to the MBT. Everyone is invited to join WABA at Beer Fest between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. to support local breweries, eat great food, hear live music, and have fun. Beer Fest is outside at 1st and N streets NE.
WABA will provide bike parking for Beer Fest, which is located near a number of Capital Bikeshare stations. Stop by our table to talk to us about the MBT and the Trail Ranger program!
We’ll see you on the trail on Aug. 17!
Image via Rails to Trails Conservancy