Well, this morning most of the trail between Falls Church and Vienna was clear. The usual areas still have ice and snow and slush, however. To the left you'll see what it looks like from the Vienna side of the Gallows crossing, looking westward. Most of the messy stretches have truck tire ruts that are mostly clear and rideable, if somewhat narrow. A few areas, such as just this side of Cedar, have not fully melted in the ruts, so you have a layer of chunky ice at the bottom of the rut, making it a little tricky to navigate. Unless you have studded tires, I'd suggest walking these stretches, or "scootering" with one foot. They are very short patches, so it shouldn't slow y
ou down too much.To the right is a shot of one of the messier bits right at mile 9.5 (that's the milepost at the right of the frame). You can see there's still a lot of snow and ice there, and no real totally clear path in the right rut. Fine, you say, I'll take the left rut! Well, just a little further down the path the left rut is at least as bad.
We're supposed to have warm temps and rain today, so a lot of clearing will probably happen. Just watch out at night and early morning for icing.
