Rock Creek Park Weekly Wildflower Update - Bluebells
Rock Creek Park is blooming with spring ephemerals and Ranger Claire is here to give you her first weekly wildflower update! Keep an eye out for these flowers next time you’re in the park!
What are spring ephemerals? They are perennial plants that emerge early in the spring to soak up as much sunlight as they can before the trees fill in with leaves. This sunlight is then converted into energy that the plant will use to continue its reproduction cycle.
Remember, harvesting plants of any kind within Rock Creek Park is prohibited. Please remain on designated trails while you enjoy viewing the flowers.
#WeeklyWildflowerUpdate #RockCreekPark #RockCreekNPS #Wildflowers #SpringEphemerals #FindYourPark
This Valentine's Day, show love not just for your friends and family but your local national park as well. Happy Valentine's Day!
There ARE bears in Rock Creek Park! But not brown bears or black bears that roam around on four legs. These cutie woolly bears are brown AND black and walk on six legs, and they're not really bears at all but rather caterpillars that will turn into Isabella tiger moths!
According to folklore, the colors of the woolly bear caterpillar determine how severe the upcoming winter will be - thicker black bands means a harsher winter. The science is out on whether this is true, but if you see one out on a hike through Rock Creek Park this autumn, you'll know that winter is certainly on the way.
NPS / C. Jaeger Mountain
Video description: a black and brown striped fuzzy woolly bear caterpillar crawling on the gravel path over leaves.
Georgetown Glow 2023 at Georgetown Waterfront Park
This year’s light installation at #GeorgetownWaterfrontPark is entitled “Talking Heads” by artist Viktor Vicsec, in collaboration with #LightArtCollective.
Human beings communicate without the use of words - capable of numerous facial expressions through the use of dozens of muscles. This enables us to show a range of emotions, in the hope that people will understand us and react adequately. When you look sad, someone is inclined to comfort you. When you laugh, you invite someone to join you. In this installation, two spectacular heads also show countless emotions and react to one another. But unlike people, Talking Heads don't use muscles to do it. Per head, some 4,000 individually controllable LEDs provide different facial expressions and conduct conversations by means of light. But what, exactly, are they saying to each other and visitors?
The 9th Edition of Georgetown Glow DC invites visitors to experience a new season of light through outdoor public art. GLOW runs Friday, December 1 through Sunday, January 7. Located throughout town including @chesapeakeandohiocanal, this year features five works by different artists.
Note: This video has no sound.
Video taken by NPS/K. Ferguson
Peirce Mill
Join us tomorrow, September 30, to commemorate Rock Creek Park’s 133rd birthday with a menu of activities:
10:00: Rock Creek Rocks! A two-mile ranger-led hike, highlighting some of the many things that make Rock Creek Park special. Meet at the Nature Center.
2:00: The Night Sky in 1890: Join a ranger in the planetarium to go back in time and see the night sky in September 1890.
12:00 – 4:00: The Peirce Mill is open with a display showcasing how the park has changed through the years. Tours of the historic mill will be given throughout the afternoon.
In addition, there will be a couple of special activity handouts available at the Nature Center for you to enjoy on your own in the park.
#HappyBirthday
#RockCreekPark
For a full calendar of events: www.nps.gov/rocr/planyourvisit/calendar.htm
Video Description: Water flows over the waterwheel outside of the historic Peirce Mill, a large 3-story stone building.
"𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘺" --𝘊𝘰𝘤𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭
National Park Fashion Week kicks off tomorrow. Pokey (the Eastern box turtle that lives at the Nature Center) walked the Rainbow Runway in preparation. Are you ready for our #CreekCouture?
Keep your eye on our social media channels for our creative contribution to this national collection.
#NPSFW 🐢
Herring in Rock Creek
The #Herring are coming! The Herring are coming!
Though not nearly as dramatic as Paul Revere’s supposed call-to-arms (which happened #onthisday in 1775) the annual herring migration is just as deserving of an announcement.
Herring, gizzard shad and alewife make their way from the Atlantic Ocean, through Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac River before entering Rock Creek. The fish swim upstream to spawn before returning to their ocean homes.
Man made barriers (like the ornamental dam at Peirce Mill) made this migration impossible, now, with the help of the fish ladder and natural looking baffles to help the fish navigate over pipes and the old Fords, the fish are once again able to traverse the creek.
Remember: fishing is prohibited upstream of Porter Street NW. Any fish caught below Porter Street must be thrown back and all fishermen must have a DC fishing license. To learn more about fishing in Rock Creek Park visit our website at https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/fishing-in-rock-creek-park.htm
#gofish #migration Silver fish with blue backs swim against the current in a stream. One breaks away from the group and attempts to go further up stream.
#Recreation and #Relaxation can be hard to find...especially when your job title includes the phrase "Leader of the Free World."
This President's Day, we invite you to #challenge yourself and see if you can name all these presidents (and some first ladies) who spent time in Rock Creek Park.
#PresidentsDay
Video Description: Silent Video showing pictures of former presidents in the park. Some are photographs of them performing duties or activities in the park while others are official portraits. of these presidents since they were not photographed in the park during their presidency.
All The Light You See...
Tired of being #parkedathome? Come down to #georgetownwaterfrontpark for the 8th edition of the Glow in Georgetown. Visit the five sites located throughout Georgetown this Holiday Season.
This #free light experience is open through January 22nd!
Georgetown, DC #FOGWP
#WhatHappens when someone reports a hazardous looking tree in the park?
Last week, we received a report about a dangerous looking crack in a tree near the playground at Picnic Grove #24. Our tree crew went out to inspect it and decided that it would be best to cut the whole tree down. It was discovered the torsion crack went all the way through the tree and it was indeed a safety concern.
It took them three days to safely remove the tree limbs, and remove the main trunk of the tree.
Great job Rock Creek Park Tree Crew!
If you have a concern about a tree in the park, you can use the Contact Us feature on the park website to report it. Please remember, the National Park Service is only responsible for Rock Creek Park on the DC side of the DC/Maryland border. Any reports of hazard trees in Rock Creek Park in Maryland need to be reported to Montgomery Parks
Video by J. Guevara shows the final moments before the tree trunk was brought down.
#safetyfirst #whatwedo
"Capitalsaurus" might be the #official dinosaur of the District of Columbia, but #Pokeysaurus is the official dinosaur of Rock Creek Park.
Video Description: An Eastern box turtle with green paper stegosaurus plates and a stylized tail walks across carpet. Sound clips from the movie "Jurassic Park" play over the footage.
#HappyHalloween #Dinosaur #TurtlePower #WeldometoRockCreekPark
Rock Creek Park is more than trees, trails, and roadways. It is made up of just over sixty staff members who help manage and protect the park.
Who are these people?
Well, let's meet them! Over the next few months, we'll introduce you to some of our staff and find out why they think the park is so special. We'll also ask some silly questions to get to know them better.
First up...
Meet Julia Washburn, the Superintendent!
For an audio-described version of the video, visit the park website at https://www.nps.gov/rocr/learn/photosmultimedia/multimedia.htm
#FindYourPark #EncuentraTuParque #STEAMPower #WhatWeDoWednesdays
Official page of Rock Creek Park, a unit of the National Park Service-- 
