Washington DC by Bike

We visited Washington DC in early November 2025 while staying at the Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia. We rode our bikes along the Mount Vernon Trail from Alexandria, about 10-miles into DC and parked at the Jefferson Memorial before continuing our tour on foot around the Tidal Basin, National Mall, and a number of other memorials and monuments, famous and less-famous.

The Mount Vernon Trail is an 18-mile paved multi-use trail that stretches from George Washington’s Mount Vernon to Washington DC. The trail links Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria, to Arlington County and major Potomac River bridge crossings into the District of Columbia. The National Park Service originally constructed the Mount Vernon Trail in the 1970s and 1980s. The Mount Vernon Trail winds alongside the Potomac River with great views of the Washington DC skyline. We really enjoyed riding our bikes along this trail and were grateful we didn’t need to find parking for our F450 dually truck in DC. Allen had last been to DC on a 7th Grade School trip, and Martin had visited briefly in the early 1990’s, so it was a long time since either of us had visited, and a number of the monuments didn’t even exist during our original trips.

After parking our bikes and visiting the Jefferson Memorial we headed north on foot around the east side of the Washington Channel Tidal Basin, past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the National Holocaust Museum, and on to the Washington Monument that sits in the center of the National Mall. To the east we had clear views of the United States Capitol Building, and to the west we could see the Lincoln Memorial beyond its iconic reflecting pool. We continued on foot west towards the Lincoln Memorial. On the way we visited the World War II Memorial that was dedicated in 2004. The memorial surrounds a large stone plaza and fountain with a ring of columns representing the U.S. states and territories, joined together by a bronze cord symbolizing their united effort.

Continuing on towards the Lincoln Memorial, we sat on a park bench near the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool to eat our picnic lunch. We were passed by a number of guided tours using a variety of transportation including segues and e-bikes. Continuing on we walked through the very poignant Vietnam Veterans Memorial with its famous black granite walls listing the names of over 58,000 servicemembers who gave their lives between 1956 and 1975 in chronological order starting and ending at the center of the wall.

Our visit to the Lincoln Memorial was all the more interesting as we had recently been to Gettysburg and visited the site of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address, putting his life and achievements into some context. From the Lincoln Memorial at the west end of the National Mall we continued towards the tidal basin, passing through the Korean War Veterans Memorial which features a formation of 19 stainless steel statues representing a U.S. Army patrol moving through rugged terrain. The soldiers—drawn from different branches of the armed forces—are depicted in ponchos and combat gear, evoking the harsh conditions of the Korean Peninsula.

One of the most recent (2011) and spectacular memorials is the Martin Luther King Memorial at the north side of the Tidal Basin. This memorial depicts a 30-foot carving of King on a feature called the “Stone of Hope” that is being moved out of a feature called the “Mountain of Despair,” a reference to a line in the “I Have a Dream” speech. King is represented standing firm, resolute, and thoughtful, holding a rolled stack of papers. Quotations from speeches and writings are engraved on the arced “Inscription Wall” on the flanks of the memorial.

Continuing south around the west side of the Tidal Basin we walked under some of the famous cherry trees that were originally a gift from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo in 1910. Unfortunately, these trees became diseased, but they were replaced in 1912 with over 3,000 new plants. A few dozen of the original Tidal Basin trees still bloom each year and have been supplemented with thousands more throughout the district.

On our way round the west side of the tidal basin we entered the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial that opened in 1997. The FDR Memorial is not a monolithic, white marble structure, but a flowing landscape of architectural design. The memorial is designed as a timeline starting at the northernmost end. Bronze sculptures by several artists depict the longest-serving president and the major issues he dealt with during his presidency including the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II. The memorial consists of a series of “rooms” celebrating the 4 terms of FDR’s presidency.

Continuing on around the Tidal Basin we completed our loop back to the Jefferson Memorial and returned to our bike parking spot. It was a great half-day touring around Washington DC. We got to see a lot in a couple of miles walk around the Tidal Basin and National Mall.