I decided to try and find the SE8 and SE9 boundary stones today since the annual ride does not stop at these (they are far off the beaten path and would take a significant extra amount of time to reach). The Boundary Stones website http://www.boundarystones.org/ has useful walking paths that you can follow for finding both of these stones.
To get to SE9, I would recommend covering up every bit of exposed skin that you can. I went into this with shorts and t-shirt, and let me tell you, my legs and arms look (and feel) like I had a fight with a mountain lion! There are no defined trails to get to this stone; you just try and make your own way by hugging the shoreline, crossing under I-295, and hoping that you find that one concrete thing sticking out of the water so you know that the stone is just over a hundred feet inland of it. Lots of bramble and other plants designed to tear skin from your body, swampy areas with loads of trash (plastic bottles up the wazoo), and even some random boards with nails in them (I stepped on one, the nail going through my shoe and luckily not puncturing my toe, although I am up to date on my tetanus vaccine). The stone was hidden under tree cover, and after spending a good half hour trying to locate it (remember the hidden part), I literally (not figuratively) screamed for joy when I found it.
Me and SE9 – looking across the shoreline towards Alexandria (Wilson Bridge in view on left, part of National Airport in view on right)
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Getting to SE8 was much easier, as there is a path that you can follow to get near it. Sadly, I did not check the Boundary Stone website soon enough, as I found the location of the stone but forgot to read the part that said: “In early 2015, the stone was temporarily removed for cleaning and restoration. It will return in the near future.” Oh well, I still found where it is supposed to be.
The marker for SE9 is there, but not the stone at the moment
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Also, I noticed on my way to/from SE9 that there was a random piece of bridge span sitting on the shoreline connecting nothing to nothing else. After I finished checking out the SE8 location, I saw the location of where that bridge span was supposed to be! I guess it got washed away and forgotten, but the bridge span appeared to have made it in one piece.
bridge span on left, where it should be on right
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And for those interested, here’s a map of where I found everything
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I was going to try to reach the NE7 and NE8 stones, but I was so tired from my struggles to reach SE8 and SE9 that I decided to cut through the District and make my way home. I will attempt to see those another day on another adventure.
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