THE CACHE CONTAINER IS TUBE VAULT. IF YOU PARK YOUR VEHICLE IN THE RIGHT LOCATION YOU WILL BE TOTALLY OUT OF THE EYE SIGHT OF MOST MUGGLES. THIS IS A HEAVILY TRAVELED TRAIL SO YOU MUST CERTAINLY BE STEALTHY. LOTS OF DOG WALKERS ON THE TRAIL. THE CACHE CONTAINER IS BIG ENOUGH TO FIT MOST TRAVEL BUGS AND GEO COINS BUT NOT MUCH ELSE. I HAVE INCLUDED A PEN. *****¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ CONGRATULATIONS TO WATERFIELDUSA FOR THE FIRST TO FIND! 04/14/2013. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤******
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Activities
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 Hiking and  Biking
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Location
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Cabin John Stream Valley Park Trail is located in Potomac, Maryland just west of Interstate 270 and Rte 495.
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Trail length/surface
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8.8 miles, all natural surface.
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Trail characteristics
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The natural surface trail is open to hikers and bikers but not equestrians. South of River Road, the trail is open to hikers only. The most challenging part of the trail is safely crossing River Road at the southern portion of the stream valley park. In order to cross at a signalized intersection trail users must leave the park system and walk along the north side of River Road and a short distance down Seven Locks Road.
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Drinking water
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Yes, at Cabin John Regional Park.
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Restrooms
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Yes, at Cabin John Regional Park.
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This trail is located near major highways but still offers an unexpected sense of solitude and natural beauty. The hker-only portion of the trail from River Rd. to MacArthur Blvd. is one of our Best Natural Areas.
The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club helps maintain the trail. Since the trail is in an urban area, users must be careful when crossing roads as they carry high volumes of vehicular traffic. A portion of the trail traverses Cabin John Regional Park.
Unless noted otherwise on the map, trails marked “Natural Surface” and “Hard Surface” are "Shared by All" trails which includes hikers, bikers and equestrians.
How Cabin John Got Its Name
There are several stories about the origin of the name “Cabin John.” According to one of them, it was named for a hermit named John who had a cabin near the present Union Arch Bridge. Some versions say that the hermit was the husband of the “female stranger” whose tombstone is in Alexandria, Virginia. Edith M. Armstrong writes in her Cabin John history: “Another story makes the mysterious John a pirate who eluded his own crew and made his way up the Potomac to bury his treasure. This interpretation was also held in good faith by the American Land Co., which put in many deeds the intriguing provision that ‘The Party of the first part reserves the right to one-half interest in any treasure or articles of special value which may have been hidden on said lot or parcel by John of the Cabin.’ “However, in many old records, as far back as 1715, the creek is referred to as Captain John’s Run or Branch. Thus it would seem that Cabin John is a corrupt spelling of Captain John.”
And who was “Captain John”? He could well have been Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown and the first man to map the Potomac River near Cabin John. The following is a description of the Cabin John area as recorded by Captain Smith in 1608: “The river … maketh his passage downe a low pleasant valley overshadowed in manie places with high rocky mountain from whence distill innumerable sweet and pleasant springs … Having gone so high as we could with the bote, we met divers savages in canowes well loaden with flesh of beares, deere, and other beasts whereof we had part. Here we found mighty rocks growing in some places above the ground as high as the shrubby tree .”