There are a number of free parking spaces at the Bethesda pool. This is at the intersection of Little Falls Parkway and Hillandale Road. During hours when the pool is in use in the summer, it might be hard to get a space.

I commute on the trail from Chevy Chase to Silver Spring. I can't think of a more pleasant way to go to work as the trail is peaceful and wooded. It goes through the Columbia Country Club and Rock Creek Park. The trail is packed gravel from Bethesda to Silver Spring but is still pretty smooth for the most part. This section of the trail sees much less use than the section from Bethesda to Georgetown.

From Bethesda to Georgetown the trail is tarmac and continuous. So following it is easy. The trail from Bethesda to Georgetown is a gradual downhill so it is much easier going that way than coming back. This section gets pretty crowded on weekends in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.

When heading from Bethesda to Silver Spring, the trail will stop at Connecticut Avenue. You'll have to cross the street at the light and then look to the left of the large office building to pick up the trail again. When the trail ends in Silver Spring, it is in a light industrial area and you have to wind your way through a quiet residential neighborhood to get into downtown Silver Spring. So when the trail ends, it can be tricky to find your way to downtown Silver Spring thus you really have to study a map in advance and/or carefully look for small green trail signs. Going from Silver Spring to the start of the trail is fairly difficult your first time as it is easy to miss a turn and the entrance to the trail is tiny and not so clearly marked. The 'busiest" road you'll have to bike on is Second Avenue, and that is a wide slow residential road that doesn't usually have much traffic on it. I've never had a problem with cars on it. Second Avenue in and out of downtown Silver Spring is a bit hilly but not too steep.

An option is to get off the Crescent Trail at Jones Mill Road (just a little past Connecticut Avenue when heading East) and onto the Rock Creek Park trail or take Jones Mill Road south where it becomes Beach Drive through Rock Creek Park. Much of Beach Drive is closed to cars on weekends and this is also a great place to ride.

I think more people could enjoy the Silver Spring to Bethesda route if this was promoted better and if the route from downtown Silver Spring to the start of the trail was a bit easier to figure out. (I got lost the first two times I tried it.)

"This was a nice trail to ride. I was surprised at the tranquility of the trail, given the location within a higly populated metropolitan area. Parking could be an issue, espescially if you plan to ride on a week day. We parked in muli-level parking garage (lot #57) in Bethel Maryland @ $0.50 per hour for long term parking (3 hours or more). The parking is free on weekends and should be more available as you aren't competing with the office workers for spaces."

"You can access the trail near the 3.5 mile mark at a parking area next to a movie theatre and the Barnes Noble book store in downtown Bethesda, MD. I did not know this was the Capital Crescent Trail but I saw the description and only walked a short distance as I was not down from Hagerstown for exercise.

From what I saw, I really liked the signs telling people to stay to their right; however, any dirt and gravel off of the trail is a disaster if people are not listening to the rules, which they often are not.

But the markings one does not see generally on many trails of staying to the right. Many people are returning to Rails to Trails and the like at communities because walking events/races for walkers and runners are diminishing fast because of some lack of interest but mostly because of politics. I am a lifelong exerciser. I used to run but I cannot not do that anymore so I now walk or bike."