Metro Challenge: preview

Washingtonian just published an article about the Metro challenge, which entails passing through every single Metro station in a single trip without exiting the system. At best, it can be completed in about eight hours.

The most efficient route (courtesy of Riley Dosh) is as follows:

Shady Grove > Glenmont > Fort Totten > Greenbelt > Branch Ave > L'Enfant Plaza > Huntington > King Street > Franconia-Springfield > Largo Town Center > Stadium Armory > New Carrollton > Vienna > East Falls Church > Wiehle-Reston East

fun fact: a route like this is called a Hamiltonian path

Here's a geographic description of how this route works:

Begin at the northwestern terminus of the system, Shady Grove, located in Montgomery County, Maryland. Take the Red line down to DC and back up to Glenmont (also in Montgomery County). Head back inbound a short distance to Fort Totten to transfer to the Green or Yellow line, then head east outbound to Greenbelt. From here, take the Green line back all the way to its southeastern terminus of Branch Ave. Head back inbound to L'Enfant Plaza in DC, then outbound and south on the Yellow line through Alexandria to Huntington, in Fairfax County, Virginia. Go a couple stops back north and inbound on the Yellow line to King St-Old Town in Alexandria, then transfer to the Blue line and head back outbound and southwest to Franconia-Springfield. Take the Blue line back to its northeastern terminus in Maryland, Largo Town Center. Go back inbound to Stadium-Armory, then transfer to the Orange line to reach its eastern terminus of New Carrollton in Maryland. Take the Orange line back to its western terminus of Vienna, Virginia. Head back east and inbound a few stops to East Falls Church and transfer to the Silver line, which then goes outbound to its western terminus of Wiehle-Reston East. Done! Now, all you've got to do is head back to your home Metro station.

Logistically speaking, aside from the most efficient route mentioned above, even though you're not supposed to eat on the trains, it would probably be a good idea to bring some non-messy food to eat discreetly during the middle of the challenge, seeing as it'll take the better part of a day at best.

Additionally, since most of the system is underground, it would be advisable to do the challenge with a friend or companion so you have someone to socialize with during those eight (or more) hours. Apparently, some stations have publicly accessible bathrooms, though it might be possible to finish the challenge without needing them if you don't drink that much (riding trains isn't a particularly dehydrating activity, anyways).

Scheduling and other concerns: weekends would mean less chance of scheduling conflicts (like school or work) though weekend headways might add quite some time to the trip... Knowing station layouts might potentially help when making transfers.

More suggestions from Riley: Bring hand sanitizer because you'll be around lots of people during the challenge. Try to make sure there are no station closures or other sorts of service outages! Doing the challenge on a weekday means trains will be more frequent, making the challenge faster.

I would like to upstage the Washingtonian article by undertaking this challenge and then writing an in-depth account of how it went... the Washingtonian article was sorely lacking in detail. Imagine a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" of sorts, but without the drugs and set on an eight-hour transit ride...