Day Hike, Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, Leesburg, VA

This roughly 3 mile day hike took place on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Participants were Charlie Johnson, Tim Schmitt and me.

I left Manassas, VA around 8:00 AM and arrived at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve around 9:15 AM. It was hot already with temps in the high 70’s. However, there was a pavillion between the parking lot and the visitor’s center. So I waited there for Tim and Charlie. There was a nice breeze under the pavillion.

Tim and Charlie both rolled in at around 9:35 AM. We greeted each other, got geared up and hit the trail. We basically did

the same hike that I did on 02/01/2020 with three others,

with a few modifications.

We started out on a grass trail from the visitors center for about .2 miles. We then turned left onto a gravel road, hiked about .4 miles, then went around a maintenance facility and walked the Beaver Pond trail for .2 miles, turned right and then did .4 miles south along Old Field Loop Trail. This was probably the best part of the entire hike. When we got to the end of this trail, we had our first “opportunity”. I thought that we should turn left. Tim said right. Since we had cell service in most areas of this park, I consulted All Trails as well as my compass app. They both said to turn right. It didn’t seem correct but it got us to the Jack Hugus Trail in about .2 miles.

Now, we were supposed to keep going until we got to the Barnbank Trail. However, Tim suggested that we take the western Watercress Trail after about .2 miles as it was under tree canopy and would lead directy to the Greenway Trail, our final trail to hike.

So we hiked .3 miles north until we got to the Greenway Trail. We then went straight on it and took it about .75 miles back to the gravel road. We then did the final .6 miles back to the visitors center. I believe that it was around 12 noon when we got done. We rested under the pavillion for a short stint and then went our separate ways.

Ticks were a problem on this hike. Charlie had one on him after the hike and I found one on the tee shirt that I had worn after I took it off and took a shower at home. The thermometer in my vehicle read 91 degrees when I started for home. This was a good hike. This park is 695 acres, was a former farm and today has 20 miles of hiking trails. It’s summer hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 8AM to 8PM. It’s located southeast of Leesburg, VA in Loudoun County. Check it out.

Mike C