Day Hike, Neabsco Creek Greenway between Cloverdale PRK and Darbydale AVE, Woodbridge, VA

This 1.75 mile up, 1.75 mile back linear hike took place on Sunday, October 8, 2023 and was sponsored by the

Greater Prince William Trails Coalition.

Participants included hike leader Neil Nelson, myself, Julie R, one other lady and three other gentlemen.

Some times hikes don’t go as planned. Today was one of those days. I told Julie about this hike and asked if she wanted to join me. She wasn’t sure but, at the last minute, said OK. Julie had been exercizing and eating smart lately. She was walking around the house and was making progress.

However, I didn’t know the particulars about this hike. I knew that it was 3.15 miles, 1.75 miles up, 1.75 miles back.However, I wasn’t sure of the terrain. I told Julie that we could try hiking this trail and if it was too tough for her, we could turn around and go back.

We arrived at Cloverdale Park in Woodbridge, VA around 12:45 PM. We arrived right behind Neil. I forgot the names of the others but there was a lady school teacher, a fire fighter and I’m not sure about the other two gentlemen. We started the hike arround 1:10 PM.

After about .2 miles we came across a side trail that had a nice bridge over Neabsco Creek. We stayed there for a few minutes, then walked back about 500 feet and turned left onto what is the future trail corridor for the Neabsco Greenway Trail. It was mowed for a short stretch, then went up and to the right very close to someone’s backyard, then came back down to the corridor. We then had a big down and the trail was very uneven after that point.

Around this time Julie’s knee started bothering her. She said that her knee was hurting so, right before the second big down, I yelled to the group up ahead that we were going back. We had only done about .4 miles. So we returned to my vehicle and went home.

I was disappointed that we couldn’t finish this hike. But I kept my word and we did turn around when she had issues. There are a few images to either the right or below. I will go back one of these days and hike in from Darbydale AVE and finish what we started. Maybe someday Julie and I can do a good, long hike together.

Mike C