This recon half mile up, half mile back linear hike occured on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. It was just me on this one.
Since today will probably be one of the last sixty degree days this year I decided to go and recon some more of the future Broad Run Trail. I wanted to see what the trail was like going around the Morris Farm development. So far this trail has been on roads, on grass, in an area with a lot of brush and paved.
I arrived at the development around 11:00 AM. It was 55 degrees outside at that time. I first drove to the end of Catbird DR. This way, I would recognize the end of the hike later. Next, I drove to a cul de sac on Ladderbacked DR. This is where I would begin this recon hike. The GPS coordinates of where I started are:
38.758488, -77.615887
There is room for 3 or 4 vehicles to park here. I walked to the right side of the cul de sac and saw where I got to last week. You can read about that recon
Here.
Next, I walked to the left side of the cul de sac and saw a mulch filled trail going down to Broad Run. There wasn’t much room between the cul-de-sac and Broad Run. However, after about 20 feet, I turned left on what looked like an animal path. This quarter mile “shelf” looked like it was created a long time ago, probably before they built the Morris Farm development. It was level but probably had not been mowed since it was created. There was a lot of tall grass and sticky bushes that made walking a challenge. At least it was level.
This roughed in trail lasted about a quarter mile. I then came across a paved trail. This trail started about 100 feet to my left at the development swimming pool. There is a lot of parking here if one wanted to start at this point. I went right. The trail immediately made a sharp left turn, then started a quarter mile journey between development houses and Broad Run, I passed three side trails along this stretch. There were flood plains between this trail and Broad Run that were up to 200 feet wide at some spots. It was wise to locate this trail away from Broad Run and closer to the development.
The section that I hiked today as well as the section that I hiked last week went around the southern and eastern sides of this development. When I got to around the 2:00 position, the trail dead ended and there was a side trail that brought me back out to Catbird DR. The GPS coordinates at this point were:
38.761600, -77.609460 .
Rather than retrace my steps, I chose to walk the streets of this development back to my vehicle. I walked on Catbird DR, Broadwinged DR, Kite WA and Ladderbacked DR. Strange street names. Anyway, this was a nice development. There were a variety of houses and townhouses and they looked nice. At one point I even passed what appeared to be the original farm house when this area was a farm. They must have refurbished it. The house was high on a hill.
It was a bit after 12 noon when I made it back to my vehicle at the cul-de-sac on Ladderbacked DR. I then went home. I have now hiked about a mile in this trail. In reality, it was 2 miles since I did out & backs. So I now have between 3 and 3.5 miles to make it to Hunting Cove PL, my original starting point for hiking this trail a long time ago.
After studyng Google Maps I can see faint trails on the north side of Broad Run in certain places. And in others, I see nothing. I will have to do some bushwhacking in these areas. And some houses in one area that I have left to do are very close to the creek. I hope that I can make it through. And I hope to get these 3-3.5 miles done within the year. Then, I will have hiked the future Broad Run Trail from Rollins Ford Park to VA28.
Mike C
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