This recon occurred on Friday, August 30, 2024. It was just me on this trip.
The purpose of a recon is to see if a given area and/or trail is acceptable to to hike. I’ve done a lot of recons of trails in the past. Did this one pass? Read on and see.
I did not do any hiking today. The purpose of this recon was to see if there were any hike-able trails in and around Poplar Ford Park near Centreville, VA. I left home around 10:30 AM and made it to my first destination by about 11:15 AM. The GPS coordinates were
38.84542, -77.53300
and was near the intersection of Sudley and Doubleday RDS. By the way, there are two different Sudley RDS within 5,000 feet of each other. One is in Fairfax County at the western end of the map linked to below. The other, in Prince William County, is shown but is listed as a dark line at the far left side of the map. I’m sure that this has caused much confusion.
I was looking for a trailhead near Sudley Springs Ford. I saw the area between some of the high end houses in this development. However, there was no sign of a trailhead. The map that I used was a conceptual map dated 2015. So it looks like that trailhead never got built.
Next, I traveled to the following GPS coordinates:
38.84086, -77.50255
and the entrance to Poplar Ford Park. I expected to drive into the park and poke around. But I couldn’t because the entrance was gated. It looked like this park was only open to radio controlled airplane clubs. I thought that it was strange. I could see that, for safety reasons, that they wouldn’t want anyone in that area that might get injured by one of those planes. But it seemed discriminatory to not allow anyone else into any other areas of this park. I was disappointed.
So I next drove to these GPS coordinates:
38.83910, -77.49849
that was supposed to be trail access along a stream, probably Poplar Run. However, the stream was not where it was supposed to be. Bummer.
So, finally, I drove to the stone bridge parking lot at Manassas National Battlefield. I was hoping that there would be a trail at eastern side of this park that would lead into Poplar Run Park. No there wasn’t.
A few days before I did this recon I contacted Fairfax County, VA Park Authority and asked if it was OK to hike within Poplar Run Park. I never heard back from them. And I have seen people on the northern bank of Bull Run within the boundaries of Poplar Run Park while I was hiking the blue blazed trail just west of the stone bridge within Manassas National Battlefield. So I knew that someone had access to that area. Unfortunately, I would not get access to it.
I believe that the reason that the conceptual development plan map did not come to fruition was because the homeowners and/or HOA for the development did not want riff raff like me traipsing around their million dollar plus houses.
How did I come to this conclusion? About 20 years ago there was a trail on the south side of the stone bridge that went along Bull Run to the east parallel to Bull Run Post Office RD and ended at the intersection of Bull Run Post Office RD and Compton RD. There used to be a bridge at that intersection that went to Vendor LA that was destroyed by Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Anyway, that trail was not an official trail. And while hiking it, I did see the initial site work beginning for high end houses along the section of Bull Run Post Office RD south of US 29. Sure enough, the high end houses were built and the trail was obliterated.
If you have money, you have power. And I believe that those in the development near Poplar Ford Park did not want these trails between their high end houses and Bull Run. That is their right. Unfortunately.
I did some historical research on this area. According to:
Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman led a union brigade across Bull Run just north of the stone bridge (at the far right side of the map linked to below) in the First Battle of Bull Run. And, according to:
The American Battlefield Trust
General Stonewall Jackson led a confederate battalion across Sudley Springs Ford (on the far left side of the map linked to below) in order to cut off the retreating forces of General McDowell in the Second Battle of Bull Run.
So the recon today resulted in a no go for the trails on the north side of Bull Run between the Stone Bridge and Sudley Springs Ford. I was disappointed. But I learned something today and saw some new things. So it was a good day.
Mike C
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