This .5 mile up, .5 mile back recon occured on Tuesday, December 12, 2024 and was at and along the current western terminus of the Broad Run Trail in Prince William County, VA. It was only me on this one.
I wanted to check out the new
as well as explore the current western terminus of the Broad Run Trail.
First, a bit or background: According to
Broad Run Creek has it’s source in Fauquier County, VA at Merry Oak Lake near Old Tavern, VA. It flows in a meandering southeasterly direction for 38 miles and intersects with Cedar Run to form the Occoquan River in Prince William County, VA near Manassas, VA.
And according to the
Prince William County Parks & Recreation Website
The Broad Run trail will be a 13 mile (I saw 17 miles elsewhere on their site) linear trail going from Rollins Ford Park near Nokesville, VA to Doves Landing Park near Manasas, VA. I have hiked this trail in sections at various times from the Hunting Cove Place Cul-de Sac to VA28 in Bristow, VA, a distance of about 6 miles.
So today I wanted to see if any of the trail existed at it’s western terminus. I drove to the new Rollins Ford Park to begin my quest. It was a cloudy and cool day, temps were in the 50’s. It was a very nice park. It had picnic pavillions, walking paths and restrooms. I parked at the park parking lot at around 1:00 PM, walked to Rollins Ford RD, turned left, walked about 500 feet, crossed a bridge over Broad Run, then discovered a mowed trail just north of this bridge.
According to the PWCPR conceptional map, this was where the Broad Run Trail turned right and started it’s journey along the north side of Broad Run. This trail was mowed and looked to be a sewer line right of way as there were raised manholes along it’s length. I walked this mowed path for a couple thousand feet. Then the mowed trail ended.
There was a faint trail going to the left, up a hill and into the adjacent housing development. There was also a rough dirt trail going to the right and downhill to Broad Run. So I followed this trail down to Broad Run. To my amazement, once I got to Broad Run, this trail turned right and was going westbound on Broad Run, the direction that I came from. Someone had installed wood planks at a few very small stream crossings. After about 200 feet, I came to a wide open area.
There was the remains of a relatively recent campfire at this site. The area looked like it had flooded in the past. About 100 feet away from the remains of this campfire, there was a picnic table that looked smashed up and was on it’s side leaning against a tree. So this area must experience extreme flooding. It was good that the mowed trail that I came from and would soon return on was far up the hill from Broad Run. When and if they ever resume building this trail, they need to keep it at least 50 feet away from the creek.
After seeing this I retraced my steps from the campfire site up the hill, back along the mowed path, back along Rollins Ford RD and returned to my vehicle around 2:00 PM. Now for a few tidbits: According to a document titled
Prince William County Trail Standards
The Broad Run Trail will be blazed white. However, I did not see any blazes, signage or informational kiosks on this portion of trail. At one point in time, this trail was supposed to have it’s western terminus at Lake Manassas. Not sure why that changed but it could be private property issues. It is my opinion that this will be an issue near the eastern terminus of this trail. There are a number of boat slips on private property near where the eastern terminus of this trail currently will go at Doves Landing Park near Manassas, VA. That could be an issue. There is currently a bridge that needs to be replaced just west of the Hunting Cove Place sidetrail. According to my hiking buddy Tom C., the local county superviser will be meeting with the residents of the Dunbarton development to discuss this issue in early 2025.
So I managed to get a short hike in between the rainstorms today. Once they replace that missing bridge, I would like to try and bushwhack from that point to the western terminus of this trail. Using Google Maps, the distance in a straight line is 2.14 miles. But since this creek meanders a lot (that’s probably how it got the name Broad Run), it will more than likely be between 3 and 4 miles. I would need to hike it with someone else and place a vehicle at each end. Anyone want to join me?
Mike C
Conceptual Map of Broad Run Trail
P.S.- Looking at Google Maps again, it looks like the mowed trail continues after a short gap further east behind the housing development. I’ll have to go back to this area again and check this out.
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