Cross County Trail (Fairfax, County) - Southern Leg

This is a helmet cam video of my ride on the (South) Cross County Trail - Occoquan Regional Park in southern Fairfax County to Gateway Regional Park at Fairfax Circle in Fairfax City, VA (shot with a Vhold Contour HD wide angle camera). The trail has been incrementally developed over the last decade (the southern portion, and a northern leg running from Oak Marr Rec Center all the way to Great Falls National Park). The south trail in particular has been built with a surprising level of sophistication; employing a variety of bridge designs, engineered concrete & stone fair weather crossings, multiple trail surfaces (asphalt, crushed stone, concrete, brick), ample width, and connecting some of the regions best recreational amenities (Wakefield mountain biking trails, Lake Accotink, the still developing Laurel Hill area/Lorton Arts Center, and Occoquan Regional Park. The north trail employs a still wider variety of fair weather crossings (several large boulder crossings of Difficult Run are quite amazing), however it is less refined - with a good portion (perhaps 30%) only single track dirt. In addition to linking W&OD Regional Park, Reston, and Great Falls National Park, the potential exists to connect an improved north county trail to Wolf Trap and Lake Fairfax via the existing stream valley parkland right of way.

Despite the effort put into each leg, the trails are not well activated. Enveloped in the Accotink , Pohick, and Difficult Run stream valleys, entrances are subtle and the trail as a whole is somewhat isolated. As part of an Architecture thesis project I am working on a design that aims to better activate the trail and Fairfax Circle. The basic idea is a Cross CITY Trail linking the northern and southern legs, with a re-worked Gateway Regional Park as a refined promenade and showcase entrance to serve as a lynch pin for the entire trail and catalyze a potential urban village envisioned at Fairfax Circle. Currently, the north and south parts of the cross county trail, by map, are connected only by a narrow sidewalk along Blake Lane.

rundown: 0:38 along the boxcar rail bed, 0:55 Furnace Road "tunnel", 1:03 Occoquan tributary gorge bridge, 1:25 Lorton prison section, 1:57 Laurel Hill Trail section, 2:30 new Pohick Creek fair weather crossings, 3:20 new Accotink creek trail section south of Lake Accotink, 4:10 Lake Accotink, 4:30, enclosed bridge over train tracks, 5:20, CCT @ Wakefield Park, 6:00 typ sect bet Accotink and Fairfax Circle, 7:00 unconnected Gateway Park and the eroded land behind National Asphalt @ the circle.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Cross County Trail
• George Mason University
• vhold contour hd

[kstev77]

rundown: 0:38 along the boxcar rail bed, 0:55 Furnace Road "tunnel", 1:03 Occoquan tributary gorge bridge, 1:25 Lorton prison section, 1:57 Laurel Hill Trail section, 2:30 new Pohick Creek fair weather crossings, 3:20 new Accotink creek trail section south of Lake Accotink, 4:10 Lake Accotink, 4:30, enclosed bridge over train tracks, 5:20, CCT @ Wakefield Park, 6:00 typ sect bet Accotink and Fairfax Circle, 7:00 unconnected Gateway Park and the eroded land behind National Asphalt @ the circle.

[tjandacw]

Section1 around mile 33 is right behind my house. I enjoyed seeing part of the trail I walk along nearly every day! Parts of this video look like you were traveling S at some times, and N at other times. Was this video pieced together?

[jduey757]

r u guys smokin crack?

[michaelonlign]

Great shots of Blue Thing from 6:54 to 7:34.