Even after four years in the Northern Virginia area, I’m still finding NP2R…some even near my house.  This area still amazes me for the number of trail running opportunities you can find in places of high urban and residential density.

A few weeks ago I wanted to get a quick trail run on a weekend morning, so I parked at Wakefield Park and went south from the parking lot.  I was already familiar with the northern loop thru Wakefield Park.  What I discovered on the southern side was that the trail connects to another favorite location of mine, Lake Accotink Park.  These two parks are part of the Fairfax County Park Authority and the connecting trail is part of the Cross Country Trail, a 40 mile route that spans the entire Fairfax County.

The route was a pleasant, gently rolling mix of paved and dirt trails with scenic views of Lake Accotink (still with some ice on that day in January) and the dam and old, closed railroad trestle on the southern side.  Find a nice description of the history of Accotink here.

I’ll post a map of my run of a following page, but you can also access the black and white county map here.