Cross Country Trail: Colvin Run Mill to Potomac River
Time: 1.5 hours (or more depending on your route)
Length: Out and back – up to you
Gear: daypack – lunch/snack – water – leash – map
Difficulty Level: 1 paw
Scenery: 3 paws
Pack: You and your dog
Comments: Only saw one pair of joggers the entire time – we had the trail to ourselves!
I owed Karma some quality time after being away for 12 days. Karma managed to make himself sick while I was gone and the vet chalked it up to stress – my poor mama’s boy!
I consulted my Virginia books and chose the Cross Country Trail (CCT) beginning at Colvin Run Mill Park. The trail to the Potomac River is 8.7 miles along Difficult Run that is a beautiful stream which is actually pretty big. The trail is in the woods, is easy and mostly flat. It poured buckets just a few days ago and the ground was soft with areas of standing water and mud. So much for Karma’s freshly groomed coat!
We parked in the lot for Colvin Run Mill just off Route 7/Leesburg Pike. To access the trail cut through the general store to the mill and then head toward the intersection. Just before Route 7 there is a paved road across Colvin Run road and you follow that straight onto the trail. Just before the trailhead is a small area for parking – next time I will park there.
The CCT is incredibly well marked and considering my previous trail following attempts, I am grateful. The trail starts out wide and gravel-covered and eventually narrows to a dirt trail that wanders through the woods.
About 0.6 miles in the trail crosses a stream with cylindrical concrete “stepping-stones.” The water is pretty fast here and I can imagine in the winter it could be quite icy. On the way in I walked through the ankle-deep water but on the return trip I opted for the concrete to keep my feet dry. As always, Karma enjoyed playing in the water.
We got to this point in 15 minutes give or take, so I’m guessing that we ended up doing about three-plus miles total.
The trail opens up and crosses a small road in a neighborhood. It then continues to the left and it was a little hard to find the opening but it was well marked once I found it.
There were several opportunities for water play but since it was in the 60s, Karma was comfortable so I just tried to keep him out of the mud as much as possible – ha!
At Ramey’s Meadow Park the trail crosses another small road. Straight ahead is one trail opening and that’s what we took on the way out. It is marked by the familiar horseshoes on the posts but none of the CCT markers. This trail stays close to the stream and cuts through it at one point for which Karma was grateful as it gave him a great opportunity to wade in the cold stream.
This part of the trail rejoins the CCT trail and the markers are again visible. We turned around before the next fair-weather crossing. The guidebook describes this crossing of Difficult Run to contain boulders in the stream for stepping-stones.
On the way back I stayed on CCT to Ramey’s Meadow Park and learn that I should have looked right when I crossed the road the first time. We took a break at the park sign and Karma happily flopped in the grass.
I really enjoyed this trail and look forward to exploring more of it in the future. There is another parking lot at Georgetown Pike and near the Potomac River the trail goes into Great Falls Park. The only thing to be aware of is that weather will greatly affect the trail. So if your best pal is fresh from the groomer you may want to wait for a drier day.
[...] Karma and I revisited one of my go-to trails near my home – CCT. It was before all the snow fell but after some drenching rain, so the right shoes were still a [...]