Difficult Run/Colvin Run Mill/Cross County Trail
Time: 3 hours
Length: Out and Back
Gear: Lots of water, leash and daypack
Difficulty: 1 paw
Scenery: 3 paws
Pack: You and your dog
Katina and I typically take turns choosing trails for our next adventures. But make no mistake, I always defer to her trail-reading and guide expertise as I am a pure novice! So when she picked Difficult Run as our next hike and said it is close to my home, I was excited to learn a new trail minutes away.
In doing her research, Katina shared that it was “difficult” (pardon the easy pun) to find information about the trail along the Difficult Run stream. But directions in hand we piled the dogs in one vehicle and headed to our morning hike.
We arrived at our parking lot just off Georgetown Pike (Route 193) just after nine and the lot was already filling up. We headed south on the well-marked path and soon crossed under an underpass and then across a stone crossing. And suddenly I knew where we were! (Yes, I’m a little slow.) We were doing the Cross County Trail, just starting at a point further north than I had hike previously with Karma.
Finally I felt like I was the guide – ha! Karma knew all the places to cool off and we enjoyed the almost 3 hours on the trail. We hiked almost to the Colvin Run Mill parking area. There were more people on the trail than other times but the warmer weather and later time in the day contributed to the ever so slight “traffic.”
So lesson learned … If you are looking for “Difficult Run” you might also want to try the following keywords: Difficult Run Stream Valley Trail; Colvin Run Mill; Cross County Trail or visit Fairfax County’s park site.
