Posts Tagged ‘Bull Run Mountain Conservancy’
Virginia Hikes Planned for This Spring
Posted by Chris | Filed under Northern Virginia, Trail Information, Updates/News
With the spring quickly approaching, I have a few different hikes that I want to get to within the next few months in the Northern Virginia area.
1. Bull Run Mountain Conservancy area
2. Raven Rocks
3. Buzzard Hill
4. Sky Meadows
Some of these have been posted about here on Virginia Hiker, but I have yet to get out on them and hopefully that will happen before May!
Have you been to any of these trails? Are they as good as they sound?
Bull Run Mountain Conservancy
Posted by Chris | Filed under Northern Virginia, Trail Information
Description: The Bull Run Mountains Conservancy manages 800 acres of forest on the southern end of Bull Run Mountains. Despite its small size this venue has a fairly interesting network of trails. I rate most of the trails as easy although segments of the trails that follow the ridge can provide a pretty good cardio-vascular workout. For this reason I rate the overall hike as moderate. The primary loop is only about4.6 miles in length but additional out-and-backs to visit graveyards, mill and homestead ruins, quarry sites, a fantastic view of Fauquier County and a pretty unique trash dump puts the total mileage at about7.4 miles. This was also the scene of a very important Civil War military engagement, the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, the results of which had major implications for the Second Battle of Manassas. Visit The Bull Run Mountain Conservancy Site for more information.
Trail Notes: The conservancy uses a unique trail marking system designed and installed by Boy Scouts. Each trail intersection has a post with colored discs. Note that there are still blazes on the trees. These are from previous management and may not match the color on the post. Post color has priority! Also, as of 11/05 the color coding of some trails have been changed andd some trails have been combined. Unofficial, unsigned or blazed trails are shown as orange on this map. The following description uses these changes.Some, but not all, of the intersections have signs. What is there is correct. Also note that the section of Ridge Trail north of the BRMC boundary is not under the Conservancy’s jurisdiction and is not blazed or maintained. Finally, the map shows an “un-named” trail that parallels the Old Quarry Trail (Blue) and follows the northern portion of Cattlet’s Run. This is not an official trail but one worth exploring.
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