Trails and Streams News

March 6, 2010: MORE Sponsored Conway Robinson State Forest Cleanup

The first M.O.R.E. sponsored joint volunteer group workday of the year is coming quickly! Come out to meet fellow users of the Conway Robinson Forest and make some new friends while we take care of this treasured resource. We need your help to get the trails back into good shape after this hard winter. There is strong support for the various user groups from our local Dept. of Forestry staff; let's show a good turn-out for the volunteer days to further this relationship and support. We want to accomplish trail blazing on this first workday of 2010. All trails need minor trim and lopping of overhanging branches and general clearing of fallen limbs, leaves, and debris. Depending on volunteer turn out, the trails are prioritized as follows:
Red
Blue 1- Section from Entrance Fire Road to the Pines Fire Road
Yellow
Unfinished Railroad from Kemper to Yellow
Unfinished Railroad from Kemper to Blue/Pines Fire Road
Blue from Unfinished Railroad to Yellow

Meet at the parking area at 9:00 a.m. Bring work gear, sturdy shoes/boots, gloves, hand tools, and enough water for a 1/2 day of light trail maintenance.
Please contact Vickie McEntire at vmcent@comcast.net for more details, or to confirm your group, family or your assistance.

January 9, 2010: Ben Lomond Park Survey

On Saturday, January 9th, members of PWTSC and PWC Park Authority surveyed the Ben Lomond Park corridor to plan a future trail network.  Ben Lomond Park follows the course of Bull Run from Splasdown Waterpark at the northernmost end of Sudley Manor Drive to the point where Bull Run flows under Route 66. When complete, the trail will allow hikers, bikers, and equestrians to travel over two miles from Splashdown and points throughought the Sudley neighborhood upstream to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.  A rudimentary trail currently exists along this corridor, but it will need many improvements to make it passable by the casual user.  PWTSC looks forward to working with the county in the future to improve the trail surface and create a first class trail.  

November 21, 2009: 30 Volunteers Help Repair Access Point and Clean-up Lake Jackson Dam Area

PWTSC and 30 volunteers cleaned-up the area below Lake Jackson Dam on Saturday, 21 November. Also included was repair of the trail down to the base of the Dam to prevent erosion of a steep slope. The repaired trail also made it easier to move the debris up the trail to a dumpster provided by the Prince William Park Authority.

The PWTSC goal is the establishment of a public canoe/kayak launch and fishing area below the Dam that would provide access to the Occoquan River for passive recreation.  The new canoe/kayak launch area, when completed, will provide for a 9 mile paddling trip to the Bull Run Marina or a 14 mile paddling experience to either the Lake Ridge Marina or Fountainhead Marina.

Volunteers in this effort ranged in age from 5 to 66 years old and included several local area citizens, kayak and canoe enthusiasts, two high school students doing Community service hours, PWTSC members and representatives from other volunteer organizations. For more information on this ongoing project, contact Ed Dandar at blueways@pwtsc.org.

July to September, 2009: Silver Lake Cleanup 

Work on Silver Lake began just two days after the County Supervisors turned over the facility to the Park Authority, July 11, 2009. A Park Authority official and a PWTSC member walked and rode the grounds to discover the overgrown but existing trails and were soon followed by a particularly enthused park work force supervisor. Once preliminary trails were determined, a trail system was sketched out and prioritized.

Despite poor weather, the first official work day brought out over 40 volunteers that cleared a new forest path, ripped out old wire fencing, cleared branches and picked up trash. A stunning amount of work was completed and the possibility of having the park ready for a formal opening on October 4th was visualized.

Two further official PWTSC work days followed, held at the end of August and again in September, along with countless extra hours put in by various PWTSC members, Nokesville Horse Society (NHS), Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiast (MORE), Haymarket Cyclists, a day with Dominion Power, and other local groups all joining the Prince William County Park Authority to get Silver Lake ready for opening. The groups continued hand and machine clearing that resulted in almost four miles of multipurpose trails and cleared areas for fishing and picnicking.

Although of varying width, all trails may be biked, horse-back ridden, or simply hiked, but amidst the trail system are those suitable for carriage driving and push chairs. The surfaces are now passable but a lot of work will be required to firm up the open trails for future use. Stone, stone dust, mulch, tree trimming and stabilizing of wet weather stream crossings needs to be done along with the natural clean-up that a natural park setting will require throughout the year.

The initial work utilizing over 70 different volunteers has been completed and the well attended formal opening of Silver Lake on October 4, 2009 has come and gone. Soon the bees will be buzzing, the birds chirping, the grasses waving, and the fish will be jumping. There will be plenty at Silver Lake to do and enjoy.

Let's maintain last year's enthusiasm and clear, clean and build up trails that will last not only this life time but those to come.

OUR FIRST OFFICIAL 2010 SILVER LAKE WORK DAY: June 12, 2010. See you there!

August, 2009: Valley View Park Trails - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) partnered with the Prince William County Park Authority to reinforce low sections of the trails with gravel for footing. Volunteers spread 10 tons of gravel provided by PWCPA and trimmed low hanging branches that had started to reach out over the trails.

July, 2009 - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) coordinated with PWCPA to improve upon work performed by Boy Scouts in May at Locust Shade Park. Volunteers cleared heavier trees and branches from the trails and performed clean-up. PWTSC volunteers also revisited the trails cut in March to clear newly fallen debris.

May, 2009 - Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and the Manassas Bull Runners Trail Crew celebrated opening of Annie Snyder Connector Trail between Manassas Battlefield and Conway Robinson State Forest. This included a section of woodchip covered hiking trails that PWTSC volunteers had assisted to lay down in November 2008.

May, 2009 - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) met where the Broad Run Trail crosses Linton Hall Rd to finish installing stone dust along the Broad Run Trail and built a 12 ft Pedestrian Bridge at a stream crossing using lumber donated by Lowes of Gainesville.

May, 2009 - Prince William Trails and Streams (PWTSC) performed bench cutting of portions of the newly cut trail at Locust Shade Park. The bench cuts were necessary where the slope of the trail did not support recreational activity.  Additionally, a Boy Scout group joined the effort to cut a new 1 mile trail in Locust Shade Park.

March, 2009 - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) volunteers spread 100 tons of stone dust over about 1/2 mile of trail on the Broad Run Trail Corridor and build a Fair Weather crossing over a large feeder stream.

February, 2009 - Prince William Trails and Streams (PWTSC) built a loop trail of about 1.2 miles in the southern wooded area of Locust Shade Park. The new trail was built to support a single track with several pull off points to allow people to pass one another.

November, 2008 - Prince William Trails and Streams (PWTSC) and Nokesville Horse Society (NHS) members coordinated activities to perform some preliminary development of a Multi-Use Trail Connector between Manassas Battlefield and Conway Robinson State Forest. The trail utilizes property that Dave Jones has promised passage for this use along Pageland Rd.

November, 2008 - Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and the Manassas Bull Runners Trail Crew commenced development of a hiking only trail to be dedicated to Annie Snyder and connecting the Manassas National Battlefield Park to the Conway Robinson State Forest, mainly along the old unfinished railroad.    PWTSC provided several volunteers for this effort.

July and August, 2008 - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) volunteers built approximately 2 miles of additional trails on 66 acres recently acquired at James Long Park. Multiple days were coordinated by several volunteers to tag, clear brush and leaves, and trim branches along this scenic trail in the woods behind active recreation fields and facilities.

June 2008 - Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC) organized volunteers at Andrew Leitch Park to spread gravel, install erosion resistant water bars and clean up trash at Andrew Leitch Park. This effort was coordinated with Prince William County’s National Trails Day, enticing many additional volunteers to come our from the local community and local Boy Scout Chapters as well to assist.