Route advice needed: Great Falls National Park to Alexandria

[huskerdont]

@jtcallahan 150308 wrote:

I’m planning a final epic ride for 2016. I have been wanting to get the Fairfax County CCT off my bucket list for a while, but I am also planning on biking to the start in Lorton and from the finish at GFNP. I live along the Potomac near Mt Vernon, so finishing the last several miles along the Mt. Vernon trail is part of my plan.

What is the “safest” way to connect from GFNP to Alexandria. I considered doubling back along the CCT to the W&OD, but that adds a bunch of miles and puts the total ride length a little of 90 miles. I’m trying to shave a few miles off to bring it into the 80s.

Old Dominion Dr. looks like it could get me eastward a ways and then I have some options of winding through Arlington to the Mt Vernon trail, or heading south east to the W&OD. Is Old Dominion safe enough to ride on assuming I make myself as visible as possible to drivers?

Has anybody ridden between these areas? I’d appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Jim Callahan

Neither the portion of Old Dominion near Great Falls nor Georgetown Pike is something I’d send anyone I cared about down, although I have occasionally seen the odd cyclist out there. Country-type roads with city-type traffic. Old Dominion closer in to McLean is better, but you’d have to get there first. I suppose it depends on your tolerance for heavy traffic passing you closely on curvy, blind roads. If it were me, I’d take a CX bike down the CCT to W&OD. Alternatively, you could ride the CCT to Leigh Mill Road and link up through Towlston and Bellview to Old Dominion. Those roads get less traffic, but I still wouldn’t want to ride them.

[TwoWheelsDC]

That’s a tough one. Not only are the roads to the park bad, but the access road for the park is also bad. I consider myself pretty steely when it comes to riding on traffic-y roads, but every time I drive Old Dominion I think how horrifying it would be to ride (I wouldn’t voluntarily ride on Georgetown Pike). But if you do it during a slow time of day and ride fairly quickly, it’s certainly doable and once you get into McLean there are plenty of bike-friendly routes.

So are you planning on riding Difficult Run into GNFP? You can do a good portion of that on a CX bike (or road bike if it’s dry and you’re a *really* good bike handler), but it’s basically singletrack most the way…I’m not aware of a paved or even fully doubletrack way in apart from the harrowing suburban roads.

[jabberwocky]

-Exit the park and continue on Old Dominion for a mile or two (until you’re over difficult run). There is a small shoulder. Its not awesome but its not bad.
-Right on Peacock Station. Lovely road.
-Right on Towlston. No shoulder but fairly lightly trafficked. Be careful.
-After going straight across 7, becomes Trap Rd and gains a lane and a nice shoulder. Also downhill. Go veeeeeerry fast. Note the shoulder vanishes for the bridge over 267. Theres a fancy new path there that I’ve never used.
-After crossing 267, stay right to follow Trap Rd.
-Go straight over Old Courthouse. Road becomes Beulah. Marvel at the fact that this road has changed names 3 times so far, and none of them were at the only turn.
-Right on Clarks Crossing. Moar downhill fun.
-Clarks Crossing dead ends at W&OD. Make a left for victory.

EDIT: Just a note, I’ve ridden this route several times before, and its not bad at all on a weekend. I would probably not do it at rush hour, where traffic on Old Dominion and Towlston would make it a little more harrowing.

[ursus]

@jabberwocky 150314 wrote:

-Exit the park and continue on Old Dominion for a mile or two (until you’re over difficult run). There is a small shoulder. Its not awesome but its not bad.
-Right on Peacock Station. Lovely road.
-Right on Towlston. No shoulder but fairly lightly trafficked. Be careful.
-After going straight across 7, becomes Trap Rd and gains a lane and a nice shoulder. Also downhill. Go veeeeeerry fast. Note the shoulder vanishes for the bridge over 267. Theres a fancy new path there that I’ve never used.
-After crossing 267, stay right to follow Trap Rd.
-Go straight over Old Courthouse. Road becomes Beulah. Marvel at the fact that this road has changed names 3 times so far, and none of them were at the only turn.
-Right on Clarks Crossing. Moar downhill fun.
-Clarks Crossing dead ends at W&OD. Make a left for victory.

EDIT: Just a note, I’ve ridden this route several times before, and its not bad at all on a weekend. I would probably not do it at rush hour, where traffic on Old Dominion and Towlston would make it a little more harrowing.

I have taken that route many times over the years in both directions, but always on the weekend. It was one of the routes in the Washington Area Bicycling Atlas which WABA used to publish. I once managed to miss the turn onto Clarks Crossing. Since you mentioned the downhill parts, it is quite steep uphill on the initial section of Peacock Station.

[jabberwocky]

@ursus 150318 wrote:

Since you mentioned the downhill parts, it is quite steep uphill on the initial section of Peacock Station.

I try not to think about the uphill parts.

[Judd]

Alternatively, you could just visit the Maryland side which would be almost all trail riding.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Judd 150321 wrote:

Alternatively, you could just visit the Maryland side which would be almost all trail riding.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And you’d technically be riding the CCT, even if the initials don’t mean the same thing….

[hozn]

Jabberwocky’s route is what I would do, although I have only ridden against traffic on Old Dominion (early AM). Towlston is nice, south of 7 especially, but I *really* like Belleview Rd (a little further east).

What I would really do is just ride the CCT down from Great Falls, though I think I am missing some of the nuance of your ride logistics, since you said you were intending to ride the CCT.

[jabberwocky]

@hozn 150339 wrote:

What I would really do is just ride the CCT down from Great Falls, though I think I am missing some of the nuance of your ride logistics, since you said you were intending to ride the CCT.

My impression was he wanted to ride from his house to the start of the CCT in occoquan, then ride the entire CCT north, then wanted the easiest way home from the end of the CCT in Great Falls.

The route I gave is the best “all pavement” route I know. The problem with Great Falls is most of the continuous roads are high traffic, hilly and have no shoulder (i.e. most of Old Dominion, Georgetown Pike, Springvale, etc). And most of the neighborhoods don’t connect to each other, so its hard to avoid the main roads. I’ve ridden parts of Georgetown Pike and Old Dominion, but I wouldn’t want to do it for long if I could possibly help it.

Now, another option I’d consider is retracing the CCT to Leigh Mill, jogging through that neighborhood there (Kelso to Brian Jac to Trotting Horse to Fairpine to Forestville), crossing 7 at Forestville (which becomes Beulah), left on Atwood, then Carrington to Bixler to Tuba to Shouse to a right on Trap, then following my directions from there across 267 to the W&OD. Its a longer route, but the only part thats even slightly questionable is the short section of Beulah, and you’re mostly downhill there. If I was planning a route for someone who was really nervous sharing the road with cars thats what I’d recommend though (short of just riding the CCT all the way back to the W&OD).

But the route I posted above will certainly take less time than that. The north end of the CCT tends to be slow. Lots of rutted rocks and rubble.

[jtcallahan]

Wow thanks for all of the input guys!

@Jabberwocky – Thank you for the detailed directions. The route you suggest looks pretty good and drops about a mile from the total. Taking the CCT from GFNP back to the W&OD is about 7.3 miles (according to Google) whereas your route is about 6.4 and is on pavement vs. trail which will be welcomed late in the ride.

Does anyone have any information on access to the CCT north of Oak Marr? I remember hearing that the CCT actually goes through some private property and that the landowners had posted “No Trespassing” signs. I was looking at a map showing both the CCT and property boundaries and it looks like in the section north of Vale Rd to where it crosses Little Difficult Run does indeed run across the back of some lots. Does anybody have any recent info on this?

If anyone is interested I’ll be doing this on my Salsa Fargo set up monstercross style. Maybe some skinnier tires (I have 2.4 Racing Ralphs on it now) would be a good idea considering the distance.

Thanks again!

Jim

[jtcallahan]

Wow thanks for all of the input guys!

@Jabberwocky – Thank you for the detailed directions. The route you suggest looks pretty good and drops about a mile from the total. Taking the CCT from GFNP back to the W&OD is about 7.3 miles (according to Google) whereas your route is about 6.4 and is on pavement vs. trail which will be welcomed late in the ride.

Does anyone have any information on access to the CCT north of Oak Marr? I remember hearing that the CCT actually goes through some private property and that the landowners had posted “No Trespassing” signs. I was looking at a map showing both the CCT and property boundaries and it looks like in the section north of Vale Rd to where it crosses Little Difficult Run does indeed run across the back of some lots. Does anybody have any recent info on this?

If anyone is interested I’ll be doing this on my Salsa Fargo set up monstercross style. Maybe some skinnier tires (I have 2.4 Racing Ralphs on it now) would be a good idea considering the distance.

Thanks again!

Jim

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