signage – Wakefield Park and Cross County Trail

[jabberwocky]

You could check my map here: http://www.logoffrideon.com/trails/index.php?title=Wakefield

The trails in the park are a bit confusing. I think there are CCT markers most of the way along, but as with elsewhere they are sometimes far enough apart that its easy to get lost.

[acc]

@jabberwocky 62779 wrote:

You could check my map here: http://www.logoffrideon.com/trails/index.php?title=Wakefield

The trails in the park are a bit confusing. I think there are CCT markers most of the way along, but as with elsewhere they are sometimes far enough apart that its easy to get lost.

Confusing?!
I’ve been lost twice in the woods out there.
Once by myself, somewhere against a steep embankment that frightened me enough not to turn around and go back up. It was a pathetic moment, the equivalent of being lost in a bathtub.
The other time I got hopelessly turned around out by the playground and became separated from a friend. I tried to convince my friend I did it on purpose. That didn’t work.

We won’t even talk about the time I almost ran over the enormous black snake sunning itself just around a curve in the path.

[jabberwocky]

@acc 62782 wrote:

Confusing?!
I’ve been lost twice in the woods out there.
Once by myself, somewhere against a steep embankment that frightened me enough not to turn around and go back up. It was a pathetic moment, the equivalent of being lost in a bathtub.
The other time I got hopelessly turned around out by the playground and became separated from a friend. I tried to convince my friend I did it on purpose. That didn’t work.

We won’t even talk about the time I almost ran over the enormous black snake sunning itself just around a curve in the path.

Heh. I’ve been riding there for years (since before the redesign that turned the park into what it is today). Learning the major north-south trails help a lot. Out under the power lines, there are basically three trails; one running up the edge of 495, one running along the creek to the west and the CCT/doubletrack sort of running up the middle. Everything else runs into one of those three pretty quickly.

You think its bad now, you should have seen it before the redesign. It used to be a massive spiderweb of rutted fall-line trail running all over the place. Accotink is still sort of that way, come to think of it.

[eminva]

I’ve spent a lot of time on the CCT this year, and while it is a great resource, it could use some better signage for sure. If I’m entering from Wakefield, I go behind the Audrey Moore Rec Center, wind between the ball fields, take a little unpaved and unmarked path that pops you out on the trail (which is pretty wide and in relatively good condition at that spot). From there, you can go either direction.

We used it a lot for training the scouts for the C&O trip because it offers long stretches with few road crossings and much less foot and bike traffic than the W&OD. For that reason, I often recommend it to novice cyclists. If only it weren’t so darn hard to navigate!

Liz

[Author]

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