National Trails Day at the Preserve: New Blue Trail

To celebrate National Trails Day at the Preserve, VOF is hosting a trail volunteer event in partnership with the American Hiking Society.

The project featured is the new BLUE TRAIL we've been preparing since last year to open up to visitors. This new extension is important because it highlights the Black & AA families and their historic homesites within the Bull Run Mountains. It also places the trail next to the Catlett's Branch creek for a pleasant and more primitive and grown-in hike out on this 1-mile extension.

This trail is almost ready to join the rest of the trail system but we have a few big tasks left to do. We have some rock work to do, moving abundant flat stones to create rock hops and step-overs across streams. We also need to cut trail into the side hill in a couple of spots (tools provided.) We have check steps to install and broken glass that needs to picked up and removed from the trail path. There are plenty of other smaller tasks that need doing as well, like invasive species removal, branch clipping, and even being an extra hand to carry in tools. Come ready to work!

It is a mile hike in before the start of the Blue Trail is reached. We will provide tools. Bring your lunch or snacks, water, bug spray, sunblock, a good pair of boots, and sturdy work gloves. This is a labor-intensive but highly rewarding volunteer opportunity.

This should be a fun and exciting day and you'll be able to leave your mark as someone who helped lay in this new trail at BRMNAP!

Email dreif@vof.org with any questions