* SOUTHBOUND *

===== RIVERBEND PARK

Go along riverside trail downstream towards Great Falls. In under two miles stay to the left of the Great Falls parking lots, along the canal. Pass the visitor center. Stay on the trail nearest the river. After the 3 overlooks, turn left on the signed River Trail. Follow the green-blazes of the River Trail for the next two miles of rocky scrambling. At the end of Mathers Gorge, the River Trail will go up hill to end at the Ridge Trail. Take a look at the great views then turn left on the Ridge Trail. Follow for a half mile and turn right downhill to Difficult Run. Turn right on the Difficult Run Trail, now headed upstream along Difficult Run. After a half-mile bear slightly left to go under Georgetown Pike, and a little further you will enter the Difficult Run / Georgetown Pike parking lot. This is the northern end of the Fairfax Cross County Trail. From this point on you can follow the CCT signs.

===== DIFFICULT RUN / GEORGETOWN PIKE PARKING LOT

The old water crossing here is gone. Now, stay on the right of Difficult Run, pass under the Old Dominion Bridge, then a little further cross Difficult Run on a new fair weather crossing. Follow signs for a mile to Leigh Mill Rd., then another 1.5 miles to Colvin Run at Route 7. Carefully cross Rt. 7 at the stoplight, then go left into the woods away from Rt. 7. Follow signs for another 1.5 miles to Browns Mill Rd. (9-Mile Aid Station). Cross the road and go left across the fair weather crossing to a paved trail. Go 0.5 miles on the paved trail, then turn right to pass under the highway bridge. Cross a new footbridge, then another fair weather crossing, then in about 300 yards, turn left into woods. Follow marked trail for 2 miles until it goes into a field (Tamarack Park). Cross the field and a little footbridge, then to the W&OD trail. Turn right on the W&OD Horse Trail to Hunter Mill Rd.

===== W&OD TRAIL / HUNTER MILL RD.

Continue on the W&OD Horse Trail, for another 0.7 miles, crossing a small street on top of a hill, then at the bottom of the next hill (WHERE THE HORSE TRAIL AND BIKE TRAIL BECOME VERY CLOSE AND THERE COULD BE A CCT SIGN HIDDEN BEHIND A BUSH), turn left across the W&OD Trail and enter the woods on the other side. Follow the CCT signs across a large footbridge, then after the trail curves slowly to the right, stay on the main trail, or look for a less-muddy alternate trail that runs along the hillside to the right, parallel to the CCT and the stream valley, on the way to the dam crossing. Go over the dam, across a footbridge, and up a steep rocky hill to the 13-Mile Turnaround Aid Station next to the intersection of Twin Branches Rd. and Glade Rd.

* NORTHBOUND *

Go back to where you came from.

===== RIVERBEND PARK