Off-roading – Lake Accoutink

I was sitting here in my office yesterday looking at the window as the rain beat against the window and I wished I could be outside running instead of working on IT proposals.  I stepped outside around 3:30 and saw the rain had subsided and it even warmed a bit into the low 60′s.  I ran back into the office to check the weather report and saw the rain was going to hold off for a few more hours.  Sounds like a great excuse to cut out of work early and check out a new trail I found on the interwebs.
Just a few miles south of my house in Springfield is the Accoutink Lake Park.  While not much of a park (there’s a pavilion and some canoe rentals, in addition to an old timey carousel), the trail that surrounded the lake looked to have some promise.  So I threw on my trail shoes and drove down to check it out.

I pulled in at the Danbury Forest Drive and jumped on the trail there.  For about 2 miles it’s pretty much all gravel trail running alongside a brook (or maybe a small creek – what’s the difference anyways!?) until you hit the park proper.  I emerged out of the woods onto a beach with a great view of the lake and a paved path to the dam crossing – which I suppose is what created the lake.

Running past the dam and back into the woods the trail starts getting more exciting.  While the main trail is pretty tame, there are detours aplenty and most of them are simple dirt trails with some pretty challenging/steep parts.  I took several of these.
I took one of these detours all the way to the end and looked down to see I had put in a little over 4.5 miles.  I took a minute to catch my breath and have a drink and then turned around for my run back.

By the time back I got back I was pretty sick of running on the big gravel trail but overall pretty pleased with the experience.  While not as challenging as the Potomac Heritage, it’s a nice close option if I ever want to jump out for a quick trail run.  And based on what I’ve been reading online, I think there are some option trails to be found that could make it a completely difference experience.

Till next time, stay muddy my friends.

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