Burke Lake Park, VA Day Hike

This hike occurred on Saturday, July 6, 2019. Participants were Dave McIntyre and Mike Calabrese. As usual, we met at POPUMC like always and departed at 8:00 AM for Burke Lake Park near Burke, VA. We arrived around 8:35. We had 2 people that said that they may meet us at the park for this hike but they didn't. So it was only me and Dave for this one. We started by the volleyball courts at 8:46 and would hike counterclockwise around the lake. Going over the dam of the lake was a bit tough as it was hot. South Run is the stream that feeds this lake. We took a lot of breaks going around the lake since it was hot. We did get some occasional cool breezes from the lake and once we were in the woods it was very comfortable to hike. The trail was very level. It was asphalt paved near the volleyball courts, the marina and the fishing areas but was gravel the rest of the way. We drank a lot of water on this trip. We took a break at around the 3 mile mark on a bench and observed a large group of people hiking by us. There must have been 30 or more people in this group. I asked one of them which organization that they were with. They answered that they were with the Northern Virginia Hiking Club. Impressive! There were many runners, hikers and bikers on this trail. You had to wait for a gap in the line and then fall in. We made it around the campground, around the west end of the park next to Burke Lake RD, then veered off the trail at around the 4.5 mile mark in search of ice cream. We had to do some bushwahacking to get to the ice cream parlor only to find that it was not open. The sign that showed the hours was very confusing. At first we thought it was not open on weekends. Then we thought that it was not open until 12 noon. It was 10:45 AM when we got there. After some discussion we concluded that the ice cream parlor opened at 11:00 AM. At 11:03 we went in and got our reward for hiking this trail. The ice cream hit the spot! We then got back on the trail, hiked the final .2 miles back to my vehicle and then went home. This was a good hike. I felt good afterwards. I understand that it is summertime, the weather is hot and a number of people are on vacation. However, if the Northern Virginia Hiking Club can get 30 people to come out for a hike in July, the POPUMC hiking group should also be able to get 30 people to come out for a hike. I hope and pray that we can get a bigger crowd out for some of the hikes that are planned for this fall. Mike C More Images Information about Burke Lake Park, VA Dulles Airport was originally supposed to be in Burke... Timeline of Burke, VA

Map of where we hiked.    By Mike Calabrese   Dave @ .75 mile mark.    By Mike Calabrese   Totem pole tree.   By Mike Calabrese   View around mile 2.   By Mike Calabrese