This 3.2 mile hike on the easy to moderate Woodmarsh Trail occured on
Saturday, January 2, 2021 at Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife
Refuge. Participants were Jennifer Brown, Tom O'Brien and Mike Calabrese.
Tom and I got to Prince of Peace UMC at about the same time this morning. We
talked for a bit and waited for 8:00 AM. No one else arrived so we set out to
hike the Woodmarsh Trail at Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck NWR near Lorton, VA.
It was foggy out but I95 was clear both weather wise and traffic wide so we
made it to the refuge by 8:20.
Jennifer arrived shortly afterwards so we started the hike at around 8:30 AM.
The trail was very wet and there were many puddles that we had to navigate.
Elevation changes were minimal, there were numerous bridges that took us over
the streams and boggy areas. Though the blazing on this trail was only fair
the signage on this trail was very good. We heard what sounded like a group of
people yelling. We weren't sure where this was coming from but would soon find
out.
After about .75 miles we came to the first of 4 intersections. After checking
our phones we turned left and proceeded to a covered overlook. There were two
ladies there taking images and counting the waterfoul on the Great Marsh for
the Audobon Society. We
found the source of what sounded like crowd noise. There were what looked like
over 100 ducks making noise within this marsh. You can see them as small
white dots on one of the pictures to the right.
We then took a selfie and proceeded on this 'lollipop loop hike'. We were
able to view the Potomac River occasionally. The woods were lacking color but
still had a special beauty to them. We passed 2 more intersections and then
came to a closed road called Sycamore RD. There was a portapotty here. This
was close to the 2 mile mark. We
then passed one last intersection and were back at our vehicles by a bit after
10:00 AM.
This was a nice hike. It was mostly level, there were portapotties at the
trailhead and at Sycamore RD. Cell reception was very good for
Verizon, fair for AT&T. One was able to follow this trail on a
georeferenced map on AllTrails and Google Maps. The water on the trail was an
issue. But we had heavy rain the previous evening so I don't think that this
will always be an issue. We saw many families as well
as their dogs out on the trail. Jennifer was our newest hiker today. We
enjoyed having her as a fellow hiker and look forward to hiking with her
again. With the temps expected to be in the 60's later in the day this was an
exceptional day to go hiking in early January. I'm glad that we were here.
Mike C
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Sign, Hartwell Mason Neck NWR.
By Mike Calabrese
Great Marsh, Hartwell Mason Neck NWR.
By Mike Calabrese
Group Selfie.
By Mike Calabrese
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