Last Thursday I went for a hike in Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia. According to Wikipedia, the park is the largest protected natural area in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area at over 16,000 acres (65 square kilometers) and has over 37 miles (60 km) of hiking trails.
One of my favorite trails runs along Quantico Creek, a swiftly moving creek that flows through a large part of the eastern portion of the park. The trail, which runs roughly parallel to the creek, is hilly in places and the creek is sometimes not visible, but I can always hear the therapeutic sound of the flowing water.
The first two photos show waterfalls just below a dammed section of the creek—there is a small pond/lake just upstream. The smaller waterfall in the second photo is just to the right of the one shown in the first photo.
Parts of most of the trails, including the creekside one, were covered with wet fallen leaves, but occasionally I would come across narrow bridges that helped me cross marshy areas with relatively dry feet, like the one in the final photo.
I did not see much wildlife during my hike, but that was ok—the solitary walk in the forest was its own reward.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
I love waterfalls, Mike and I was wondering whether that bottom image was a walkway or a bench, Thanks for pointing that out. It looks a little slick.
Thanks, Dan. It was a little slick and was seemed to slant a little to one side. I think you should have consulted you on building techniques. 🙂
That last photo’s wonderful. There’s a place I like to go that has a similar slanting boardwalk; it feels like an accident waiting to happen to cross it, but the crossing’s ever so worthwhile.
Would love to go on that hike by the waterfalls! Looks so peaceful!
A walk in the woods…never anything wrong with that! The waterfalls were a real bonus, I’d say.
Living water!
Nice Mike! Looks like a great place to walk the trails!