Exciting News for NoVA Trail Access!
Did you miss the MORE winter party last Saturday?? If you did then you missed MORE presenting Mr. Paul Gilbert, Executive Director of NOVA Parks, the Land Manager of the Year Award.
During Mr. Gilbert’s acceptance speech he announced the continued and expanded collaboration between NOVA Parks (Formerly the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) and MORE in the form of future access to the Bull Run Occoquan Trail (BROT).
MORE’s successful completion of the Fountainhead Project (FHP) combined with many E-Mails, phone calls, meetings and the support of our partners in the hiking and equestrian communities helped seal this new collaboration. The first phase of this new access opportunity targets late Spring to Summer of 2016 and would grant mountain bike access on the multiuse, bidirectional BROT between Fountainhead Park and Bull Run Marina (about 6 miles one way). This section of the BROT will need some trail work and maintenance before access can be granted and MORE has committed to providing the work force to do this.
Full multiuser access to the BROT is expected to be a multi-phase, multi-year effort, with the ultimate goal of redesigning large unsustainable sections of the trail as well as adding loop options into the design. It should be noted that access to this first section of the BROT is not only a privilege but a test to show that our riding community can co-exist with the other user groups who access this very popular section of trail. Riders should expect the experience to be at the GREEN skill level with terrain very similar to Maryland’s Seneca Ridge Trail. Riders will be expected to yield the trail to Hikers and Horses at all times.
Stay tuned to MORE’s website and Facebook page for updates and how to get involved in this exciting new project throughout the spring. We hope you’re as stoked as we are to work with NOVA Parks in 2016, and can’t wait to see you on the Bull Run Occoquan Trail this year!