Mason Neck State Park
Virginia State Parks
Mason Neck, VA

Mason Neck State Park (http://www.dcr.state.va.us/parks/masonnec.htm) offers some beautiful, and at times extremely muddy, trail running. I'm talking "shoe sucking" mud - where you feel something grab your foot, you look down and your shoe is gone - nowhere to be found - just gone.

The Mason Neck Cooperative Management Area includes the adjacent facilities of:

• Pohick Bay Regional Park (http://www.nvrpa.org/pohickbay.html)
• Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge
• Gunston Hall - former home of George Mason.

These facilities combined offer about 5,600 acres laced with wooded trails, bordered by Pohick Bay, Gunston Cove, Occoquan Bay, Belmont Bay, and the Potomac River.

I have not yet attempted to develop course descriptions for this area - and I frequently get lost when running the trails in this area.

But, each year, I run these trails in great company with the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club, during their Eagle Run. In 1997 we spotted our current record number of eagles - 23. Find more information at http://www.vhtrc.org/events/eaglerun.htm.

Map of trails at Mason Neck State Park (only)