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| In Search of the Beaten Path December 2006
Did you know that you could hike from the north end of Fairfax County at the Potomac River to the south end at the Occoquan River? Thanks to a 10-year effort led by Bill Niedringhaus, a lead simulation and modeling engineer at MITRE, this 41-mile hike is now possible with last December's completion of the Fairfax Cross-County Trail. Now as President of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association, Niedringhaus is again championing to complete another major trail. Niedringhaus first became interested in trail blazing when he moved to McLean 20 years ago. As he walked or hiked along the county's stream valleys, he found some trails but many gaps. This motivated him to organize a group of volunteers called Fairfax Trails and Streams (FTAS) in 1990 to build trails along Pimmit Run. At the time, the Fairfax County Park Authority, which oversees the construction of new trails, was used to trails that were essentially 8-foot wide asphalt roads costing $3,000 per mile to build. But FTAS managed to complete much of the Pimmit Run Trail for very little money with the help of volunteers who secured donations from Home Depot and with the cooperation of some of the local land owners. The natural-surface Pimmit Run Trail is now complete from Olney Park (near MITRE McLean's main campus) to Old Dominion Drive. FTAS and the Park Authority are cooperating to build four new boulder crossings over the next year to extend the trail another 1.5 miles. While Niedringhaus was working on the Pimmit Run Trail, he began considering where other trails could be built in the county. He envisioned a trail across Fairfax County and headed to the courthouse to look up old records and easements that had been long forgotten. All of the information was available but considerable searching was needed since the various public right-of-ways were owned by different agencies. Niedringhaus was able to create a giant map, coloring all of the public right-of-ways green. When he presented the map at the Board of Supervisors meeting, it spoke for itself with a green ribbon stretching across the county. But the Park Authority was hoping Niedringhaus' idea would go away, as they jokingly recalled at the opening ceremony for the Fairfax Cross-Country Trail in May 2006. Despite their reluctance, Niedringhaus persevered and worked tirelessly to see his dream happen. He organized hikes, finding old horse trails that were overgrown and neglected, and made them semi-usable for people who wanted an adventure. "We kept heading south until we could do half of a cross-county trail from Oak Marr to Great Falls," explains Niedringhaus. "Beyond that there were a lot of existing trails and when the old Lorton Prison became a park, the trail got longer by another 5 miles." The trail runs through Great Falls, Reston, Oakton, Fairfax City, Lake Accotink, and Lorton. Although Niedringhaus enjoys organizing hikes, building bridges, and clearing trails, his real love is envisioning the next trail. As the Fairfax Cross-County Trail neared completion, he delegated much of the volunteer work on it to colleagues, and became president of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association. "There are only eleven national scenic trails in the U.S. The Potomac Heritage Trail is the only one to pass through an urban area. But it is the orphan because nobody ever did anything about it," says Niedringhaus. It was envisioned to travel along both sides of the Potomac River, through Washington then up to Cumberland and Pittsburgh. Much of the trail is complete in Pennsylvania and along the C&O Canal Trail, so Niedringhaus and his group are busy completing the parts of the trail in Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, and Prince Georges counties. Old maps show parts of the trail running along busy highways and roads but the group would like to divert it so that it can run through nearby wooded areas, and FTAS has been working to persuade local land owners to allow the trail to cross their property. Niedringhaus has also been working with Ft. Belvoir to gain permission to have the trail cut through part of the land outside of the security area. Officials there have told him that desired route will be put on the facility's master plan. Niedringhaus won an Elly Doyle award from the Fairfax County Park Authority in 2001, and in 2003 was one of four people honored at the Washington Post/Fairfax County Citizens Association Citizen of the Year Awards. Niedringhaus finds trailblazing very fulfilling. "It's the greatest feeling—almost like watching your baby grow up," he explains. "You see the trail as a patch of weeds, work to get public right of way, work with local park agencies to clear and groom it, find a local group to adopt it, and then you move on to the next one." Page last updated: December 20, 2006 | Top of page |
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