Accotink Creek

Everything I said last year about the Engineer Proving Ground changing hands to the County is OBE (Overtaken By Events). The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process identified the EPG as prime re-development space for Army expansion. So, instead of becoming park land, the EPG is about to become home to a number of highly secure installations. As of now, Feb 06, the EPG is in a mostly abandoned condition, but some time this year the fences will go up. Get those quasi-legal runs in while you can; these may be the last in our lifetimes.

If you do run the creek, stay away from the section below Telegraph Rd, near the airfield. That is a very sensitive area, and the MPs will hunt you down.

The Engineer Proving Ground is still in Army hands, but the whole EPG is slated for conveyance from the Army to Fairfax County for development as soon as they finish removing the unexploded ordnance on the site. VDOT is finishing up plans for extending the Fairfax County Parkway across a portion of the EPG, with a new bridge over Accotink

So, while there has been no formal relaxation of restrictions on boating the creek, it appears that the EPG may be open in fact. I have driven in on Cissna Road from Backlick Rd. to the bridge several times recently and have not been challenged. The reach below Telegraph Road, inside the base near the airfield, is still very much closed.

The stretch through the EPG has nice ledges and boulder garden drops in a miniature canyon. It could be a great Falls Line run if the access issues are cleared up.

P.S. The photos of the waterfall above are on the wrong page. That's Scott Run.

Boulder garden

The profile and average gradient of the Accotoink from Lake Accotink to Telegraph Road

Typical ledge drop