(January 8, 2018, 11:41 pm)
Generally you don't see reviews on neighborhood parks however as google encourages us to curate all of our day to day existence for their advertising benefit I would have been remiss in not posting a review.
Paths and Accessibility
Leave the trail boot and day pack behind, in keeping with fairfax county's "E-Z Pass Arboreal Experience" a majority of nature can safely be experienced on good, reliable American asphalt. But for you XTREME outdoorspersons get ready to TAKE IT TO THE MAX with a full 45% of the park unpaved, unmulched and ready for your Tevas with tube socks. I recommend this only for the experienced walker/REI enthusiast, I brought my Garmin Trail GPS, a full frame back pack and still spent three days before the rangers found me. Always remember to file a plan before you leave!
Wildlife
You say to your wife everyday "My god how can I possibly see more vectors for Lyme Disease Martha?" well this is the park for you. Long ago we took our rightful place as both Americans and apex predators by sweeping away any competition to the throne of most murderous species. This had the unfortunate side effect of not only decreasing the total number of adorable wolf and bear cub pictures available for Disney co-opting but ushered in a true golden age for the North American White Tailed Deer.
As we had little taste for their tough stringy meat they lived in a veritable utopia of socialized deer medicine and a strong social safety net for those young bucks on the outskirts of deer society. All could not endure as with any civilization when faced with a merciless foe.
The automobile was an unyielding storm upon the deer. The cars had no preoccupation about who had won the clash of the antlers at the big hill over there, or the savory leaves across the human trail they dealt doom casually to the unsuspecting doe without a second thought. But what truly sealed their fate was a young apprentice buck.
After the terrible death of his parents at the hands of a steel goliath he went to the tall hill where the clover no longer grew. The rocks tumbling under his hoofs he scrambled to the top, almost out of life itself to find there as was fortold... the Eld Deer.
Kneeling on his front legs he averted his eyes from the the splendor of thicket of horns and shimmering coat. The sun set behind it streaking the sky with bands of twilight. He stammered but found his tongue
"Oh Great Eld, I beseech your wisdom and your guidance."
The Eld gazed unmoved
"You may speak youngling" his voice filling the air with a deep rumble
"My pe.. I mean our people are dying Great Eld , there is nothing despair among us. Help us, in all your powers you must to know how to end the great metal beasts. They kill everyone even my.. " a tear fell from his dark eye to the hard ground.
"Do not despair, little one. This in only the beginning of the journey. Your path is a narrow but treacherous one. You may have felt that just seeking me was your greatest challenge but you must prepare for even greater battles."
"Fighting? the Beasts?"
"Indeed" His voice booming across the the hill
"The soul of the beast in deep within the two eyes alight, only but casting our Deer Magics into the soul can the beasts be stopped. Go youngling and tell our warriors not to run in fright but to stare deeply upon them and cast the the spell of late spring upon these golems so they will no longer haunt our people."
The sun fully pulled beneath the horizon and the blanket of dark pulled across the sky.
"I will do this thing Great Eld, I will tell every clan and every buck, we will win our freedom back, we will stare into the great car and destroy it."
Leash laws for the park do apply however I haven't seen much enforcement.
Overall
Good park for walking, not walking, meditating, smoking those cigars that you told your wife you quit two years ago, contemplating the futility of government work and for teenagers smoking and having once in a lifetime summer experiences that they wistfully look back upon in their later years. Minus one star for removing that tree.
