First time on a bike in 30 years and I was nervous about all of the “pros”. Need not have worried. They were friendly and courteous. A little crowded but a great trail.

Good trail for an easy short ride. Rolling hills give you a quick escape from reality.

My wife and I rode the trail on our recumbent tandem in June. It has been one of our favorites. The northern part of the trail is a little bumpy, but overall the is one of the best riding surfaces I been on. The fine gravel was very hard packed. Almost like riding on pavement without the cracks. It was nice to see a number of bathrooms along the trail.

Awesome trail to walk or bike, there are way too many hills for “inline skates” to be comfortable. If you’re skating or roller skating STAY AWAY. Otherwise all good

We love exploring new sites around us and came to this location this past Sunday July 11th, 2021. This is a gigantic picnic place with plenty of parking space. If you want to ride your bike, avoid this location. Poor visibility; sharp corners and people walking on the trail. Nature!? Yes, on weekdays. This weekend people were blasting cars aududio and wa just unberable. We are not returning to this place.

The W&OD is a great bike trail throughout, obviously. But the western part, generally from Herndon to Purcellville, is far nicer and less busy than the eastern part in the northern VA suburbs. The eastern part is my home trail and nice for a quick workout ride, but it is super busy with walkers, talkers, dog on long leashes and obnoxious dudes who think they are in the Tour de France. I like a nice fast ride as much as anyone, but the western portion is not choked with users, much more greenery in a rural-exurban setting, far more beautiful and one that evokes the railroad of yore more, too. Leesburg and Purcellville offer nice rest/eat/drink/chill options if you desire that. Bike from Herndon to Purcellville, the trip back is somewhat more downhill and makes it *slightly* more uphill west and downhill on the return, a nice recipe. It's about 13 miles in that stretch, 26 RT. 4 stars for the eastern bit (after all, a nicely maintained road bike path), 5 stars for western section (as nice as any road bike rail trail, and well paved).

4.5 stars. Really nice. Parked in big parking lot off Paper Mill Rd and road to PA line. Mostly flat although the last half (heading north towards PA line) has a very slight uphill grade. Made for a nice return trip. About 10 small road crossings- some were more like driveways and others had occasional cars. Some bumpy and gravel areas, but mostly pretty easy riding. I saw some road bikes on the trail, but a gravel or hybrid bike would be better on the rougher patches.

We were expecting a great ride on this trail only to find closure signs and some local neighborhood detour signs. The trail was severely damaged a couple years ago by flooding and we were really disappointed to find it’s still partially closed with barriers. The closure is from about N. Ripley St. to Dora Kelly Park.

Last July I walked the north half of this trail (top 20 miles) and today I walked the bottom half (bottom 20 miles). Both halves were beautiful, though I think I’d give a slight edge to the northern half in terms of beauty and general enjoyment. When I walked the northern half last year, I relied solely on the maps provided by fairfax county, which are black and white and not particularly detailed. Since I made it through the hike, they obviously got the job done, but not without a lot of backtracking and hunting for trail markers. The southern half would have been just as bad, if not worse, if I hadn’t found this app last night before I left this morning. For any others considering traversing the entire county by foot-whether in two trips or more-this app will save you from a huge amount of backtracking and stress thinking you have left the trail. Overall, it was a great hike though!