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The Four Mile Run Trail traverses the Four Mile Run stream valley and has many twists and turns, not to mention steep sections (mercifully short). The 6.3-mile trail more or less parallels the popular W&OD Trail, connecting to it in several places.
About the Route
The trail leaves off in the northwest from Bluemont Junction Park, where the Bluemont Junction Trail provides a link to Arlington’s retail mecca of Ballston. Heading south, the trail is wooded and crosses the creek in numerous places, and you’re likely to see hordes of runners, cyclists, dog walkers, and families. Trail users will also find a dog park off the trail in Shirlington.
Ultimately, the Four Mile Run Trail merges with the Mount Vernon Trail where the latter meets the southern edge of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Potomac River. Continue north on that trail to reach Rosslyn or south to visit George Washington’s famous estate.
Connections
Near the western end of the trail, trail users can connect to the W&OD Trail and the Bluemont Junction Trail.
At the eastern end of the trail, the Four Mile Run Trail meets the Mount Vernon Trail.
The Four Mile Run Trail, along with the Mount Vernon Trail, the W&OD Trail, and the Custis Trail, make up the Arlington Loop.
We started off at Mt. Vernon and the trail was easy to follow for about 3-4 miles right at the connection to Washington and Old Dominion trail. However past that, it was not easy to navigate as there are a lot of forks and parks that the trail passes, also there are some sketchy under bridge passes that are slippery and also very narrow concrete paths over streams. This makes trail fun, but you have to be cautious.
The description on TrailLink is a bit outdated, as the trail continues past Bluemont junction and past the intersection with Custis trail. Four miles runs alongside W & OD trail for a few miles, past the custis spur. It may even run further than that, but we turned around at that point to go back to Mt. Vernon. On AllTrails, this is labeled as 15 miles out and back.
Started at the DCA trailhead and continued west to Shirlington Blvd. There is construction in the Glebe Road area that sends you off the trail on to the streets of Arlington for a couple blocks. Overall, the detours are not a big deal but they do involve waiting at street crossing lights. Trail (including the detour) was well marked and maintained. Our main goal was to ride on the W & OD Trail, so we only used a portion of the Four Mile Run Trail.
Nice trail, relatively flat, winds through beautiful parks most of the time. Joins with the W&OD trail at times, perhaps by accident. It being my first time I wasn’t sure which way to go in a few places, and ended up on the other trail which was less scenic, and busier, but flat. Has lots of easy parking near the trail too.
I've biked a section of this trail from the airport to where you connect with the W&OD. Nice, paved trail. Slight incline as you bike away from the airport and river.
I use this everyday to get to work. It is narrow at points but it's positively blissful compared to other trails nearby and it actually goes places. You can take this to Mount Vernon trail which will take you into old town alexandria or straight into DC. It also leads to the W&OD trail which leads all the way to Harper's Ferry.
I had a nice ride on a trail that just has to many twists and turns and is not as wide as it should be for me. It dose have a nice canopy and like the overview says it has a number of connections with the Washington and Old Dominion Trail so you need to give it a try as if it is not for you it is easy to get off and onto W&OD. There is not much bike traffic in fact there is not much traffic of any kind and it has a lot of great views. When you are on this trail it is hard to believe that you are so close to Washington DC. It has a feel like you are out in the middle of no where. I did this on my old Mt Bike and I needed all twenty one speeds. I was in my Granny gear more than a few times.
This was my first experience on a bike trail. I bought a bike a week ago and have been riding it on my trainer at home. Sense it finally stopped raining today I decide to brave the trail. Its was better then I expected I stared off riding toward Leesberg but I lost the trail. So I turned around and took the trail all the way to Shirlington. The trail was great, nice and paved and a smooth ride, and the people on the trail seamed very nice. I will say this the trail down to Shirlington seams a bit down hill and the right back seams all up hill so save your energy. All in all I had a blast and will be back tomorrow to see if I can beat my 18mil ride today.
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