My husband & I stumbled upon this park when looking for things to do in Fredericksburg. We will be…read morerelocating in the coming months & wanted to get to know the area! The park is pretty big. There are a ton of trails, picnic tables, playgrounds for the kiddos, & a stream that runs all the way through the park. It's a great spot to take family photos and to enjoy one with nature! We love taking our dogs & letting them play in the stream. We have only gone to the park during the fall/winter time, so I can only assume how busy it is in the summer. The trails are dog friendly & we always stumble upon a new trail when visiting (who wants to do the same trail over & over again? Not me!). If you bring the doggies, make sure to also pack a towel & some water. There is no dedicated water station for them. I can't recall if there are poop stations along the trails, so bring those too! I also recommend calling the park ahead of time to see if they are open. There are times after a heavy rainfall that the stream is too high to cross with a vehicle. In this case, you'll have to park on the outside of the park. Another big thing is you have to drive pass an apartment complex (kinda weird I know) in order to enter the park. Don't be alarmed though! You will definitely see the park entrance if you keep going. I give this park a 5 star because it never disappoints. There is always something to do & my fur babies love it. I will definitely be back & can't wait to check it out in the summer! If you are in the Fredericksburg area, go to Alum Spring Park & enjoy the beautiful nature views!

Great park and playground for kids. Beautiful streams and walking trails. Definite must visit in…read moreFredericksburg.

This is a 1.5 mile out and another 1.5 miles back for a total of 3 miles round trip hike to the…read morelower falls . The hike is not too bad majority is tripping hazards , it has a few spots that get a little steep . As someone who has had double digit knee surgeries I would say it falls in between easy and moderate . Took just under an hour to make it out to the lower 3 falls . Now the trail gets very steep and rough after the 3 lower falls so unless you are in some good shape you might want to just take in the lower falls and call it good .

Beautiful hike with lots of waterfalls. The trail was supposed to be a loop but we couldn't find…read morewhere to cross above the waterfall so ended up doing an out and back.

It's closed for months to repair a sewage siphon in spring, which is ridiculous. There's a sewage…read morepipe that empties into the waterfall area, but people don't seem to care and they swim, even though you can smell the sewage. The whole place and even the forest is littered with hard lemonade and beer bottles, babies diapers, dog poop and all kinds of food wrappers.

Amazing hiking trails! Trails are pretty accessible for all levels…read more The trail maps need updating as there are some new trails.

Wanted to give a more recent review since most of the other reviews are 10/11years or older. This…read moretrail is so much fun but definitely more for a seasoned bike rider. About at mile 2 from Rt 605 the gravel has seen better days and it's quite bumpy. However, it is such a fun trail for a challenge without much hills. Definitely need a mountain or mountain hybrid bike. Walking or running on this trail is wonderful just be sure to watch your footing especially in fall when the leaves may cover up some of the old wooden tracks. Small kids/strollers will have a hard time past the 2 mile. Bring bug spray in the summer! Views are absolutely beautiful!

If your an outdoor enthusiast, this is the place to go. Over 15 miles of landscape and trail hiking…read moreshould suffice for those looking for a challenge. There is limited parking at the entrance, so plan accordingly. They have a small pic of area with two pic ic tables, a frill and a cinder block fire pit. If I had more time it would be an awesome hangout place for a group of friends. I really hope that the continued fight to protect the trail prevails!!

This national park has been on my list of places to see for two years. Active duty military & their…read morefamily get free access to this park as well as military veterans and gold star families. They charge $20 for a vehicle (car) to enter this park. Annual park fee is $35 and a better option if you come to the park often and pay for entrance. We were immediately impressed by the scenic drive, low traffic, and visitor center of the park. This is the least crowded national park we ever visited with so many trails to hike & explore. Bicyclists will love the immense bike routes and trails in this park. They engineered the roads with bicycle only paved roads beside the automobile road. Perfect for bicyclists. The visitor center was conveniently located by the Laurel Loop Trail and restroom areas. It was the first place we visited to get information for the park and a stamp for our national park passport book. The rangers were very helpful and showed us locations & trails we might be interested in seeing. We hiked two hours on the easiest trails in the Prince William National Park. We hiked the Laurel Loop Trail, the Birch Buff Trail, the Mary Byrd Branch Trail, the Quantico Falls Trail, and the North Valley Trail. The rugged terrain of some of these trails made it difficult to hike. I actually got holes in the heels of my old boots walking these trails. While we hiked we listened to birds on the trails and identified some birds we never heard before: Golden-crowned Kinglet, other unknown birds - etc. The Lauren Loop Trail had miniature Fairy Homes placed along the trail which was a delight to see. The Quantico Falls Trail was one of the smallest trails and winded down to the Quantico Creek & small waterfalls. We spent the most time in this area sitting on the large flat rocks on the creek watching the falls and the fish in the water. Proper hiking boots and socks are a definite must for these trails even the easiest trails. Prince William's Park has of the most difficult hikes we encountered despite going on the easiest trails we encountered yet it was one of the most memorable and enjoyable times we had hiking. Looking forward to coming back to this park.

A long time ago, Prince Wiliam Forest Park would bus in kids from the city to spend the week to…read moreenjoy nature at one of their camps. Now those camp sites are available for rent and include a working mess hall and kitchen, two art camps, medic lounge, as well as bunks. My group and I literally had an entire summer camp at our disposal! We came in late April so we dealt with a lot of weather malfunctions, but the area truly is a beautiful space to get away from it all. There is no air conditioning in cabins, but hearing and feeling the wind howling outside was oddly comforting. We had so much space to spread out and run around which was super idyllic until several run ins with wolf spiders. When they say this place is historic ... they truly mean it. The main mess hall area is updated with not one but two walk in fridges/freezers and two fire places. But the medic room looked straight out of a horror film (five stars out of five if we were filming a scary movie!). We scheduled an orienteering tour with a ranger and she was absolutely so fun to work with! She was so patient and did a great job keeping our group of girls on track. The wolf spiders might stop us from scheduling a trip back into their cabins but my sister camps often in a tent and says the entire experience is lovely!

We absolutely loved this drive. You could honestly stay in the car the whole time and see some…read moregreat views. We didn't though - stopped and did some hiking but our guidebooks were good about noting the mile markers so you could try to plan it out. They had somewhat clear mile markers on the side of the road and it was fairly easy sailing the whole day. As the park got busier, it was nice to have the wayside lots to break things up a bit. Very easy to navigate.

The main drive through Shenandoah. Beautiful views and plenty of attractions lie along this route…read more The roads wind through the mountains and you get tons of overlooks. Would recommend to anyone who's in the area. Great to pair with a hike

Nice little state park in King George VA. Has some good walking trails that are nice to visit…read more In November they host an annual art and wine fest that is always a good time. Lots of local vendors. They do more events - like kayaking trips but never did one of those.

I place this in the category of "nice place, not worth driving a long way for". And notably it is…read morekind of out there. Even from Fredericksburg it's a decent drive, and if you're coming from DC or Richmond the space is not especially notable (and I've reviewed plenty of alternatives). For my specific travel route, it made sense. The trails were, in no small part, gravel roads. It took me a little over half an hour to walk to the marsh, but there wasn't a boardwalk or anything really to do at the marsh. The most notable wildlife I found was a bevy of dragonflies. Whatever was in the water was not interested in hanging out with me, though I did spot a rather large turtle looking down at the estuarine Potomac. Some people were carrying up kayaks, and I definitely think there's some good activities to be done here.

I love this park! My best friend who lives in NoVA and I like to come here as a middle meet-up…read morepoint and have picnics by the water. I'm not sure about the boating details, but if you're coming to enjoy the recreation area, it's a free place to visit. You just have to sign your name in at the hut so they know who visited. They have a few spots right at front, but if you don't feel like walking, you can drive closer to the water and find more parking spots there. They have a few picnic benches and sit down benches here. We set up our own picnic blanket this time. Our last visit was in June and it was HOT! We were sweating. We should've brought swimsuits to cool off in the water. It's a really lovely spot and it's nice for a picnic.

It makes a nice loop around the reservoir that includes some nice stream crossings BUT follow the…read moremap because there were not any trail blazes. Also there are some smaller shorter paths. Plan on meeting up with mountain bikers. It's a very popular trail. I like it but I don't love it. It's located in the FXBG area so worth a visit.

CAUTION: Bring an extra pair of socks or two. There are a lot of streams you need to cross (by…read morehopping over rocks which aren't all stable to the ground) so you could easily just drench your shoes if you're not the most agile like me. If you're looking for a workout hike, then this is for you. Especially on a cloudy winter day, you're mainly looking at dead trees - lots of brown and more tan-ish looking brown scenery, so really not the best views. However, there are mini waterfalls and streams every now and then. The overlook is also small and pretty sad in terms of views. Overall, the hike is pretty hard for people who don't go hiking very often, but it was very satisfying after making it up to the top. There's a lot of rocks you need to hike up (mainly rocky paths and trails) and streams. Make sure you enter through the right side of the parking lot if you're looking for the Little Devils Stairs Trail (there should be a long pole looking sign with the name on it). You will be hiking up about 3 miles (~1500 feet of elevation). Be careful and make sure you are following the blue markers. They weren't very obvious to me, but fortunately, one of my friends have gone on this hike before so he knew where he was going. Afterwards, you can take the fire road down (super easy downhill walk on a trail). The entire hike is about 5.5-6 miles - it was tough going up, but an easy and relaxing walk to the bottom. Note, if you want to go to the overlook, it's on the way down on the fire road, not on the top. It's pretty small so it can be easy to miss.

My husband and I hiked this trail and found it to be pretty strenuous for us, personally. We are…read moreaverage middle age folks that love the outdoors. We went up the trail side and came down the fire road, as most people we saw. Our tech devices measured 7.4 miles total which is more than we anticipated. An unexpected burial site and a small overlook on the fire road. Some scrambling necessary. Pretty steep and I'm glad we chose to go up the trail and down the fire road rather than the opposite. We would have struggled coming down! Really beautiful hike with lots of water crossovers. Will go again!

I was late to enjoying the ginkgo garden but it's still beautiful. The facility was clean and…read moreorganize.

It's amazing after all the years I've lived in and around the Winchester and Fauquier County areas,…read morethat I've never visited (BlandyFarm). State Arboretum of Virginia. -It's beautiful. Especially on Nov 1st 2024 when it's just at 80 degrees, wow. The sun was out. There was a slight breeze. The leaves were falling. What a great day! My daughter in law and my grandson came with me today. Area is 100% stroller friendly. Great places to throw down a blanket and have lunch. A couple picnic tables onsite also. Beautiful tress. Beautiful pollination fields. We had a really good time. I know I'll be back.