Outdoors · Great Falls
Share Great Falls, VA parks, trails & bike paths
About 14% of Great Falls is conserved land, roughly 2,311 acres. There are about 47 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Great Falls Park (12.3 mi), Riverbend Park (9.7 mi), and Difficult Run Stream Valley Park (1.7 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Great Falls, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Share Great Falls outdoors
Conserved land
14%
2,311 of 16,296 acres
Trails
47 mi
1.8 mi per sq mi · 38 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
13
152 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.3 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.3 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
🛝 Turner Farm Playground 🛝 Unnamed playground in Great Falls Nike Park 🛝 Unnamed playground 🛝 Unnamed playground 🛝 Unnamed playground 🛝 Unnamed playground 🛝 Unnamed playground 🛶 Sandy Landing 🛶 Unnamed boat launch in Riverbend Park 🔭 Great Falls Overlook 1 🔭 Great Falls Overlook 2 🔭 Great Falls Overlook 3 🔭 Overlook rock, high 🔭 Unnamed scenic view in Great Falls Park 🔭 Unnamed scenic view in Riverbend Park 🧺 Unnamed picnic area in Great Falls Park 🧺 Unnamed picnic area in Riverbend Park 🏕️ Camp Fraser 🥏 Krop's Crops 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Show all of Great Falls
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
1 Great Falls Park Managed by National Park Service
688 acres12.3 mi of trail
Ridge Trail River Trail Difficult Run Trail Matildaville Trail Potomac Heritage Trail
🐕 Dogs usually limitedNational parks restrict dogs on most trails. Check posted rules
2 Riverbend Park Managed by Fairfax County Park Authority
400 acres9.7 mi of trail
Potomac Heritage Trail Bootlegger Trail Follow the Hollows Trail Madison's Escape Trail Potomac Heritage Access Trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
3 Difficult Run Stream Valley Park Managed by Fairfax County Park Authority
75 acres1.7 mi of trail
Cross County Trail CCT Underpass Connector
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directions To Difficult Run Parking Lot
Show on map
4 Great Falls Nike Park Managed by Fairfax County Park Authority
45 acres0.9 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
5 Fraser Preserve Managed by The Nature Conservancy
276 acres0.6 mi of trail
Potomac Heritage Trail Blue Fraser Preserve Trail
🐕 Dogs usually not allowedTypical for Nature Conservancy preserves. Check posted rules
No trailhead mapped yet Show on map
Website
6 The Turner Farm Park Managed by Fairfax County Park Authority
47 acres0.4 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
7 Colvin Run Mill Park Managed by Fairfax County Park Authority
11 acres0.3 mi of trail
Nature Trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
All 13 parks & preserves
Showing 1–10 of 13 parks & preserves
🌲 Great Falls Park 688 acres · 12.3 mi of trail · National Park Service
🌲 Riverbend Park 400 acres · 9.7 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌲 Difficult Run Stream Valley Park 75 acres · 1.7 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌳 Great Falls Nike Park 45 acres · 0.9 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌲 Fraser Preserve 276 acres · 0.6 mi of trail · The Nature Conservancy
🌳 The Turner Farm Park 47 acres · 0.4 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌲 Colvin Run Mill Park 11 acres · 0.3 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌳 Lexington Estates Park 15 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌳 Hickory Run School Site 11 acres · 0.2 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
🌳 Great Falls Grange Park 9 acres · 0.1 mi of trail · Fairfax County Park Authority
Things to do
Beaches, playgrounds, falls & more
Pick a kind of place for the list, directions, or pins on the map above.
Scenic views in Great Falls Show all on map
🔭 Great Falls Overlook 1 In Great Falls Park
🔭 Great Falls Overlook 2 In Great Falls Park
🔭 Great Falls Overlook 3 In Great Falls Park
🔭 Unnamed scenic view in Great Falls Park
🔭 Unnamed scenic view in Riverbend Park
Trails
Named trails
Open to bikes 16.7 mi Horses 10.3 mi Unpaved 42.8 mi
Showing 1–10 of 25 trails
Potomac Heritage Trail 7.5 mi Bootlegger Trail 1.9 mi Green Trail, South 1.6 mi Cross County Trail 1.5 mi Ridge Trail 1.5 mi River Trail 1.3 mi Follow the Hollows Trail 1.2 mi DCWA 0.9 mi Difficult Run Trail 0.8 mi FCWA 0.7 mi Water
Lakes & rivers
Tap a name for directions.
Who protects the land
2,311 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
National Park Service
680 ac Land trusts & nonprofits
383 ac Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 88 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
Painted or protected bike lanes 0.0 mi Off-road bike paths 0.3 mi Shoulders & shared lanes 0.0 mi Fairfax Cross County Trail (bike route) 2.3 mi
Courts & fields Tennis 20 Equestrian 9 Baseball 8 Basketball 6 Soccer 4 Lacrosse 1 Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Public lands
The biggest protected places in Great Falls
From USGS PAD-US: who manages each one and whether visitors are welcome.
Local Park 2,213 ac Special Designation Area 680 ac Private Conservation 232 ac Conservation Easement 83 ac Other Easement 78 ac
Showing 1–10 of 13 places
Place Managed by Acres Public access
Upper Potamac Properties Park Local Park County 1,293 Open George Washington Memorial Parkway Special Designation Area National Park Service 680 Restricted Riverbend Park Local Park County 400 Open Fraser Private Conservation Land trusts & nonprofits 232 Closed Difficult Run Stream Valley Park Local Park Not recorded 147 Open Lexington Estates City Park Local Park County 140 Open Great Falls Nike Local Park Not recorded 91 Open Windermere Local Park County 48 Open Great Falls Grange Park Local Park Not recorded 27 Open Colvin Run Mill City Park Local Park Not recorded 23 Open
History
Historic places to visit
🏛️ Civil War Trench. Battlefield
🏛️ Mather Gorge In Great Falls Park · Plaque
🏛️ Turner Farm Historic Farmhouse and Silo In The Turner Farm Park · Farm
🪦 Browns Memorial Cemetery Cemetery
🪦 Great Falls United Methodist Church Cemetery Cemetery
🪦 Smiths Chapel Methodist Cemetery Cemetery
Nearby
Share Great Falls and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Great Falls's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) . Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure "Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 21.8-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.
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