The low spot at the Wadebrook Terrace trailhead used to hold water after a storm, and walkers had to step around the mud. Now that spot has been resurfaced. Young native trees and shrubs, many of them caged, line the path into Pohick Stream Valley Park, and the creek beside them has been running higher than usual for late summer. The Springfield Connection reported in mid-September 2026 that this stretch of the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail had reopened after more than a year of closure.
The trail also came back as a restoration site. The trees planted along it this summer are on a one-year care contract, several of the species are new to this patch of woods, and the deer have already found them.
Eighteen Months for a Pipe Under the Path
The closure was for sewer work beneath the trail. The Fairfax County Park Authority announced in March 2025 that the Cross County Trail would close starting March 17 between Cliff Forest Drive and Wadebrook Terrace. The Pohick Interceptor Rehabilitation Project needed the corridor. The project is run by the county's Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. It rehabilitated 6,500 feet of sewer pipe, 20 to 54 inches across, that follows the creek so gravity can carry wastewater toward the treatment plant. The Springfield Connection put the cost at $7.3 million and reported that landscaping made up roughly 6% of it.
How the pipe got fixed explains why the woods still look like woods. Crews used cured-in-place piping. They slid a resin liner into the old pipe and hardened it with a train of intense UV lights, so they never had to dig a trench along the creek. While that work went on, a large temporary bypass line on the surface kept sewage moving. Engineering and construction were handled by two area firms, Dewberry and Pleasants Construction.
The Connection reported that this method affected fewer existing trees and spared the wildflowers. Some trees still came down to make room for the bypass line, along with a few inside the sewer easement. Those are the open strips where the county doesn't allow replanting, because DPWES says roots can get into the pipes and cause blockages. For trees 6 inches or wider removed outside the easement, the county followed Park Authority rules and replaced them at two inches of new trunk diameter for every inch lost.
The reopening also took longer than first planned. In September 2025, the Park Authority expected site restoration to run through November, with the trail reopening after that and overall construction wrapping up in winter 2026. The trail was open by the time the Connection's story ran on September 16, 2026. No public source gives the exact day it reopened.
The Planting List Is the New Part
Those replacement rules explain why so many young trees went in. The more interesting part is which species were chosen. Dewberry staff suggested the species list, and the Park Authority's Natural Resources Branch reviewed it. Some choices were swapped out because certain plants were hard to get in summer. The new plantings include buttonbush, hornbeam, hophornbeam (also called ironwood), sweetleaf, and witch-hazel. According to the Connection, several of the species hadn't grown in this section of woodland before.
Earth Sangha, the native plant nonprofit based in Springfield, had people on the trail checking the stream valley for invasive plants. Co-founder Lisa Bright noticed the wider mix of species. Rachel Jackson-Roth, an ecologist with the group, explained to the Springfield Connection why that matters:
"We always want to highlight native plants being used for restoration, and diversity of species, to ensure the forest can survive when new pests, diseases and the pressures of invasive non-native species occur."
So the trail edge you walk this fall has a different makeup from the one that closed in March 2025. Some of the shrubs at knee and shoulder height wouldn't have been in these woods if the pipe had never been relined.
A Forest on a One-Year Clock
A restoration planting isn't finished on the day it goes in. The county wrote a year of extended watering into the project contract. After that, the trees become the Park Authority's responsibility.
Many of the new trees are caged to keep wildlife off them while they get established. The Connection reported that white-tailed deer had already been seen browsing the new plantings. If the plantings take, the cages, the watering, and the gradual filling-in will make the stretch between Cliff Forest Drive and Wadebrook Terrace look a little different with each season through next fall.
For now the timing helps. The Connection described the creek running fuller than it usually does in August and September, with small falls and rills, and fall wildflowers blooming along the banks and in the small meadows nearby. A Lorton walker told the paper the resurfaced section near the start "won't flood now."
Getting On From the Springfield Side
The county's trail guide for the Pohick Stream Valley section covers the roughly 3 miles of Cross County Trail between Pohick Road and the Fairfax County Parkway. Before heading out, these are the practical details:
- Southern parking: limited spaces at the cul-de-sac of Wadebrook Terrace, at the end of Rolling Road.
- Northern parking: limited spaces along Hooes Road, which runs alongside the Fairfax County Parkway. The Park Authority has also named the Hooes Road trailhead parking area as the northbound access point.
- Neighborhood connectors: several access trails come in from surrounding neighborhoods, and the county notes that some are very steep.
- Surface: a mix of asphalt and stonedust, plus a few short natural-surface sections. A few stretches are steep.
- Creek crossings: mostly fair-weather crossings, plus two wooden bridges on one section of the main trail.
- Facilities: none along this stretch, so no restrooms or water.
The fair-weather crossings matter more than usual right now. The water that makes the creek pretty this season also makes those crossings worth checking after heavy rain.
Where the Trail Leads From Here
This section is one link in a longer chain. Pohick Creek starts in Burke and runs about seven miles through Springfield, Newington, and Lorton before it empties into Pohick Bay. To the south, the county's guide says the trail links through the Laurel Hill Greenway toward the Occoquan River.
To the north, according to the Cross County Trail FAQ, the route follows the Fairfax County Parkway to Old Keene Mill Road. From there it uses the Old Keene Mill sidewalk and Byron Avenue to reach Byron Avenue Park. Lake Accotink Park connects directly to the Cross County Trail. South Run RECenter and Burke Lake Park are reached by a side trail off Pohick Road.
That South Run connection fits the calendar this month. Fairfax County has a Halloween 5K, a one-mile run, and a tots' trot at South Run Rec Center on Saturday, October 24, starting at 3 p.m.
Seeing the Same Plants Up Close
If the new buttonbush and witch-hazel along the creek catch your eye, Earth Sangha's Wild Plant Nursery is a short drive away at 6100 Cloud Drive in Springfield. Park in Grove Point Park's main lot and walk down the gravel road. The nursery sits behind the community garden plots. In-person shopping is Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The nursery is closed tomorrow, Monday, October 12, for Indigenous Peoples' Day.
The group's volunteer signup currently lists nursery shifts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on October 14, 18, 19, and 21. Hours and open slots change, so check both pages before you go.
Pat and Pam pay attention to changes like this one around the neighborhoods we serve. If you'd like to talk about how nearby trail access and park improvements figure into your own plans, reach out to Pat Fales and Pam Morgan Associates. Contact Us anytime.
