Difficult Run
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- This page is about the stream and trail. For the diamond marker denoting a level of skiing difficulty on a ski run, see Skiing
Difficult Run, despite its name, is a stream[1] located in Northern Virginia, a tributary of the Potomac River, in the United States. The term run, for stream, is common usage in this part of Virginia; another stream is better known in American Civil War History: Bull Run.
The watershed of Difficult Run contains Captain Hickory Run, Piney Run, Colvin Run, Snakeden Branch, Little Difficult Run, Rocky Run, Angelico Branch, Piney Branch, Wolftrap Creek, and Rocky Run[2].
Difficult Run flows through Fairfax County, Virginia to the Great Falls Park, on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. The Cross County Trail is maintained by the Fairfax County Park Authority for continous coverage along the Run [3]. The Run has been characterized as "a miniature Mather Gorge and Great Falls"[4]. The run is flat and wide at the top of the trail with calm waters, like the Potomac River above Great Falls. The stream picks up speed as it narrows into a steep gorge with waterfalls and quickly reaches the same level as the Potomac. At the mouth of Difficult Run, one can see a panoramic view of the Potomac River.
Using community planning, a secluded twelve-mile hiking and biking trail was built along Difficult Run, through Reston, Virginia to Great Falls Park. Great Falls Park is a unit of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and is administered by the National Park Service.
