One of my favorite things about the Northern Virginia home I live in is its location along the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail, which connects one end of Fairfax County to the other with a series of connecting paths that cover over 40 miles of woodland.

I spend a lot of time on the trail but mainly within a few miles of home while I’m walking my dog.

Wednesday was a game changer when I laced on a pair of old hiking boots and set out with my husband and a friend to walk from our home up to the spectacular Great Falls on the Potomac River, which is 15 miles from where we started our trek.

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