Course Directions
1. Leave from the rear (west end) of the South Lakes High School (SLHS) parking lot, proceeding down the trail, turning left through the tunnel under South Lakes Drive.
2. Take the right branch at the next fork, and proceed to the tunnel under Soapstone Drive.
3. After leaving the tunnel, turn right at the next "T" (top of a slight grade).
4. Take the next right (after a few hundred yards), crossing to the north side of the stream bed on a wooden bridge, and follow the trail as it turns to the left to follow the stream bed.
5. Continue on the trail, turning or bearing left at the next few intersections as long as the trail remains on the north side of the stream bed, until you reach a "T" intersection with a wooden bridge visible ahead and to the left.
6. Left at the "T" crossing the wooden bridge to the south side of the stream bed.
7. Take an immediate right at the next "T" and follow that trail under Colts Neck Road and Reston Parkway to the Southgate Recreation Area. Water stop located here.
8. Leaving the water stop, proceed through the tunnel under Pinecrest Road and down the hill behind Dogwood Elementary School (being rebuilt during 2001).
9. Near the bottom of this trail, turn right after crossing the first wooden bridge, and proceed into the cul de sac at the base of Sanibel Drive.
10. Turn right and run up Sanibel to South Lakes Drive.
11. Left on South Lakes, passing by the USGS facility on your right, to Sunrise Valley Drive.
12. Left on Sunrise Valley to Glade Drive.
13. Left on Glade to Cocquina Drive.
14. Left on Cocquina to left on the Reston Trail parallel with Glade Drive.
15. Follow the Reston Trail to into the woods away from Glade Drive.
16. Continue past the point where you branched off to go to Sanibel Dr. earlier and continue up the hill, through the tunnel under Pinecrest, to the water stop at the Southgate Recreation Area. Note: Refer to the Notes below for a suggestion for what you might do at this point to convert this 7-mile course into a 10-mile run.
17. From this point on, you will just retrace your steps back to the SLHS parking lot; a description of this portion of the course in reverse follows:
18. Continue running east on the trail passing (again) under Reston Parkway and Colts Neck Dr.
19. Turn left at the first opportunity beyond Colts Neck, crossing the wooden bridge to the north side of the stream bed.
20. Take an immediate right on the trail after crossing the wooden bridge.
21. Follow this trail, staying on the north side of the stream bed, until, after approximately 1 mile, the trail turns right and crosses the stream bed on a readily visible wooden bridge.
22. Left at the next two trail intersections, putting you on the trail that leads through the tunnel under Soapstone.
23. After leaving the tunnel, follow the trail into the woods.
24. Stay on the trail, bearing left at all intersections except the first after entering the woods, until you pass through the South Lakes underpass (after climbing a hill).
25. Take an immediate right after emerging from the tunnel and proceed up the steep hill into the SLHS parking lot and the finish (unless you are doing another loop for a 14-mile run)
Notes: If you wish to run approximately 10 miles, you should turn around when you first return to the water stop at the Southgate Recreation Center and repeat the loop you just ran passing in front of the USGS building; for variety, you may wish to reverse the direction of the loop. Upon returning to the water stop again (i.e., your third time at the water stop), proceed along the Hunters Woods trail back to the start at SLHS.