A CITO to be Friendly with the Friends of Lake Accotink. Goodness knows you probably aren't going to be hanging out at the mall anyway, so you might as well come out and do something useful (and get a little exercise). Join the Friends of Lake Accotink in their monthly clean-up of the trails and environs of Lake Accotink.
Lake Accotink Park in Springfield is the middle child of the Fairfax County lake parks—smaller than popular Burke Lake, not as active as Lake Fairfax. The whole park is about 500 acres while Lake Accotink itself is a 55 acre body of water that was originally constructed in 1943-44 by the U.S. Army as a reservoir for Fort Belvoir. There is a 3.75 miles (6.04 km) trail loop around the lake.
Meet at the trailhead on Inverchapel (posted coords) and we will go from there. We will be assigned the area just across the creek, bounded by (roughly) Accotink Creek, Braddock Rd, and Danbury Forest Dr. Dress for the weather. Recommend boots, gloves, and long pants. We will supply trash bags. Critters should be at a minimum, but you want to pay attention anyway. You leave them alone and they leave you alone. Sunscreen would be a personal decision. Masks are required (as is doing the social distancing thing).
As an aside, there are roughly a dozen caches in the general vicinity around the lake. While they will not be on our specific itinerary, you should be close enough to grab a few.
CITO stands for Cache In Trash Out. It’s the geocacher’s approach to keeping our game board (i.e. the entire planet) in great shape. Geocachers gather together to pick up trash, remove invasive species, repair trails and more! Also all geocachers who participate in a CITO between March 1st to August 31st, 2021 will earn a pretty sweet new souvenir!