Tent campers have until Nov. 30 to pitch at Lake Fairfax this year. After that the tent and group sites close until April, the water park has been shut since Labor Day, and the boat dock stays quiet until Memorial Day weekend. The trails, the skate park, the fishing and the RV campground keep going all winter.
Lake Fairfax Park holds a water park with a 725-foot lazy river, a campground with RV hookups, a lake for kayaks, pedal boats and fishing, a 15,000-square-foot skate park, an inline hockey rink, a pump track, picnic shelters for up to 500 people, athletic fields and more than 10 miles of mountain bike trail maintained by volunteers. It no longer has a carousel.
Lake Fairfax is Reston’s fifth lake, and Fairfax County runs it
The Fairfax County Park Authority owns and operates the park at 1400 Lake Fairfax Drive, on Reston’s eastern edge. Lake Fairfax Drive runs south from Baron Cameron Avenue, just below Leesburg Pike, and it is the only road into the park. The main office number is 703-471-5415.
Reston Association manages four lakes: Anne, Audubon, Thoreau and Newport. Lake Fairfax is the fifth, and because it belongs to the county, none of the association’s lake permits or membership rules apply. Anyone can launch a kayak here for a fee, and the park has no residency requirement.
Parking in the park’s lots costs nothing on an ordinary day. Big events are the exception: the Park Authority charged $20 a car online and $25 at the gate for its drone show in June.
| Part of the park | Season | 2026 cost |
|---|---|---|
| Trails and pump track | Year round | Free |
| Skate park and inline rink | Year round, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. | Free; $75 an hour to reserve |
| Fishing | Year round | Free with a Virginia license (16 and older) |
| RV camping | Year round | $40 to $55 a night with electric, plus 9% tax |
| Tent and group camping | April 1 to Nov. 30 | $32 to $37 a night for a regular site, plus 9% tax |
| Boat rentals | Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend | $14 to $31 an hour |
| The Water Mine | Late May to Labor Day | $14.25 to $22 a day |
| Picnic shelters | Reservable | $120 to $520 a day |
The Water Mine reopens in spring 2027, and 2026 tickets ran $14.25 to $22
The Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole covers more than an acre and runs on a gold rush theme built around Pete the Prospector, who in the park’s telling staked a claim in 1849 and struck water instead of gold.
The rides include three three-story waterslides, among them Prospectors Plummet; the Big Pete and Little Pete slides on Pete’s Peak; Rattlesnake River, a 725-foot lazy river; Boomtown, a multilevel water playground; Tenderfoot Pond, a toddler area with a small slide and bubblers; a tot spray pad; and Box Canyon Crossing, a log walk across the water.
The 2026 season opened May 23 and ended on Labor Day. The county’s 2026 fee schedule charged guests taller than 48 inches $17.25 on weekdays and $18.25 on weekends with Fairfax County residency, and $20 and $22 without it. County residents under 48 inches paid $14.25 and $15.25; non-residents paid the full $20 and $22 at any height. Children 2 and under got in free. A single season pass cost $135, with no residency difference.
Groups of 20 or more must book a rental area sized to the group and email a guest list to the Water Mine two days ahead. Rental fees do not include admission.
The Park Authority will post 2027 dates and prices in the spring. At the 2026 resident weekday rate, the season pass paid for itself on the eighth visit.
Tent camping runs through Nov. 30, and the RV sites stay open all winter
The Lake Fairfax campground is the only public campground in Reston or Herndon, and it is a short drive from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, though no bus serves it.
Sites come with a picnic table and a combination fire ring and grill. RV sites offer 20, 30 and 50-amp electric hookups. No site has a water hookup; campers fill tanks at a central station and use a dump station that is free for registered guests and $28 for everyone else. Restrooms and showers are on site, Wi-Fi reaches the registration office only, and leashed dogs are welcome.
The 2026 nightly rates, weekday and then weekend or holiday:
- Regular site, no electric: $32 and $37
- Regular site, 20 or 30-amp: $40 and $44
- Regular site, 50-amp: $50 and $55
- Small group site for up to 18 people: $126 and $162 without electric, $136 and $177 with it
- Large group site for the first 20 people: $140 and $180, then $7 and $9 for each person over 20, up to 100
Since May 1, 2026, Fairfax County adds its 9% transient occupancy tax, the same lodging tax hotels charge, to every camping fee. Weekend rates apply Friday through Sunday and on Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day, and holidays carry a two-night minimum.
The campground bans outside firewood, so buy wood on site. Virginia law prohibits campfires between midnight and 4 p.m. from Feb. 1 through April 30. Stays top out at 14 consecutive nights from April through November and 28 nights in the off-season, with four nights away required between visits. And cancellations inside 14 days forfeit at least the first night.
The lake allows paddling and fishing but no swimming or motors
The lake covers about 20 acres, formed by a dam on Colvin Run. Swimming, sailboats and every kind of motor, gas or electric, are prohibited.
From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, the boat dock rents kayaks and pedal boats with Coast Guard approved life jackets included. Hourly rates in 2026 ran $14 on weekdays and $15 on weekends for a single kayak, $18 and $19 for a tandem, $18 and $20 for a two-person pedal boat, and $30 and $31 for a four-person pedal boat, with a one-hour minimum. The renter must be 18 with a photo ID, and someone 16 or older must be aboard every boat.
Bringing a kayak of your own costs $8 a launch or $60 for an annual pass.
Fishing runs all year, from the shore and the docks or from a private kayak. Rental boats are off limits for fishing. The lake holds largemouth bass, catfish, bluegill and other sunfish, black crappie and bullhead, and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources keeps a page on the lake with its regulations. Anyone 16 or older needs a Virginia freshwater license. The main office rents poles for $10.
Fishermen’s Trail, which follows the shoreline, is for people on foot only.
Mountain bikers have more than 10 miles of trail, and walkers have the Rails to River Trail
The county’s own trail map counts about 7.45 miles of built trail across 19 numbered segments. Its spine is the Rails to River Trail, roughly 2.5 miles from a connection with the W&OD Trail at the park’s southwest corner to Colvin Run Mill at the northeast. Walkers coming from Reston’s own paths can arrive on foot: the Buttermilk Creek trail runs about 1.3 miles from the Uplands pool on North Shore Drive into the park, and a signed spur climbs to a hill overlooking the lake and dam. Our Reston trails guide covers that connection.
The mountain bike network covers more ground. MORE, the Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts, has helped maintain these trails since the early 1990s and describes a system of more than 10 miles. A 2009 renovation added 8 miles of multiuse trail. The riding ranges from wide, flowing family loops to purpose-built flow trails with berms and jumps, plus rocky climbs and tight old-school singletrack. MORE recommends a 7.5-mile Blue Loop for a first ride.
MORE says most rides begin from the lot behind the SkateQuest ice rink at 1800 Michael Faraday Court, off Sunset Hills Road, which puts the southern trailhead within walking distance of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. The trails cost nothing to ride, and MORE asks for a donation toward upkeep.
We have ridden these trails for years, and weekend mornings bring a steady stream of bikes. Walkers and trail runners who want the woods to themselves will do better on a weekday. After a hard rain, give the dirt a day or two to dry before riding.
East of the athletic fields, a pump track measuring 50 by 100 feet gives riders a loop of rollers and banked turns.
The skate park and inline rink are open daily until 9:30 p.m.
The Lake Fairfax skate park offers 15,000 square feet of concrete, by the county’s count, open from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day of the year. The plaza section has a shark fin, a manual pad, a euro gap, ledges and rails. The bowls run 4, 6 and 8 feet deep, with three curved hips. Beginners get their own area, and advanced riders have a vert ramp, half-pipes and a mini ramp.
Next door, the Park Authority and the Washington Capitals built a lighted inline hockey rink measuring 85 by 185 feet, with player benches, penalty boxes and bleachers. It opens to anyone when no one has reserved it, and reservations cost $75 an hour. In spring 2026 the rink hosted the Capitals Street Hockey League, a co-ed Saturday league for ages 5 to 12 that requires no skating.
Parking near the rink is limited, so arrive early on a nice evening.
Picnic shelters hold 60 to 500 people, and the county takes no phone reservations
The park rents five picnic shelters along with several open picnic areas. Each shelter has electricity.
| Shelter | Capacity | Full day, 2026 (prime / non-prime) |
|---|---|---|
| Shelter H | 60 | $165 / $120 |
| Shelter I | 60 | $165 / $120 |
| Shelter J | 100 | $215 / $150 |
| Shelter K | 100 | $215 / $150 |
| Large Shelter and Picnic Area | 500 | $520 / $400 |
The Park Authority takes picnic reservations online, by mail, by fax or in person, but not by phone, and it prohibits amplified music.
The park’s athletic fields rent through the county as well, at $50 an hour for grass in 2026.
The carousel has retired, and Frying Pan Farm Park’s carousel closed in March
The Park Authority’s carousel page says the ride “has taken its final spin and is enjoying retirement.” The county’s 2018 master plan for the park described it as a portable model from the 1920s and recommended removing it, after documenting its history.
In March 2026 the Park Authority closed the century-old carousel at Frying Pan Farm Park, near Herndon, for good, after winter storm damage. The county’s fee schedule still lists seasonal carousel rides at Burke Lake, Lake Accotink, Clemyjontri and Franconia parks.
Colvin Run was dammed in the late 1950s for a private resort, and the county bought it in 1966
Lake Fairfax predates Reston. Mack Crippen Jr. developed the land as a private recreation park in the late 1950s, and in 1958 he proposed damming Colvin Run to create a lake of about 20 acres. In 1965 a Black couple sued the park after its operators turned them away at the gate, one of the public accommodation cases brought under the new Civil Rights Act, and a court barred the park from refusing entry by race. The Park Authority’s own history ties its purchase of the park to that ruling.
The county took 292 acres in 1966 and added 129 more in 1972. The lake has been dredged before, and the 2018 master plan expected it would need dredging again within 10 years.
The 2018 master plan calls for a dog park, an accessible playground and cabins
The Park Authority Board approved a revised master plan for Lake Fairfax on Sept. 26, 2018. A master plan sets what the county may build over the coming decades; it does not fund anything by itself.
The plan’s proposals include:
- An off-leash dog area of at least half an acre
- A regional accessible playground of 10,000 to 15,000 square feet
- A permanent event shelter for up to 200 people
- An adventure course with zip lines
- Rental cabins or yurts, and water hookups at campsites
- Lighted synthetic turf on three of the rectangle fields
- A larger pump track
- A gazebo and a paved north parking lot
The plan also dropped several older ideas: mini golf, a camp store and interpretive center, and the carousel. The park’s current pages list none of the new additions, and park bond funding for the work has moved slowly.
Earth Day and a summer drone show headline the park’s events, and a Campfire Friday follows Thanksgiving
In April 2026 the Park Authority moved its Earth Day festival to Lake Fairfax from Sully Historic Site. In late June 2026, the county replaced its usual Independence Day fireworks with its first drone light show, a day of live music that ended with hundreds of drones over the park.
The park’s calendar lists a Campfire Friday on Nov. 27 at 4:30 p.m., the day after Thanksgiving.
The Uplands sits a walk away, and up to 1,042 homes could rise to the south
The Buttermilk Creek trail makes the park a walk from much of the Uplands. Our Tall Oaks and the Uplands neighborhood guide covers the homes there. South of the park, the office buildings of Lake Fairfax Business Center could become up to 1,042 homes, and the Board of Supervisors takes up that rezoning on Nov. 17; we covered the details of the plan and will report the vote.
For more on the parks, paths and lakes around town, start with our guide to living in Reston. If you are weighing a move to Reston or Herndon and want to know which neighborhoods put a place like Lake Fairfax within reach, reach out. We have lived here since 1996 and are glad to talk it through.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
