Difficult Run Falls is an 11-foot waterfall on Difficult Run in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Northern Piedmont region. It lies about 3.1 miles southeast of Great Falls and roughly 5.5 miles east of Reston as the crow flies.
At 11 feet it is one of the lowest falls in the state’s records: of the 53 Virginia waterfalls with a documented height only 1 are shorter, while the typical Virginia waterfall stands around 69 feet. By form it is a cascade, descending over a series of rock steps rather than in a single drop.
The Northern Piedmont is rolling upland of farmland, oak forest and suburbs from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with waterfalls at the fall line and on rocky creeks crossing diabase and gneiss.
Fairfax County holds 3 recorded waterfalls, and several are close by. Scotts Run Falls, a 12-foot segmented waterfall, is about 2 miles away. Dead Run Falls, a tiered waterfall, is about 3.6 miles away. Gulf Branch Falls, a 22-foot tiered waterfall, is about 7.6 miles away.
Difficult Run Falls is located at 38.9760° N, 77.2383° W. The listing is based on the World Waterfall Database, one of the sources compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in its inventory of waterfalls and rapids of the conterminous United States. The creek name is confirmed against the federal Geographic Names Information System. The position was verified on aerial imagery. Details on trails, parking and access have not been documented for this waterfall yet.