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News
About our Trails
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New hiking trails in McIntire Park
THE DAY: Once again RTF, with its intrepid volunteers, completed the unbelievable. One hundred and sixty volunteers strong, in a few short hours, we
--- Opened up a brand new recreational facility in the largest City park.
--- Built and cleared approximately two miles of trail.
--- Installed two stream crossings.
--- Rescued dozens of native plants.
--- Cleaned the entire stream between the McIntire Park and Charlottesville High
School.
--- Spent less than $800 excluding construction materials.
--- Worked in full partnership with eight terrific organizations.
--- Worked and partied to the music of the Charlottesville Community Drum Choir,
Song Sharing, and Tom Proutt and Emily McCormick
--- Gratefully accepted support from Food Lion at Pantops, Harris Teeter at Barracks
Road Shopping Center, and Albemarle County Parks & Recreation.
TO HIKE THE TRAILS: Park near the baseball fields in McIntire Park, and walk past shelter #1 and down the hill toward CHS. Just BEFORE the pedestrian bridge to CHS look for trailheads leading right and left. The trail to the RIGHT will take you to Melbourne Road, to a new connector trail alongside the chain link fence at the football stadium, and on to the old road bed of the Melbourne Loop. The trail to the LEFT leads to a network of four roughly parallel trails through incredibly beautiful forest behind the fire station on the Rt. 250 bypass. If you continue on the creekside trail (the segment farthest away from the bypass), you can walk all the way to Meadowbrook Heights Road and then connect with our Hydraulic Road trail segment.
Click here to view an aerial map of the new trail layout.
Click here to download a pdf version of the aerial map.
Click here to view a sketch of where these new trails are located in relation to the Rivanna Trail Loop.
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On June 4th, the RTF celebrated National Trails Day by hosting a community-wide “party” to prepare the Rivanna Trail for the upcoming hiking season. More than 150 enthusiastic volunteers gathered at McIntire Park , armed with hand tools and dressed for a morning of hard work on the Trail. Shelter #1 was a bevy of excitement as volunteers selected work assignments, picked up T-shirts from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and bottled water from Blue Ridge Outdoors, greeted old and new friends, and learned about invasive plants from the Virginia Native Plant Society.
Buses, provided by the Charlottesville Parking Center , delivered volunteers to seventeen different work sites. In many cases joined by additional volunteers from surrounding neighborhoods, workers repaired five stream crossings and clipped and groomed more than twenty miles of the hiking trails that encircle the city. At noon workers returned to McIntire Park to celebrate their achievements with lunch, music, and prizes.
Once again, we experienced the reward of seeing what many hands working together can accomplish. RTF wishes to thank everyone who helped make National Trails Day truly a community celebration:
Property owners who have given the public permission to hike on their lands
RTF members and friends
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports
City of Charlottesville ’s Parks and Grounds Department
Charlottesville Parking Center
Outdoor Adventure Social Club
Blue Ridge Outdoors
Virginia Native Plant Society
Albemarle County Parks and Recreation Department
Science Strategies, Inc.
Song Sharing and “Grasping at Laws”
Harris Teeter
Papa John’s Pizza
Rivanna Conservation Society
The Hook
C-ville
Daily Progress
RTF welcomes the public to visit the Rivanna Trail this summer. Enjoy the health benefits that hiking provides. Escape to the cool shade of our stream corridors; tune in to the sounds of river and forest. Take a hike.
On National Trails Day (in the rain, again!), RTF opened our newest trail.
This Pen Park connector adds miles of new hiking opportunities for the
community.
Go take a hike.
This is the route from south to north; you decide your best approach. Whatever your route, however, please please please don't hike or run on the golf course.
Start on the Rivanna Trail in Locust Grove, downstream of Holmes Ave., downhill from Megan Court, upstream from the mouth of Meadow Creek. Look for a rock hop across Meadow Creek. This rock hop is rustic and is crossable only in low to normal water height.
After crossing the stream, enter private property on which we have permission for trail and foot traffic. Go uphill a short distance through the woods, turn left and pass through a gate in a chain link fence, and immediately turn right to follow the path along the fence. (There is an old road straight ahead, but we ask that you follow the grassy path because your footsteps help keep it clear. If you ever want to come cut it with a weed whacker this summer, we welcome that too!) Pass through a second gate onto the tail end of Pen Park Lane.
Walk up Pen Park Lane until you find a gate at the southwest corner of Pen Park. Go through the gate and follow the forest trail all the way to Pen Park Road. Please stay off the golf course, and don't go on the side trail to the left to the Charlottesville Catholic School unless invited. (The administration and families of the school fully supported the building of the trail and worked side by side with us, but we want to respect their privacy, especially during school hours.)
At Pen Park Road turn right. Just past the City's Parks Department office, turn left onto a mown grass trail that connects to the exercise trails. Follow this hard surfaced exercise trail until you come to a soft-surface trail going uphill. At the top of the hill turn right.
As you approach the Rivanna River you have two trail choices:
Enjoy. Have a terrific summer. And feel free to carry clippers and help maintain a favorite section of trail. --Diana Foster, President
Mulching the Catholic School Spur
Send
mail to RTF webmaster with questions
or comments about this web site.
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