The RIVANNA TRAIL…a community resource…
“it's one of the best things about living here.”

Our landowners have demonstrated great generosity and trust in making their properties available to the public for trail use. RTF is proud to be working together with organizations of varying interests as our community evolves and develops. We are grateful that so many people believe the Rivanna Trail is a resource worth protecting.

We honor our 2004 Trail Adopters for keeping our trails open: John Potter and the Locust Grove Neighborhood Association; Jeff Wilbur; Jay and Jordan Endahl; Rick Seaman; Lisa Drake and Family; John Conover; Kristin Jensen; Dan Monahan, Karen Siegrist, and Ted Heneberry; Judy Thomas; Peter Clark; Matt Landahl; Liz Montgomery and Judy Bartlett; Gordon Laurie; Amy Ballenger; and Paul Brant and the Belmont Neighborhood Association.

Thanks to our Saturday work party volunteers and Monarch Concrete, we have installed “formed stepping stones” in Moore’s Creek near Azalea and Jordan Parks. The stones, which have withstood this autumn’s hurricanes, make it possible to hike all the way from Azalea Park downstream to the Rivanna River with dry shoes. They represent our practice in “working with nature” before attempting our more challenging crossing in the Woolen Mills. We are awaiting new state permits for this long-awaited crossing and hope to install it next summer.

We applaud the City’s new Stream Buffer Protection Ordinance that will protect the Rivanna River, Meadow Creek, Moore’s Creek, and our environmentally sensitive rustic hiking trails. We hope to see Rock Creek and Schenk’s Branch included in future protection measures.

We locals know that the Rivanna Trail is a valuable resource for nature-related recreation and environmental education, but we were especially honored that the state designated it as a Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail.

The VA Department of Forestry’s Nature Trail, a one-mile hiking loop in Fontaine Research Park, sports new sign posts and an interpretive trail guide that reinforces more than 22 Virginia Standards of Learning and highlights the area’s land use history. Trail guides are available at the new trailhead behind Forestry’s headquarters building.

Two Eagle Scouts have led two monumental trail-improvement projects. Jimmy Shannon rerouted the Trail west of Barracks Road, giving us the best example of “side-cutting” east of the Appalachian Trail. Christian Hoehner attacked the eternally wet and muddy 5^th Street underpass, creating a terrific new catwalk and hillside steps.

Hantzmon, Wiebel & Company volunteers had so much fun clearing trail on last year’s United Way Day of Caring that they came back for more. Led by Trail Adopter Paul Brant, they reopened our wild green tunnel downstream of Quarry Park.

The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation (ACCT), creator of the “Charlottesville Area Regional Mobility Map” and organizer of “Walk to School” events, has received a grant to “promote physical activity in our community’s public spaces.” As a partner in this venture, we will improve trail signage to help more people discover the benefits of hiking.

Members of Club Pathway have prepared our bulk mailings recently. A big thank you for a big job!

Be part of a unifying community effort. Help create, maintain, and protect the Rivanna Trail.

Charlottesville.....possibly the best trail system in the South!