Comments: 1Posted In: Greenways, Hiking, Mountain Biking, Trail Running, Travel
Exploring C-Ville via the Rivanna Trail
By Andy Thompson | August, 5, 2012
On Friday, a friend and I drove out to Charlottesville to do some mountain biking with another friend who’d just moved out there. The newly minted C-Villian (or is it C-Villain?) had been exploring the Rivanna Trail and said it was a great way to get to know the city. We spent about three hours tooling around the Rivanna and the steep, rocky trails of U.Va.’s Observatory Hill (gotta bring the big boy/girl quads for O-Hill). It was a lot of fun, and I wrote about the adventure in my column in today’s Times-Dispatch.
Crossing Meadow Creek on the Rivanna Trail
It’s absolutely worth the drive to spend a day running, hiking or biking the Rivanna Trail. And if it sounds like something you want to check out, definitely go to the Rivanna Trail Foundation website first. They have a few different maps and some written instructions for getting around on the trail, which is not nearly as easy as you’d think.
About The Author
Andy Thompson
I’ve been the Outdoors Columnist at the Times-Dispatch for the past four years, writing about mountain biking, fishing, paddling and much more every Friday and Sunday in the Sports section. I live a 1/4 mile from the James River, close enough to see bald eagles soaring over my house on their way to find a meal. Pretty cool, eh?
Jeff says:
August 5, 2012 at 7:53 pm
You want to avoid the section between Monticello Ave and the Millhouse Condos/Woolen Mills area on the Southeast portion of the trail. The trail becomes impassable, and if you are traveling eastbound from Monticello, there is no way out except to backtrack or jump a barbed wire fence into a sewage treatment plant (which I don’t recommend). Best to just take the roads in- between Monticello and River View Park.