Rivanna River, Darden Towe to Milton 7/20/13

 On Saturday we took on a new section of the Rivanna River. The float from Darden Towe Park in Charlottesville to Milton Boat Landing near Shadwell is about six miles and according to all sources is rated intermediate, having "several" class II-III drops. We were very excited to do some more interesting rapids. I had checked out the section that runs along Riverview Park and found that for that two miles the river is pretty constant riffles, which looked extremely fun.



 

We put in at Darden Towe Park, which has a nice ramp and good parking. We had wide, deep, quiet river for the first mile or so, although the water was moving along nicely.

 

Not long after the put in we came around a bend and saw this.

When we got closer, it became more familiar looking, although we'd certainly never seen Free Bridge from this angle.

We passed quietly under Free Bridge and kept going along the Rivanna Greenbelt trail toward Riverview Park.

There were some interesting boulders in various places along the river.

This heron just hung out and watched us paddle on by. I couldn't believe it didn't care about us at all!

Other than the requisite turtles, he was the only real wildlife we saw this trip.

 It was simply beautiful and idyllic. The weather was lovely. It was just barely not too hot, with a soft breeze. I remarked to Dave that the only time I really feel like I can just relax and be quiet, instead of having to rush and do constantly, was on the river. This was the perfect place to exhale.

 

Shortly I recognized the river section I'd checked out from Riverview, so I knew where we were and that there was a sandy place coming up to pull over and have lunch.

We rolled through the riffles along Riverview and as we passed the boat landing I told Dave we were entering uncharted territory and I had no idea what was coming next.

We entered the area that once was Jefferson's mill. There's an old water tower and the C&O Railroad bridge across the river.

There were several sections through here where the water was moving fast and throwing up a lot of waves, but there didn't seem to be any rocks in the way so it was like riding a log flume. That was very cool!

We came along to the I-64 bridge, which cast a lovely shade on the river. Dave thought this would be a good place to do a little fishing, so he did, and I just paddled around and enjoyed the shade.

Once we stopped playing around under the bridge, we paddled on down the river and entered the "several Class II-III" stretch of the river. It must have been about 3 miles or so and it had probably three big Class II's with plenty of Class I's.

 

They never look very big when you're taking pictures from the bottom, but looking down them from the top they look HUGE.

Everything was good until the very last one, which was the Class III. This doesn't look like anything but it's just the end, at the wrong angle. It had several good drops together and Dave and I both swamped our kayaks by the end of them. I couldn't get a real picture of the end because we were on the side of the river trying to pull two kayaks full of water up far enough to dump them! But since the river is so shallow it's no big deal.

All in all it was a very interesting and fun float. We got the yaks out, went and picked up the truck, and not five minutes after we got them loaded and headed home, the skies opened up and there was a huge thunderstorm. Our luck is still holding on the weather front!

So, I bought a bike.

I've been wanting a bike for some time now. It looks so fun when people glide gracefully and effortlessly around the state park roads and campgrounds, smiling and looking happy.

Trust me, it looks totally different when I do it.

I finally got up the nerve and bought myself a bike last Sunday. I must have hopped on bikes at the store on fifteen different visits over four months before I screwed up the courage to take the plunge. I mean, each time I tried I literally couldn't pedal the thing with both feet off the ground at the same time. I figured it was because there just wasn't room in the store and I was positive a kid would dart out in front of me any second.

I bought the bike, a rack for the car, and Dave bought me a helmet. We put the rack on my purple car and hung my purple bike on it. Quite sporty, if I do say so myself! We drove home from the store and when I got to the school near my house, I pulled in.

I got my bike down, put on my helmet, and rode it around the very flat, fairly small parking lot. Success! I could actually do it. Go me! I rode home from the school, gasping and struggling on the uphill grades, but successfully getting there. It's just over half a mile from school to home but I was quite proud.

On Monday, I got up early, got geared up, and took my bike out for a spin. I decided to ride up to 5 Hill Road, right by the school, because it's an extremely quiet road. It is, however, a challenge as you might guess by its name. That's not its real name, though. It's the name given to it by the track team because it has--you guessed it!--5 hills to go up and down, and then it dead ends so of course you have to up and down the 5 hills coming back.

It. Kicked. My. Butt.

Going down hill is GREAT! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Love it! Unfortunately, at the end of the downhills you have uphills. Not so great. I had to walk up a hill going the first direction, and the same hill plus the last incline coming back. Not to mention I managed to fall off my bike while turning around. Yeah. I was standing nearly still at the time with my feet on the ground. I'm that coordinated.

But I persevered. I rode to the school and did laps of the parking lot on Tuesday, and Wednesday I rode the long way around uphill to the school and then down to the parking lot and did more laps. Getting better!

Today, Thursday, I rode back to 5 Hill Road. This time I only had to walk the final, long incline back to the main road--and no falling off. Then I rode to school and did my parking lot laps, and home. 3.39 miles! I'm almost ready for the Tour de Couch!

It's a little unnerving, this riding around in public, especially wearing capri length running pants and a tank top. I feel like they're shooting a new Queen video. But it's good exercise, for sure. I feel new muscles complaining. And it's exercise that I don't mind doing alone, which is important.

This is my bike. Mine has a water bottle holder attached to the bar under the seat, and I hung my phone holder thingy to the handlebar support. Isn't she pretty?

Powhatan State Park 7-14-13

 

 

We went down to check out Powhatan State Park today. It's only been open a week and most of the facilities aren't done. There are just three hiking trails and a boat slide for canoes/kayaks. The contact station is open, but the office isn't.

The trails are wide and good. There are a bunch of low cut sapling stubs that need to be taken out but it's not bad. There were no water crossings or tricky spots on the trails we walked. It would be a great place to trail ride.

None of the trails are blazed yet, but there are signs at the junctions, including this actual road sign at one of them. It was a bit weird.

The trails are very nice. It was miserably hot today, though, so we didn't enjoy them as much as we normally would have. I forgot my hat, like a dummy, so sweat was pouring into my eyes. And my sunglasses kept getting fogged up, and I couldn't wipe them because my shirt was soaked. And the mosquitoes and gnats were awful because of all the rain.

All in all, it was a pretty awful hike, even though it was totally flat and very short.

Ollie and Maya didn't seem to mind the weather. They were both having fun, as usual.

There was no place to eat lunch on the trail, as they haven't put in any benches yet, and the trails were more like roads so there were no big rocks or anything. But the trail was short, so we were back to the playground in plenty of time for lunch.

The picnic shelters are gorgeous. There are two at the main playground and another down by the river at the boat launch. Ollie approves.

 After lunch we drove down to the boat launch. This is the trail to the canoe-in camping spots that are being built. The ranger at the contact station said they should be ready by fall.

There is lots of parking for the river and the picnic area there.

 There's the other nice shelter. There are also picnic tables along the bank of the river. It's lovely, or will be when the river isn't flooded out of its banks and disgustingly muddy.

The boat launch is STEEP. Yikes. Good thing we have relatively light and small kayaks. I wouldn't want to try to pull a real canoe up that.

Park Rating:
C     0 (none yet)
B     10 (brand new rest rooms; no bathhouses yet but will be brand new and nice when they're done)
W    10 (James River)
H     2 (will be better when more trails are developed)
R     10
O     0 (no office/store yet, but will be later)
S     5