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