One of our favorite parks to visit and walk at. There's some trails, hard to walk on the paved…read moreareas due to cars, but it isn't impossible. There's a great swimming beach and playground with a good amount of shade. It can get busier with folks fishing, but the small lake is pretty and is generally pretty quiet!

This park is a seasonal swimming hole. The beach was already closed when I visited, despite the…read moreweather still being warm. There is also a frisbee golf course and some trails. At least in the off season, there wasn't a charge to enter.

I never expect much when I come to a tubing spot but this place beat expectations. Staff was all…read moresuper friendly and accommodating. They have real toilets and hot showers for after the float. Store also sells water proof gear and snacks. Bus ride and instructions were nice and easy. Tubes seemed nice quality and their key system was awesome.

Good canoe outfitter. Our group camped too. Nice primitive camping along the river. Expect a train…read moreto wake you up at least 2-3 times a night, horn and all. But, that is common in riverside campgrounds. What was not common and the reason for two stars was the lack of porta potties for a camp area that had over 100 people. Absolutely unsanitary and smelly. I can't use a potty where the feces and paper is mounded so high it nearly touches me from the bottom. And the smell permeated the campground near the potties. We had flies too. We were all happy to go. Supposedly the 3rd potty didn't show-then rent one people. Or have the service switch out the ones there mid weekend. You should not put your guests through those conditions.

One of our favorite parks to walk at. The small lake is beautiful. It can get busy with folks…read morefishing, but it is generally pretty quiet. There's a swimming beach for the summers. Nicely kept.

Beautiful view. The kayak area actually pretty zen and not crowded at all, perfect to do like yoga…read moreoutdoor or just like pictures taken!!!

I love this hike! This is one of the closer beautiful mountain view hikes to Richmond (about 1h30m…read moredrive). You can enjoy it as a loop or an out-and-back depending on how long you'd like the hike to be/difficulty level. 0.8 miles of it is very steep and you can decide if you want to go up and down that or if you want to take the long way down. Both are great options. It's great for all seasons, but if you're looking for green I'd suggest May. If you want fall colors, usually October. This is a beautiful hike with stunning views. It can get crowded on weekends, but not in an annoying way. There is a parking lot right at the trailhead. There is overflow parking not too far away with restrooms. They also have some picnic benches. I recommend hiking up to the rocks and having lunch there. While it is a steeper hike, do know that it doesn't last too long.

What a great hike. We parked by the restrooms and walked over giving us more steps/mileage. That…read moreway you don't have to fight for a spot in the overly crowded parking lot. The hike is straight up. I love a good climb. However, the descent is straight down. The old knees hate that. Overall a fabulous hike that is seriously overcrowded. We passed 100s of people and dogs.

If your are going North on the A.T. from Rockfish Gap, this will be the first shelter you come…read moreacross. The hut is a .3 mile (just about 1600 feet) hike on the Blue Blazed spur off the Appalachian Trail and there is a spring roughly 600 or so feet before the hut. I'd suggest getting to the hut first, gearing down and taking a nice light walk back to the spring, plus the spring area does get kinda muddy too. Calf Mountain is the ONLY shelter with a 4G data connection and reception I've come across on my S.N.P. hike. It has 2 'moldering(composting) privies' which are considerably clean and smell 5000% better than one of those blue porta-johns. The fire pit is adequate and has a small maybe 12"x18" adjustable height grill rack ready for use as soon as you clear the ash and wood from it. The hut itself is clean and the PATC volunteer that we happened to run into says he hikes out here about once a week or so to check it out. He has mouse traps set up and enjoys spending time with the hikers who stay at the shelter, he really seems to have a passion for the outdoors and enjoys his volunteering a lot. This shelter does spoil you though, and here's why: the next few shelters are either high up in the mountains or deep down in valley farther off the A.T. than should be legal. There will be almost no phone reception after going another 3 miles North and there will definitely NOT be a good data connection. Other shelters are not as well maintained save for Blackrock Hut (aforementioned deep valley shelter) and at Calf Mountain mice will not eat your sleeping bag while you're sleeping in it, causing your dog to jump all over you as you are trapped in your sleep burrito screaming "WTF!!!???" Enjoy your time at this awesome shelter... you won't see one this nice for DAYS and MANY MILES.

Our Charlottesville son has come here with his two young sons (5 and nearly 4 years of age) …read more Trails, marked by colors (eg, Red Trail, Blue Trail, etc.) are easy enough for the little guys & certainly easy enough for us as well. They are well maintained, go uphill in some areas, flat in others, skirt a small creek, a large pond with turtles, fish, ducks & geese, lots of marked trees & meadows, all good distractions for big & little hikers.

I was heretofore unfamiliar with this tract of land despite having spent plenty of time in the…read morearea. It seems I missed out, as a splendid variety of experiences were available for free. Traversing an overlook over the river, I went down into a valley, spotting majestic birds of prey, a large fish, energetic baby turtles, singing frogs, and a snake, all spotted in less than an hour. As wildlife preserves go, this one had a lot of wildlife. Conditions vary of course, but there were a couple more hours worth of trails I didn't get to. Near the entrance were some buildings, including a water station and primitive bathrooms. People seemed to come for a variety of reasons.

just an incredible experience all the way around. kudos to Anna for making our visit memorable…read moreforever! we popped down here with no issues, mainly because our flat is about 5 minutes from the river entry. on our kayak excursion, we went with our rat terrier and ended up hanging with the UVA swim team, who were all just as nice as they could be. one of those afternoons I won't soon forget! highly, highly recommended and don't forget to ask for Anna!

Such a great place! Our driver was awesome. They have such a cute little gift store. The hour and…read morea half kayak ride was a perfect amount of time. People were waiting for us to get our kayaks out at the end of the trip. Highly recommend! They even emailed me a picture of us kayaking on the river, that a bystander took.

Came here to kill some time by walking the path along the river. It was a beautiful sunny day and…read morewhile it started chilly, it warmed quickly. We parked at the playground - plenty of parking spots at 11ish on a Sunday - and got going. The trail is paved and wide, nice and smooth for two miles with marked posts about every 0.5 miles. At the end of two miles the pavement stops and turns to an actual trail. We didn't go past that point so turned around and headed home. There were plenty of people out - runners, bikers, walkers, families. There are a few spots where the edge of the path is close to a drop off/ledge at the riverbed so if you have small kids just be careful. The trail has a few areas that connect back to a nearby road which is nice too. Wish we had more places like this back home I could go run! Loved traveling right along the river and it's little rapids the whole time.

Great paved path, well maintained, that runs along the river. Couple of notes that they have some…read moreoff leash areas for dogs and many owners allowed their dogs to approach our without recall. Additionally there are some homeless encampments along the path.