Rivanna Trail - March 20, 2010

A 10 year old's birthday party up in the Dunlora neighborhood off of Rio Road freed up an hour to check out a new section of the Rivanna Trail in Albemarle County. The Rivanna Trail originally was a greenbelt trail that encircled the City of Charlottesville. It has now branched northward and this portion of the trail was laid out only a couple of months ago, in January 2010.

A fox left his calling card.

There was no one else on the trail, though I did see evidence of wildlife. Using my newly-obtained knowledge of scatology, I determined that a fox had left his calling card on a trail step.

(On my Austin Mountain Trail hike the previous week, I learned that pointy poop + prominent location = fox.)

Although this section of trail still needs some cleanup, it is a nice benefit for these residents to have a trail that drops down from between their houses and into the woods. And though it didn't always exhibit the beauty of a mountain trail, there was much solitude on the trail. I felt like I was much further from civilization than I really was. And I had time to find two of the three geocaches placed back there.

My details.

Distance: 3.0 miles
Total Time: 1 hour, 13 minutes, including stops.
Steepest Uphill: from 2.22 miles to 2.42 miles; 8% grade.