Tricia Pearsall has an intriguing piece in Virginia Living Magazine’s online “Exploring” section. The topic is one many Richmonders are probably unfamiliar with, but shouldn’t be. She writes about the James River Heritage Trail, a gleam in the eye of Virginia land-use planners for 30 years that is now one step closer to reality with the recent completion of a conceptual plan.

The JRHT, Pearsall writes, would be “not only a proposed hiking, running, and biking path, but a canoeing, kayaking, rafting water trail, a study in geological evolution, a history corridor of indisputable national treasures from our Native American legacy, to Captain John Smith’s voyage and the first English settlements, through the Revolutionary War, slave history, the Civil War, water dependent industrial and agricultural growth–including the James River and Kanawha Canal–up through the Civil Rights era.”

She continues: “The JRHT would also be endless miles of wildlife, of birding, fishing, snorkeling, backpacking, camping or horseback riding opportunities, connecting rural and urban locales. And what’s so promising about this vision is that much of this projected system is already in place or in development.”

The Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website has a the link to the conceptual plan and more information on the trail, but Pearsall’s piece is a must-read for outdoors lovers who want to know more about this promising plan.