If you’re a James River Park System user, you might already know about the Friends of the James River Park and the regular newsletter they send out. It’s full of valuable information and volunteer opportunities for park lovers. I wanted to highlight the lead item in their most recent newsletter because it offers some updates on a topic I’ve covered before.

Volunteers from the James River Hikers at the new Texas Beach boardwalk in the JRPS. Credit: Dennis Bussey

Back in early September, I wrote about the sky-high usage numbers that park Superintendent Nathan Burrell found when he pulled the data from the newly-installed infrared and electronic counters. “Up through July,” Burrell said at the time, “we were at 500,000+ visitors. That’s May through July. And we only have counters at seven locations right now.”

Well, now the Friends of the JRP newsletter is reporting that the park saw “795,117 visitors from May 2014 until the end of October 2014.” Extrapolating from that now rather large data set suggests that by May 2015 the JRPS will see well over 1 million users and probably closer to 1.5 million.

Here’s some perspective: In February the Times-Dispatch reported that Maymont was the “most-visited place in the Richmond area,” with 527,153 visitors in 2013. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was second with 479,907 visitors. Rounding out the top five were the Children’s Museum of Richmond with 393,529 visitors; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with 339,139 visitors; and Henrico’s Three Lakes Nature Center and Aquarium with 304,621 visitors.

The Washington Redskins training camp brought in 164,789 visitors this year. Needless to say, the Redskins, with their tax breaks and sweetheart deals, don’t offer the city what the JRPS does in one or two summer months.

The James River Park has always been a popular place. We now know how popular.

And keep this in mind too, as I wrote in September, “The JRPS with it’s 1 million or more visitors a year is maintained by four full-time employees (including Burrell), two seasonal employees and one part-timer.” Note to the mayor and city council: That’s crazy!

And the Friends’ newsletter also reports that the park “provides a huge economic benefit to the City. Using the $16 per day per user estimate for park economic impact numbers from the 2014 edition of the Virginia Outdoors Plan, JRPS right now, provides a $12,721,872 economic impact directly to the City and local businesses.”

The James River Association made it official on Thursday: The Chickahominy River in Henrico County is open for business. About two dozen people showed up to dedicate the new public river access spot that RichmondOutside.com first wrote about last Friday.

Onlookers inspect the new Grapevine Bridge put-in in Henrico. Credit: Rick Chittick

The Grapevine Bridge Access Site is located beside the bridge where N. Airport Road (State Route 156) crosses the Chickahominy, and utilizes a Virginia Department of Transportation commuter parking lot near the bridge as a parking area and trailhead. It includes a dedicated path down to the river’s edge just west of the bridge, as well as a new sign that indicates the project is part of the John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. The trail is the first and only access point along the Chickahominy in Henrico County and will also be a part of JRA’s Chickahominy Water Trail.

“It won’t be anything like the James,” said Jamie Brunkow, Lower James Riverkeeper with the JRA. “It makes for a real adventure.”

He noted that paddlers can easily navigate three to four miles downstream and back without any real challenges. Going further requires comfort with traversing water-level trees and beaver dams, but he says it is possible to navigate all the way to the James, 30 miles downstream, if you’re up for the challenge.

“This has been over two years in the making,” Brunkow said. He added that the new ramp would not have been possible without the cooperation of Henrico County and the VDOT. Both entities will assist JRA in maintaining the site in the future.  Brunkow pointed out that the site isn’t just for paddlers, as it makes for a great spot for fishing as well as nature photography.

The National Park Service also was involved in the project. According to John Davy, outdoor recreation planner for the NPS Chesapeake Bay Office, the NPS provided a small grant to get the project going and helped with the historical sign placed at the trail’s entrance. Otherwise, Davy, who was at the ceremony, emphasized that the site was entirely the work of JRA working with Henrico County and VDOT.

Among the attendees was Ryan Mayer, a local Eagle Scout who made a substantial part of this access point his Eagle Scout project. The path from the parking area to the river’s edge includes a 30-foot-long wooden ramp that helps would-be paddlers navigate the steepest part of the walk from parking area to put-in. Mayer oversaw the entire process of creating and installing the ramp. “It took a lot of work,” Mayer said, telling the group that he enlisted help from up to 20 different people, including members of the Deep Run High School Air Force ROTC.

JRA Lower James Riverkeeper Jamie Brunkow talks about the river access site at Thursday’s dedication. Credit: Rick Chittick

Also attending was Lynn Wilson, who originally suggested that the JRA look at Grapevine Bridge as a place to put a public river-access site. Wilson is a volunteer with JRA’s Chickahominy Swamp Rats program and is the director of the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District.

The Grapevine Bridge Access Site starts at the northern corner of the VDOT parking area with a wood-chip trail that runs through the woods to a steeper part of the Chickahominy’s banks. This is where Mayer’s ramp is. At the water’s edge is a large geo-textile mat that runs into the water and is held in place by metal rivets. According to JRA Outreach Manager Justin Doyle, the mat is made from recycled tires and the rivets were custom made by a local welder.

There are also two new benches, one on the side of the trail and one at the river’s edge, that Brunkow says are made according to a Henrico Parks and Recreation standard that allows them to hold up well in floods. And the final touch is a fishing line recycling bin that is already full of line. Brunkow noted that every part of the project was put together 100 percent by volunteers.

Brunkow acknowledged that the area around the bridge has been used for years by boaters and fishermen to access the river, but doing so meant navigating trails that could be muddy and teeming with poison ivy. And technically, anyone venturing past the chain-link fence surrounding the parking area was trespassing on VDOT property. This project elevates the area around the bridge to that of a small park.

A rider navigates the Buttermilk Trail, part of the ride course for the ‘King of the James.’ Credit: Megan Davis

When Hunter Davis and Joey Parent finally decided to put on — after many years of talking about it — a run-bike-paddle triathlon on the James River and the trails around it, they didn’t expect all that much. They figured they’d get friends and friends of friends and maybe a few other assorted river lovers to enter. But now, less than 48 hours from the start of the first King of the James event, Davis said he thinks as many as 100 people, some who’ll do the race solo and others in the relay format, could show up Saturday morning at the start line (Reedy Creek entrance to the James River Park).

“I was expecting much less,” Davis said. “I only bought 75 t-shirts. I’m going to have to get some more. It got really big, really quick.”

For more on the race — including a look at the course map — check out the RichondOutside.com post from a couple of weeks ago. The only thing that’s different from when that piece was written, is that now racers must pay a $5 insurance fee. Click here for more on that.

But the King of the James isn’t the only area celebration of outdoors recreation this weekend. I regularly speak with mountain bikers who have no idea that a short(ish) drive out into Goochland County some sweet trails reside at the Boy Scout Camp Brady Saunders near Maidens. Well, if you’re one of those mountain bikers, this weekend would be a great time to discover those trails. Click here for the Facebok event page and all the details, but here’s the bottom line: Sierra Nevada beer garden opens at at 11:30 a.m.; rides start at noon, including guided rides for women; Intergalactic Taco Truck will be on hand selling tacos and burritos; local bike shops and vendors will have bike demos; and the Virginia Off Road Series (VORS) awards ceremony will take place, as well.

Pretty sweet, right? Heck, if you were feeling frisky, you could do the King of the James in the morning, then head of to the Scout Camp Trail Festival in the afternoon. As usual in the fall, it’s shaping up to be a good weekend for outdoors lovers in the RVA.

The completed boardwalk and boat put-in on the Chickahominy. Credit: Justin Doyle

When it comes to outdoor recreation amenities, Henrico County doesn’t exactly lead the way in the region. Take water access: The county was lots of frontage on the James River, but very few access points. The same is true on the Chickahominy River, but that changed this week, when a new non-motorized boat put-in opened up on the Chick near the Grapevine Bridge (N. Airport Drive near exit 31 on I-295).

The effort to create the access point and the trail next to it was a project of the James River Association, in conjunction with the county, VDOT and the National Park Service.

The Grapevine Bridge access site is part of the larger Chickahominy Water Trail, a segment of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail. This non-tidal section of the Chickahominy River played an important role in the history of the nation, from Captain John Smith’s explorations to the Civil War.

Improvements to the site were implemented entirely through volunteer efforts, and include a new walkway that levels out the trail, a boat launch along the river for canoe and kayak access, benches, a picnic table, interpretive signage and native trees and shrubs. The walkway and benches were constructed by a local Boy Scout as part of his final Eagle Scout project, which will help qualify the site as ADA accessible.

“The James River Association is extremely excited to open this new access point to the Chickahominy Water Trail, which offers a true wilderness experience for visitors just 15 minutes from downtown Richmond,” said Jamie Brunkow, Lower James Riverkeeper.

Sign installation at the new Grapevine Bridge river access. Credit: Justin Doyle

Through this partnership, VDOT will maintain the Grapevine Bridge parking area while Henrico County will maintain the boat launch and trail in perpetuity.

Joey Parent hits the trail in Forest Hill Park. Credit: Hunter Davis

Few Richmonders know and love the Falls of the James River, and the parks and trails that surround it, like Hunter Davis and Joey Parent.

The two met 10 years ago at VCU, helped start a kayaking club there, and have been friends ever since. While their journeys took them to places like Durango, Colo. and Asheville, N.C. for work and play, they both eventually found their way back to their hometown and they river they love. Parent is the leader of VCU’s Outdoor Adventure Program, and Davis works for the ACAC Fitness Center in Short Pump, is a outdoors-focused filmmaker, and the proprietor of Home on the James.

For years the two had batted around the idea for a kind of triathlon uniquely suited to Richmond.

“(It’s) something (that’s been) floating around,” Davis said. “Living in Richmond just lends it self to making that decision whether you want to go kayaking or trail running or mountain biking. Being in Richmond, you can do it all in one day. And everything is centered in one place. It’s just easy.”

“We’ve been talking about it for so long we realized that if we didn’t just do it, it wasn’t going to happen,” Parent said.

Thus, on the morning of November 8th, will be born the first-ever King of the James — a trail run/mountain bike/whitewater kayak race that is more about celebrating the fact that it can be done right here in the middle of a city than it is about the time or the winners. The race is free, and, importantly, it can be done individually or as a three-person relay team.

“I think that’s actually going to be a pretty big category,” Parent said, of the relay, noting that the number of people willing to run downtown rapids like Hollywood and Pipeline is limited.

But if you’re a mountain biker or trail runner and you know someone who can paddle Richmond’s famous whitewater, you’ve got yourself 2/3 of a team.

The race starts at the grassy area by the Reedy Creek boaters’ put-in. From there runners will go through the tunnels under Riverside Drive and do a lap in the Forest Hill Park singletrack. Mountain bikers will then take over and do what I like to call the Butterbank Loop: the Buttermilk and North Bank Trails with the Nickel Bridge and Belle Isle connecting them on either end. Paddlers will then put in at Reedy and run down to the 14th Street takeout, where they’ll be shuttled back to Reedy.

“I don’t enjoy kayaking more than mountain biking. And I don’t enjoy mountain biking more than trail running,” Davis said. “You can do them all right out your front door, if you live in the city. It just shows that the James River is a destination where you can come do all three sports.”

Parent added that T-shirts will be for sale for about $10 and there’ll be an after party at a yet-to-be-determined destination.

Sounds like a pretty sweet event to me, one that’s quintessential Richmond, not to mention a chance to bond with like-minded outdoors people. And considering it’s free…well, let’s just say we here at RichmondOutside.com will definitely be fielding a team.

Maymont’s paved paths and rolling hills will be the site of this weekend’s X-Country Festival.

If you like to run, bike or paddle, this is your kind of weekend here in the RVA.

It starts on Friday for the runners with the Sports Backers’ Maymont X-Country Festival. The Open 5K goes off at 6 p.m. and is a really cool opportunity to race in a place where you’d normally stroll and sightsee. As the Sports Backers’ website describes it: Maymont is a cross country runner’s dream. From the lavish 1893 Maymont House to the scenic wildlife areas that house bison, bald eagles, deer, bears and other animals, the estate is the perfect backdrop for a fall race.

The same is true for Saturday morning’s James River Loop 8-miler. This race is also open to the public, and while it starts and ends at Maymont, the course is really a showcase of Richmond’s downtown trails (click here for the map). Trail lovers will navigate Buttermilk and North Bank trails, as well as the singletrack on Belle Isle before they arrive back at the finish line.

Paddlers have two great options on Saturday, but they’ll have to pick one. At 9 a.m. the Friends of the Lower Appomattox River will host their annual 10-mile “Battle or Paddle” event — your opportunity for a fun paddle or a competitive race in your canoe, kayak, or SUP. The event begins at Petersburg’s Pocahontas Island and the full 10-mile length ends at the Hopewell City Marina near the convergence with the James River. There are also several take-out points along the river for those who do not want to paddle the entire route. At the finish a shuttle will return you and your boat to Petersburg. The entire course is flat water in the tidal section of the river. 

River lovers also have the option of paddling the falls of the James on Saturday as part of the Tour de Fall Line. This first-time event is half paddle, half bike (take your pick) and all celebration of the amazing natural resource we have in the middle of our city. For canoeists, kayakers, and SUPers, events begin at 10 a.m. (or earlier, if you prefer) at Mayo Island, where a shuttle provided by the VCU Outdoor Adventure Program will take everyone up to Huguenot Flatwater. At 10:30 a.m. paddlers can choose to run to Reedy Creek or keep going through the downtown rapids back to Mayo Island where beer, food and music await.

Buttermilk Trail will be part of the course for the 50-miler of Saturday’s Tour de Fall Line. Credit: Phil Riggan

James River Outdoor Coalition president Patrick Griffin said he wants paddlers of all abilities to come out and have a good time together, and, he added, “the river is very, very low so we will have sweep people to make sure everyone gets down safely.”

Mountain bikers have three options as part of the Tour de Fall Line: a 50-, 28- and 14-mile ride. All feature the world famous downtown Richmond singletrack, as well as some of the less well known Pirate Trails and, for the 50-milers, Powhite and Larus parks.  The $40 entry fee gets you a supported ride, a pint glass, one Sierra Nevada beer, Lee’s Fried Chicken and a concert on Mayo Island when you get back (the same is true for boaters and their $30 entry fee).

“It’s a hellacious deal,” said city trails manager Mike Burton. And he’s especially right when you consider that any profit goes to JROC and local mountain bike/trail building club Richmond MORE.

So, there you have it folks. Lace ’em up; break out the paddle; pump up the tires. You have options this weekend no matter your outdoors pleasure.

A screen shot from the trip, looking back upstream after passing under the famed Atlantic Coastline Railroad bridge.

On June 23, RichmondOutside, Terrain360.com and the James River Association set off on a journey to map the entire James River — all 343 miles from mountains to sea. There were a lot of partners involved with the effort, but we couldn’t have done it without the financial and logistical support of the JRA.

On Wednesday (Sept. 17), as part of the JRA’s participation in The Amazing Raise, the group will host a party at the The Camel from 5-7 p.m., where we’ll show off the product of our labor this summer: An interactive, 360-degree, surface-level tour of the entire James River. This is a first-of-its-kind map of any river in the world. The full tour isn’t online yet, though it soon will be at Terrain360.com, RichmondOutside.com and EnvisiontheJames.org.

The public is invited Wednesday to see our presentation on the trip, and, if you’re feeling so inclined, give some money to the JRA as part of The Amazing Raise. In addition, local filmmaker Hunter Davis will be showing some of his James River-related short films. Entry is fee, but if you stay for the bands following us — The Silks, Mossetrap and Dr. Con — you’ll have to pay $5.

Back in late May, I reported on the installation of counters — vehicle and infrared — at seven different units of the James River Park. The counters were made possible by a $2,000 gift from the Friends of the James River Park and the James River Outdoor Coalition. The idea with the counters was, for the first time, to acquire actual usage numbers for the 20-parcel, 550-acre park that runs through the heart of Richmond. Up until then, usage surveys were conducted and visitation estimates were extrapolated from there.

Infrared counters are used to count people at a couple of park locations.

With the heavy summer park-use season now over, I spoke with Nathan Burrell, JRPS superintendent, to see how much mounting those counters did. The results were pretty astounding.

“Up through July we were at 500,000+ visitors,” he said. “That’s May through July. And we only have counters at seven locations right now.”

Burrell said he’ll be getting the August numbers by the end of the week, and he expects them to be somewhere north of 100,000 visitors but probably less than July’s 160,000 tally. June had 141,000.

Burrell explained that they use a conservative coefficient to account for the fact that many of the cars that arrive at the park have multiple people in them and some people use the park more than one time a day.

“We’re missing some people there, but we thought it was a safe number. We wanted to be conservative. The last thing I wanted is to be wildly high and then people just disregard them.”

To put these numbers in perspective, in February the Times-Dispatch reported that Maymont was the “most-visited place in the Richmond area,” with 527,153 visitors in 2013. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was second in the region with 479,907 visitors. Rounding out the top five were the Children’s Museum of Richmond with 393,529 visitors; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with 339,139 visitors; and Three Lakes Nature Center and Aquarium with 304,621 visitors.

The James River Park has always been a popular place. We now know how popular. Credit: Richmond.com

The Washington Redskins training camp brought in 164,789 visitors this year.

Burrell said that in 2012, the park system conducted a survey of usage from which they extrapolated a year-long visitation number: that number was between 500,000 and 1.5 million. “We’re going to be close to that million mark (when 2014 is over),” Burrell said.

Here’s some more perspective that city council and the mayor should take note of for future budgets. The JRPS with it’s 1 million or more visitors a year is maintained by four full-time employees (including Burrell), two seasonal employees and one part-timer. That’s something to keep in mind when proposals for $250,000 Carytown signs and redundant, million-dollar bridges over the Haxall Canal come up for debate.

A new outdoor festival is coming to Mayo Island and the James River on September 27, and mountain bikers and paddlers should take notice. The Tour de Fall Line is a coordinated effort between Richmond-MORE and the James River Outdoor Coalition to show off everything they fight for as advocates for mountain biking and paddling in Richmond, while at the same time serving as a fundraiser for both organizations.

The Tour de Fall Line will highlight Richmond’s epic trails — like Buttermilk (pictured). Credit: Trey Garman

The day will consist of two separate events, both meant to be casual experiences open to all. For mountain bikers, there is a 50-mile loop that runs over virtually every trail along the James River — Buttermilk, Northbank, Forest Hill Park, etc. Meanwhile, whitewater enthusiasts will drop in at the Huguenot Flatwater boat landing and run the James River all the way to Mayo Island. That’s where paddlers and mountain bikers will meet at the end for an outdoor party, complete with a band and beverages. 

The bike and boat festival was the brainchild of Greg Rollins, president of Richmond-MORE, who was visiting Mayo Island one afternoon and realized that the 14th Street boat launch could be used to do a single event for both groups. “I thought, this would be a great place to combine these two events.”

The Tour de Fall Line takes its name from the rocky, hilly geologic feature along the East Coast — the Fall Line — that separates the flat, coastal Tidewater from the hillier Piedmont.

Rollins emphasized that this is not meant to be a competitive event, adding that it would be a great way for someone who is not familiar with Richmond’s trail systems to learn their way around. “It’s all about advocacy and altruism,” he said. “It’s a ride, not a race. Maybe you haven’t ridden the trails – we’ll show you where they are, and you’ll have the aid stations that will help you out.”

Rollins said he is working with a core group of Richmond mountain bikers, including Richmond trails manager Mike Burton and VDOT Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Planner John Bolecek, to set courses, which will also include a 25-mile and a 10-mile option. The shorter options feature reduced pricing. 

In the Tour de Fall Line, Paddlers will run the James through Richmond while MTBers pedal the trails around it.

Max Posner, Co-Vice President for JROC, echoed the sentiment that the Tour de Fall Line is meant to be a community event and not a competitive one. “We’re going to try and complement the mountain biking portion of the event,” he said. “We want to showcase the outdoor community here – the trails and rapids – and show everyone what they have to play with.”

Posner said JROC is working to make sure that paddlers have a shuttle in place to get everyone to Huguenot Flatwater Park. Posner also said that he and JROC president Patrick Griffin are working on a shorter option for paddlers who aren’t interested in running the whitewater at Belle Isle. Posner said he hopes to have course and pricing details ready later this week. 

According to a press release posted on the Richmond-MORE website, all participants will receive a souvenir pint glass, a well-crafted color map to use during the event and to keep, and an after party complete with vendors, a band, and food by Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken. The 50-mile bike ride will cost $40, while the full-length paddle will cost $30.

Kayakers navigate Taskinas Creek in York River State Park. Credit: Virginia State Parks

Last time our Summer Roadtrip Series took us to The Falls of the Nottoway River, a sweet natural rock slide and swimming hole destination about an hour southwest of Richmond. This Saturday we’ll be taking a roadtrip to York River State Park for their annual Estuaries Day.

If you’ve never been to the 2,500-acre York River SP, you’re missing out. It sits in a beautiful spot at the confluence of Taskinas Creek and the York River. It has well-built beginner/intermediate mountain biking trails; a fun fishing pond for kids; a nature center and a couple of great put-ins for flatwater kayaking. And, like the Falls of the Nottoway, it’s less than an hour from Richmond — an easy drive down I-64 toward Williamsburg. You don’t even need directions; you’ll see the signs on the interstate.

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Estuaries Day will draw attention to the park’s Taskinas Creek area with a day of water-based activities including canoeing, kayaking, fossil hikes, fishing programs and more. There will be special displays and activities from partner organizations, such as the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Mattaponi-Pamunkey Rivers Association and Master Naturalists. A 5K run sponsored by the Colonial Road Runners will benefit the Lafayette High School Cross Country Team and Friends of York River State Park.

Horse back riding is also popular on the wide trails at York River State Park. Credit: Virginia State Parks

“(The) event is a fun way to get kids immersed in the outdoors, environmental science and history before the school year begins,” said Jon Tustin, York River State Park Manager.

Estuaries Day is free and parking is $4 per car. There is no charge for the kayak and canoe trips, but registration on the day of the event is first come, first served.