Back in April we posted the first installment in a video series from Hunter Davis, Ben Moore and Home on the James — a mini-feature on Pipeline Rapid in downtown Richmond.

Well, now the local paddlers, moviemakers and James River lovers are back with their next feature. This one highlights First Break, a Class II rapid and the the first major one you’ll encounter when entering the downtown section of whitewater in Richmond. It’s a fun/easy wave train with a great surf feature just off the northern tip of Belle Isle.

Davis and Moore hope to work through all the major named rapids on the Falls of the James, and we’ll feature all of them here as they do. The final product will be what Davis calls the “James River Video Atlas,” and it will be sweet.

After a month-long hiatus, the RichmondOutside.com “Summer Roadtrip Series” continues today with a waterfall destination Central Virginians can reach in an hour (or less) but most I’ve talked to haven’t heard of. There are only so many waterfalls in the middle of the Old Dominion, far from the mountains where cataracts are common. Can you guess the one I’m talking about? It’s not your picture-postcard sheer falls. But it does have a couple of perfect natural rock slides with large swimming holes at the bottom and the hike to it is only about 300 yards.

The Falls of the Nottoway make a great summer day trip for Central Virginians.

If you guessed the Falls of the Nottoway, you are correct! The falls are a perfect summer getaway, especially if you have kids who love swimming. They will love this place. And not only are the slides and swimming holes fun and safe (assuming it hasn’t just rained a ton), but there’s plenty of rock space for bringing a picnic and spending some time. Just keep in mind that unless you go earlier in the morning, you aren’t likely to have the place to yourself. Even in the middle of nowhere, it’s a popular place.

Getting to the trailhead: From US 360 in Richmond, drive south for about 54 miles (depending on where, exactly, you start in Richmond) to the intersection with SR 49. Get on SR 49 going south and drive 15.5 miles to where it crosses the Nottoway River. Look right, upstream, and you’ll see a dam and the Nottoway Falls Reservoir. Look left, downstream, and you’ll see the top of the falls. Drive 0.1 miles past the bridge and turn right at a gravel road. You’ll see signs for a public boat ramp. Drive a hundred yards or so and stay right at the fork in the gravel road. Park in that big, open gravel lot.

Getting to the falls: When you park in the gravel lot, the service road is off to the right. Follow it for just a few feet and look for the narrower trail that’s been created by decades of people thronging the falls. You’ll pass under the bridge first, then enter the woods for just a few hundred feet before you see the falls on your left.

An excavator with a special “concrete muncher” attachment went to work on the Harvell Dam two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago I posted some pictures of work progressing on the removal of the Harvell Dam. At that time a “concrete muncher” was munching away on a section of dam, but the river was so low from lack of rain that no water was flowing through the growing breach.

Well, last Wednesday the construction crew broke all the way through, and the Appomattox River flowed freely in this area where it forms the border between Colonial Heights and Petersburg for the first time in over 80 years. As Alan Weaver, the fish passage coordinator for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, wrote in an email: “A River Runs Through It. They opened up the north end late yesterday afternoon. They will now just be working their way south out of the river and doing the shoreline work.”

Click here to see what this means for anadromous fish on the Appomattox. And here to see what the dam looked like before removal proceedings began.

A river, the Appomattox, runs through the old Harvell Dam.

There’s caution tape now where the entrance to the bridge used to be.

Yesterday’s torrential rains led to a dramatic re-route of the Forest Hill Park singletrack loop trail popular with runners, mountain bikers and dog walkers throughout Richmond. Just north of the bridge that takes Forest Hill Avenue over Reedy Creek (near Crossroads coffee shop), the trail crosses the creek on a wooden footbridge. At least it used to.

The downpour yesterday brought a wall of water that city trails manager Mike Burton thinks was probably up over the bridge’s handrails. That puts it maybe 8 feet above the rocks that the water usually trickles over this time of year. That is a ton of water.

It’s not uncommon for Reedy to rage like it did yesterday when a storm comes through. That’s why it’s popular with experienced creek boaters, kayakers who paddle narrow streams (usually in the mountains) in high-water conditions. But apparently it was not a boater that was swept downstream by the water, the Times-Dispatch reported, and pinned “against the rocks in the fast-flowing rapids.” The Richmond Fire Department had to be called to rescue the man. They were eventually able to get a rope bag and flotation device to him and pulled him to safety. The rescue tools were still attached to a tree at the scene this morning.

A mountain biker surveys Reedy Creek from one of the sections of bridge washed downstream.

As for the bridge, it was split in half by the floodwaters and left washed up on the banks. Burton said they’d been looking into replacing the bridge even before this happened. Cost estimates for one bridge type ran from $45,000 to $60,000. It they rebuilt it with wood and volunteer labor, it might be cheaper, he said, but they’d run into the same issues of durability that the old bridge had.

For now, the trail (if you’re coming from the hillside below Patrick Henry Elementary School) will be detoured to the old trail that parallels the creek on its east side. Riders and pedestrians will follow that trail down to the Harvey Family Memorial Bridge, then take a left and ride on the asphalt up to the top of the hill. There they’ll take a right and reconnect with the existing trail. Signage showing the detour route should be in place by this weekend.

The ropes and bags from yesterday’s rescue.

Burton said another possibility, instead of building a bridge, would be to cut some new singletrack into the bank on the western side of Reedy Creek between the Harvey bridge and where the trail entered the old bridge. This would be a much cheaper option, but with the bank extremely steep in many areas, he stressed, that this possibility would require more study by his trail crew and may not be feasible.

To see what the trail and the bridge used to look like, click here for our Forest Hill Park page, then scroll all the way down for our Terrain360.com panoramic-image tour of the park.

An excavator with a special “concrete muncher” attachment goes to work on the Harvell Dam.

Around noon today I headed down to Petersburg to check out the progress on the removal of the Harvell Dam on the Appomattox River. The dam has been there since at least 1930, and for the past 20 years, Alan Weaver, fish passage coordinator for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, has been working with the owners to try to get fish, migratory fish specifically, past the dam. For the last 10 of those years, Weaver told me, the goal has been to see the dam removed.

Well, as you can see from these pictures, today was a big day for Weaver and all the other partners involved in the project.

If you were expecting to see water rushing through the breach, that hasn’t happened yet.

“The river is so low that it’s not going to be a dramatic burst of water going through because we’ve already got the water controlled through this powerhouse on the side,” Weaver said. “The river will go to the lowest point, but as far as how dramatic it will be, I don’t know.”

A before shot of the Harvell Damn from a couple of years ago. Credit: Alan Weaver/DGIF

By the end of the week, however, the concrete rubble should be cleared away up and down stream of the breach, and for first time in over 80 years, the Appomattox will begin to establish a “new normal” water level in the area. Currently, the dam holds a pool about nine feet higher on the upstream side.

Come spring migratory fish, such as American and hickory shad, American eel, and river herring will find 127 miles of upstream habitat for spawning. Very cool stuff, if you ask me. (It’s a shame the old Harvell didn’t come down in time to make this documentary about dam removal.)

Ross and Mike and our custom pontoon raft made it to Cartersville on Friday before we gave them the weekend off to attend to some business at home. The James has been low, and that’s slowed our efforts to create the first-ever 3-D image map of an entire river, but we’ll be pressing again this Monday. It’s less than 60 miles from Cartersville to Richmond. Then it’s about 100 miles on the tidal James to Norfolk. We’re getting to close. (If you’re unfamiliar, click here and here to read more about the journey. And here to follow it on Twitter.)

The above video is of Ross and Mike taking the boat through Balcony Falls near Glasgow. Look at how she glides over that whitewater! (Thanks to Bill Wise for sharing the video.) Those other canoeists in the shot are from the JRA’s James River Expedition.

And while the boys are out on the boat, Ryan is back in Richmond processing the images from up in the mountains. Here are a couple of examples.

A screen shot from early in the trip as the James cuts through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Another screen shot.

A couple of years ago, Richmond native Hunter Davis moved back to his home city after spending time in places like Asheville and elsewhere. Davis is a filmmaker — his work has been featured on RichmondOutside.com before — and he’s been compiling footage from his and his friends’ adventures on the James for a while now.

A screen shot from the ‘Home on the James’ trailer shows the river during a recent high-water event.

Yesterday he released a trailer for a movie he hopes to will be complete sometime in September called Homes on the James — Ode to Richmond.

“It’s basically a documentary,” Davis said, of the 20-30-minute film. “One of things I hope to focus on is the watershed and where the water comes from and kind of the geology of the Falls of the James, some of the history of paddling here.”

Davis said it won’t be an environmental film, per se. But more of a celebration of the urban whitewater Richmond offers that may be overlooked by many East Coast kayakers.

“I talk to a lot of paddlers in the East Coast and, if they’re going north or south, they drive right past it,” he said. “They don’t even realize that there’s good whitewater here. This may show people that you can pull off I-95 and go paddling.”

The film will feature local paddlers enjoying — and sometimes battling — the James at low, medium and very high water levels.

Another screen shot from the trailer.

“I love the upper James…but what’s unique about the James is that the majority of the gradient is downtown,” Davis added. “It’s kind of surreal to be paddling some big water with the buildings downtown.”

If you haven’t noticed, Richmond’s outdoor scene is getting a lot of national attention lately. In 2012 Richmond was named “Best River Town” by Outside Magazine. Dominion Riverrock has grown into the nation’s largest outdoor sports and music festival and just last week The Active Times featured Richmond’s recreation offerings in its travel section. But, it did not happen overnight. Countless outdoor enthusiasts have lovingly labored for decades to foster recreational opportunities among Richmond’s bounty of natural endowments. A particular group of dedicated recreation professionals south of the James have been at the forefront of this movement.

For more than thirty years, the Chesterfield County Parks and Recreation Department’s Outdoor Programs team has offered outdoor and adventure programming for residents of all localities and ability levels. Last week, I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon on the James River with Adventure Programmer Greg Velzy. He instructed me in basic whitewater kayaking techniques, while we chatted about Chesterfield’s varied offerings.

Hikers on a recent Chesterfield Parks excursion to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Velzy, a certified instructor for more than twenty years, talked about the county’s programs as he guided me though riffles and some moderate class II rapids.

“We focus is on instruction, so people can enjoy the river safely,” he said.

I got a small sample of that instruction while on the river with Velzy. After a couple of attempts, I learned how to “ferry,” a maneuver used to get across an eddy line into the rapids. When done right, the move will take you in an upstream angle across the smooth water and turn you into the flow of the rapids. Chesterfield’s beginner whitewater kayaking class is a good way to learn the basics. The two-day class teaches safety and technique on calm water on the first day and running and reading rapids on the second.

In addition to kayaking, Chesterfield instructors offer sailing, rafting and stand up paddle boarding (SUP) classes, too.  The county also offers a swift-water rescue class – just in case.

Instruction is just one goal. Another is to instill a sense of stewardship. “When people enjoy the river, hopefully they will be motivated to take care of it,” said Velzy.

And instructional programs are just part of the county’s offerings. There are many nature and interpretive programs as well, and they are not all on the water. In fact, Chesterfield offers many hiking, backpacking, paddling and climbing programs all over Virginia. The Great Dismal Swamp, Shenandoah National Park, and the Chesapeake Bay are just a few of the destinations the country takes people who sign up for their programs.

Mark Battista, who has worked as a Naturalist for Chesterfield County for 25 years, summed it up well. When asked about what kind of programs the county offers, he replied, “A little bit of everything. We hike and paddle, explore swamps, vernal pools, the Blue Ridge Mountains, maritime forests, bottomlands and beaches. We are quite diverse in our program offerings. In one week, we can conduct an astronomy program, conduct a hike to the Dismal Swamp, lead a bird walk and conduct a campfire program.”

Students test the pH of the James River at a recent field trip at the Dutch Gap Conservation Area.

Some of the most popular programs are “Wonderful World of Bugs”, “Swamp Walk” and “Butterflies and Dragonflies.”

Group programs are available as well. The Challenge Course features a series of physical and social challenges for individuals and groups designed to foster confidence and team-building.  It has high and low elements, so it is well suited for adult and student groups. A variety of school field trips are offered including: Exploring Wetlands, Adaptations, Geology of Chesterfield Count, Watersheds, Reptiles and Wildlife Detective.

A big variety of programs are also available at the Rockwood Park Nature Center. Programs include:  geocaching, camps, beekeeping, wilderness survival, campfire programs and more.  Bob Smet, Director of the nature center for the last three years noted that visitors will be very impressed by the recent changes and program additions.  He says the archery classes are “one of the hottest new programs.” There are beginner and intermediate courses and classes for youth and adults.  Bob recommends signing up early because the classes fill fast and there is a waiting list.

More information about the Rockwood Nature Center can be found at rockwoodnaturecenter.com.

Chesterfield County offers hundreds of outdoor programs every year – way too many to list here.  Programs are open to everyone regardless of where you live and prices are kept low to encourage the whole community to participate. Information about Chesterfield Outdoor Programs can be found at chesterfieldoutdoorprograms.com. And you can click here to register for programs.

Brandon Montijo can do some really cool things with a drone. The local multimedia producer, and owner of Tijo Media, will, from time to time, put short, outdoors-focused videos he’s worked on up on our Facebook page so others can see our trails, waters, and what people are doing on them from a completely different angle. They’re all great, but Montijo just came out with one, Riverrock ’14 — From the Air, that I thought deserved a wider audience. It really captures the huge crowds, the athletes doing their thing, and power of the James River on a perfect weather weekend.