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Rivanna Trails

Loop de Ville 2011

On November 5, at 6:30 AM, twenty intrepid hikers set out in the dark from Riverview Park to complete the entire Rivanna Trail Loop. The sun broke out by the time we reached Free Bridge, and the headlamps were packed away. As the day got progressively warmer, gloves and extra layers of clothing were removed, and by mid-day the temperature was a perfect 50 degrees.

We explored a new section of the trail that will connect Stribling to Sunset, and successfully navigated past the final stretches of the sewer replacement project. Some of the group planned to hike only the first third of the Loop, but fourteen completed the entire circuit and returned to Riverview nine hours later. For its tenth anniversary, the Loop de Ville couldn't have been more perfect.

Photographs by Rob Cook

24 photo(s) Updated on: 08 Nov 2011
  • It's cold and dark at 6:30 AM.
  • By the time we got to Free Bridge, the sky was starting to lighten.
  • Below Locust, where a spur trail turns towards Pen Park.
  • Navigating through the sewer replacement project, just before Holmes Avenue.
  • Crossing Meadow Creek near Brandywine Drive.
  • The cable line makes for easy transit across Meadow Creek.
  • Autumn colors between Greenbrier Park and Hydraulic Road.
  • The first break, at Bodo's.
  • Behind the Law School.
  • Along Observatory Hill.
  • Over the barbed wire fence near the Fontaine Research Park.
  • Another stream crossing, this one near Stribling Avenue.
  • Through the bamboo thicket.
  • Forging a new Trail link between Stribling and Sunset.
  • Lunch break at Sunset Road.
  • Another cable crossing, this one over Moore's Creek at Azalea Park.
  • Under 5th Street Extended.
  • Another rock hop stream crossing. (Our leader, Diana Foster, at left.)
  • The view from above Quarry Park.
  • Climbing the final hill towards Route 20.
  • At the finish line!