Before you lace 'em up and head out, get a little more information about your hiking choices. Here are a few organizations, books, and Web sites that focus on outdoor sites and and activities in Central Virginia.
Organizations
Meetups
Most hiking organizations now use Meetup. Meetups are a form of on-line “clubs” in which organizers plan and schedule activities, and then publish these activities to the membership. Members sign up for the activity on-line. There are a number of Meetups devoted to outdoor activities in the Richmond area. Use this link to see hiking Meetups, or visit this link for a broader set of outdoor activities.
Central Virginia Traiblazers
This organization operates much like a Meetup, but has its own Web site. It is included here because it seems to be a popular choice. Go here to see more.
Web Sites
Alltrails
The AllTrails app and Web site bring together a large community of hikers in our area who share their hikes and offer opinions about the best trails. It is a valuable tool for reviewing and selecting trails, as well as a very capable GPS app. Unfortunately, the AllTrails app does not support our guided hikes and is incapable of creating similar hiking tours. Instead, it is best used as a supplement to our recommendations, and we offer links to an Alltrail page for specific guided hikes (where available). Use it to get more information about the hike. Here is a sample.
Many of the features of the Alltrails hiking pages we reference are not available to guests on the site. If you are intrigued by the Alltrails site and want to explore it further, you may want to sign up and get a user ID (it’s free). With a user ID, you can review a list of hikes in our area, and filter the list by length, difficulty, user rating, and other factors. If you have the Alltrails app, you can select a hike, download it to your smartphone, and use it as a guide. Again, the Alltrails version will typically only provide a track to follow, lacking the detail offered by our guided hikes. To learn more about the Alltrails solution, visit these help pages. Note also that certain features of Alltrails require an annual fee.
Visit Richmond VA
This site is aimed at promoting tourism in the Richmond area. It has a list and description of outdoor activities, parks, and events in the region. To get some ideas about your next adventure, go here.
Richmond Outside
This site has ad-supported descriptions of parks and trails in the Richmond area, as well as general outdoors information. Go here to find out more.
Terrain 360
Terrain 360 offers the equivalent of Google Street View for trail walking. You can take a virtual tour on a specific trail and get 360 views of each part of the trail. You can review their tours here.
Books
“60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Richmond: Including Petersburg, Williamsburg, and Fredericksburg - Second Edition”, by Nathan Lott.
This book provides detailed descriptions for 60 popular hikes within a 60 mile radius of the Richmond area. The hikes cover a wide range of length, difficulty, and interests. It can be useful when choosing a hike and/or learning more about the hike and its environs. Our own hike descriptions will indicate whether a given hike (or one similar to it) is included in this book. It can be found on Amazon and other booksellers, as well as local libraries. Note that a new edition is due out in 2019. You can get more information here.
Update: There is a new version of this book (with some added and deleted hikes). It can be found here.
“Best Easy Day Hikes Richmond, Virginia”, by Johnny Molloy.
This book provides descriptions of 20 hikes, most of which are within close proximity to the Richmond area and are fairly easy to complete. It can be useful when choosing a hike and/or learning more about the hike and its environs. Our own hike descriptions will indicate whether a given hike (or one similar to it) is included in this book. It can be found on Amazon and other booksellers, as well as local libraries. You can get more information here.