Ragged Mountain Natural Area

Well a very busy week has put me slightly behind on a post.  This Virginia boy made his first trip to the storied state of Texas last weekend for the wedding of two good friends from undergraduate studies.  The wedding couldn't have been better, and it was great catching up with old friends.  However, there were no mountains (or much of anything for that matter) surrounding Dallas, and the Blue Ridge was a very welcome site heading back into Virginia.  Last Saturday (4/14) Alli and I wanted to find a moderately long hike somewhere close to Charlottesville.  We had long heard of the Ragged Mountain Natural Area hike, located only 2 miles from the University of Virginia, but never paid it a visit.  As it turns out, the hike was exactly what we were looking for on this particular day.

Ragged Mountain Natural Area provides close to 6.5 miles of hiking trails that are maintained by the Ivy Creek Foundation.  The trails are centered around two lakes which serve as reservoirs for the city of Charlottesville.  The trail head starts at a graveled parking lot located at 1730 Reservoir Rd.  A kiosk is also located in the parking lot providing information, rules, maps, etc. for the area.  Alli and I chose to do the "main trail hike" and the "peninsula loop."  The main trail is a 3.5 mile hike that winds its way around the lower lake, pictured above.  The peninsula loop, as one might expect, breaks from the main trail and is a half mile circle around the shore of a prominent peninsula that juts into the lake.

Heading north out of the parking lot, we started our adventure on the main trail.  The first quarter mile or so of the hike is pretty steep climbing over both log steps and jagged rock formations.  Keeping a pretty good pace, we were able to get our heart rate up over this stretch.  Along the way, we passed the "round top trail" on our right.  From the map, the round top trail is a quarter mile deviation from the main trail that eventually rejoins the main.  The name suggests that this loop may provide a little more up hill action although it was not confirmed.  Shortly after passing the sign for the round top trail, the main trail flattens out considerably.  At this time, the trail begins to approach the shoreline and you can just start to see the lower lake through the trees.  After only a few hundred feet of flat trail, we took a left at the sign for the peninsula loop.  The highlights of this short detour are at the end of the peninsula.  There you find an old stone chimney and corner of an old house foundation of residents long past.  Just past the chimney you can walk out on the shores of the reservoir and get a pretty good look at most of the lower lake.  As you will see from the pictures, the water when we visited was well below the high water mark.  At the time, Charlottesville had not had any rain in weeks and was in desperate need.  Thankfully, it has been raining steadily for over two days now.  It would be interesting to make a quick return trip to the reservoir to see to what extent the rain has helped the water level.  After soaking up a little sun and enjoying the watery view, we continued on the loop eventually rejoining the main trail.

The next couple miles of the main trail twist and turn around the shore line of the lower lake.  The trail is gently rolling with only minor elevation changes allowing you to move as quickly as you would like.  A few stretches of our hike produced views of dried lake bed as the trail snaked around the shallow coves of the lake which had dried up (another indication that we desperately needed some rain).  There is a land bridge at the end of the lake furthest from the parking lot that functions as a dam between the upper and lower lakes.  This large, grassy area would be a perfect place to stop and have a snack or lunch if you had one packed.  There is also a really cool wooden shed located on a large stone pillar that stands about 20 feet over the surface of the upper lake.  We could not figure out what the original function of this building could've been or why it's up on the pillar.  Any guesses?  At the land bridge you have the option to hop on the 2.2 mile "upper lake trail."  We were happy with our original 4 mile plan and continued working our way around the lower lake.

The second part of the hike takes you away from the lake for a while and into the woods.  There is a much steeper elevation change that provides a bit of a hike; however, once you reach the pinnacle, it is all downhill for the last mile or so heading back to the parking lot.  At some point in the waning steps of the main trail Alli and I made a wrong turn and ended up crossing over the concrete dam.  The dam, right, is on the opposite end of the lake than the land bridge and can be viewed for much of the beginning of the hike.  Looking at the map, it does not look like we should've crossed the dam.  We ended up back on the peninsula loop and had to back-track the beginning part of our hike.  I think we ended up adding about a mile to our hike giving us a total of 5- oh well.

I would recommend Ragged Mountain is you are looking for a long, easy, relaxing hike.  The 3.5 mile main loop ensures that you get a lengthy hike in and can be supplemented with the shorter trails as we did.  As I mentioned, there are only a very few steep parts and most of the hike is on a slightly undulating, lakeside trail.  The views are not as great as if you were to get to the mountains, but it is always nice to be on the water.  I am providing the trail map below in case you might want to check it out.  Enjoy!