Update on Our New State Park.

Woodstock, Virginia.

Seven Bends State Park is scheduled to open in May! It is already open for hiking and fishing, but May is when the restrooms will be open and regular activities will begin. I've been following the development of the park for a couple of years, and participating in planning and educational meetings through the Friends of the North Fork.

The park has two entrances, one near Muse Vineyards and the other at the end of Lupton Road. I took these pictures near the Lupton entrance one afternoon.

Some of the trails have been marked with signs and blazes but work is ongoing with the help of volunteers.

I parked in a new parking lot and followed a trail for a short distance toward the river. I was surprised to find a swinging bridge! I already knew there was one near the vineyard but this one is not as tall and I had not noticed it before.

It leads to private land on the other side, but could be used in an emergency; that is, if someone was hiking in the park and came back to find the road was impassable at the low water bridge. It does flood sometimes!

On this afternoon, the river was still high and had just gone down that morning enough that the low water bridge was reopened to traffic. In the picture of the steps to a canoe access point, note that the water level is over the bottom step. 

A "low water bridge" can only be crossed when the river is low enough. In the photo below, you can see that the water is still pretty close to covering the bridge. Access at both entrances to the park are currently limited to days when the river is not flooding, so in stormy weather, call ahead or check the VDOT reports for Shenandoah County.

When I crossed the bridge, I noticed there was still some debris on it that had washed up when it was under water.

See more blog posts about this park.