Moorman River Hike: Black bears, snakes & horse apples, oh my!

Moorman River

This past weekend was another stunner in terms of the weather here in Virginia.  You know the type - sunny with a high of 75 and please-get-me-out-of-the-house-and-somewhere-beautiful-and-inspiring!  So with not enough time for an overnight excursion but overcome with a raging case of wanderlust, hubby and I decided to drive west past Charlottesville and enjoy a day on the Moorman River up in the Blue Ridge on the southern tip of the Shenandoah National Park.

The second crossing...and a very reluctant puppy!

Although I'd never been to Moorman River before, my husband had and was excited to return after an absence of nearly 18 years.  His family used to hike the Moorman River regularly, as it's hardly a hike and more like a walk, perfect for kids and dogs alike.  The trail crisscrosses the river three times, necessitating either taking your shoes off at each ford or walking around with wet feet, culminating at a pretty little waterfall some 1.5 to 2 hours walk from the parking lot.  The crossings aren't deep; even after a fairly wet April and May, the deepest part was only about 2 feet.

One of the many swimming holes along the way.

My husband explained to me that the trail is somewhat different from his childhood visits.  In June 1995, nearly a foot of rain triggered massive landslides and irrevocably altered the landscape.  All the tall, wide sycamore trees, one of which he remembers growing right out of a swimming hole, are gone.  As it's been nearly twenty years since the landslides, the forest has grown up again and unless you were familiar with the trail prior to 1995, you'd not really notice the difference.

The river is perfect for a day of relaxation.  Plenty of large rocks dot the banks, and some create mini islands in the river.  As it's within a 20 minute drive from Charlottesville, the place is popular with students and families alike, so don't expect to have the place to yourself.  We saw many sunbathers, picnickers, and fishermen (although the trout population is still in recovery mode from the 1995 incident so I can't attest to whether it's a good place to fish).

Taking a breather.  No, sadly, that's not a beer.

And oh, the wildlife!  We didn't see any four-footed friends while on the trail (other than dogs - probably the reason why we didn't see any!), but we saw our fill of snakes.  Our dog Dixie, oblivious as always, actually stepped on a garter snake while on the trail, but thankfully wasn't bitten.  We also saw a king snake and one that was definitely poisonous.  In Virginia, we only have three venomous snakes, and all can be found in the mountains: rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths.

We also saw quite a few, erm, horse apples, if you know what I mean.  Hubby wanted to take a picture, but I wouldn't let him.  Still, I don't really know why a horse would be on the trail unless a ranger brought it up.

After walking up the trail, we picnicked at the Big Branch falls, the biggest of the two falls.  Of course, "big" is a relative term as it's only about a 25-30 feet drop and not very wide.  However, it was beautiful, and the swimming hole tempted us to take a dip.  Once in, I was soon back out!  It felt like there should've been ice cubes floating around!

Snake #1 - King Snake only 6" long (so is it just a prince snake? har har...)

Snake #2 - Garter Snake that Dixie stepped on.

Snake #3 - either a copperhead or cottonmouth, but we weren't going to
get close enough to tell!

First glimpse of the waterfall

Beautiful.

The river just disappears over the edge.

Panorama of the river.

We spent the better part of the day there before walking back to drive home.  As we were driving past the Charlottesville Reservoir (the Moorman River is dammed to provide water for the city), I looked over to the right and caught a glimpse of this baby bear!  He hammed it up for the camera as we snapped a few pictures.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Have you been to the Moorman River before?

Linking up with Esther & Jacob for the Local Adventurer link-up!