Carvins Cove Trail Plan - Roanoke

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Carvins Cove Natural Reserve 2010 Trail Management Plan Table 10. Recommendations for New Trails Map #/ Name Rationale for Recommendation A new sidehill trail is needed to disperse use from the Bennett Springs Parking Lot. This new trail would be located outside the Natural Heritage Area, generally #34 - Mid-Slope paralleling the 1500’ contour. A small easy loop could be developed on the flat Connection - Buck directly across from the parking lot. Connections to Buck, Songbird, Tunnel and to Arrowhead Arrowhead would greatly improve connectivity of trails. #35 - Mid-Slope Connection - Arrowhead to the Boat Landing #36 - AT Connector from Boat Landing #37 - Easy Trails at Boat Landing #38 - Brushy East Mid-slope - Timberview Connector to Hemlock Tunnel #39 - Connection to Tinker Creek Greenway # 40a - Four Gorge extension to Tuck-a-way #40b - Four Gorge Extension to Buck #41a - Lake Wrap: Horse Pen to Araminta #41b - Lake Wrap: Araminta to Comet This trail would be a continuation of #34 from Arrowhead and would parallel Happy Valley, providing a mid-slope sidehill trail at approximately the 1500’ contour. It would have connections to Happy Valley near Schoolhouse. Colocation with the gas line should be explored as an option from Angell Branch to the boat landing. There is an old trail from the boat landing area to the AT at the powerline. Explorations in this area with ATC show a route that would avoid private land, but still provide a connection to the AT. This would be a hiking only trail. Coordination with ATC and NEPA compliance would be required. Easy trails need to be built at the boat landing for beginner mountain bikers and casual hikers. This trail would provide a mid-slope connection from Timberview Connector to the Trough, the Gauntlet, and Hemlock Tunnel. This would provide a continuous mid-slope trail on the east side of Brushy Mountain, utilizing some existing old roads. It would provide part of an intermediate network from Timberview to the lower trails along Happy Valley. This trail would be a connection from the boat landing to Tinker Creek Greenway along Carvins Creek, providing a linkage to the valley greenway system. Parts of this are outside the Cove and would be completed by the Greenway Commission. This is one of the most requested additions to the trail system. It would provide a link from the popular Four Gorge Trail to the lower trails of the Cove, eliminating a long road ride. This would provide a mid-slope connection near Bennett Springs parking lot, extending Four Gorge to the west to Buck. This would relieve pressure on Hotel Trail and provide a shorter loop close to this parking lot. This would be a new trail from the end of Horse Pen (#18) at Gauntlet (#13) to Araminta (#8). It would parallel the lake, but would be substantially back from the lake shore in order to get around the many inlets and coves. It would provide an intermediate level trail that starts at the end of Horse Pen, a beginner trail, and connects to Araminta, another intermediate trail that connects to difficult trails. Thus it would provide a longer option with increasing difficulty. This would be a new trail from the end of Araminta (#8) to the lower Comet (#4). It would parallel the lake and avoid the difficult hill climb on Comet. In conjunction with 41a, it would provide a longer intermediate trail connecting Timberview to Happy Valley. #42 - Hanging Rock Connector This trail would be an extension of Brushy Mountain along Virginia Deer private road to connect to Timberview Road and Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail. This would be a major connector to the valley greenway network. Right-of-way would need to be acquired. This is outside the Cove boundary, but would service the Cove if developed by the Greenway Commission. 30
Carvins Cove Natural Reserve 2010 Trail Management Plan 3.4 Conditions and Recommendations for Trail Related Issues Assessment of the official trails and development of the Trail Management Plan involved discussion of many issues and conditions which affect trail use. A summary of issues that affect trail use and recommendations are presented in 3.4.1-3.4.4. 3.4.1 Access and Parking Parking for access to the Cove trails is limited. Some parking areas are official, public trailheads, but some users may access the trails from private land. Table 11 summarizes the public parking options and the trails users access from those parking lots. The boat landing parking lot on Reservoir Road is the largest parking area for the Cove. This area is managed by the WVWA and currently is staffed seven days a week. In 2010 the office hours are: April 1 - September 30: 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; October 1 - March 31: 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The area offers boat trailer parking, car parking, fishing, picnicking, boat rentals, and private boat launching. Horse trailers may park here, but not on the asphalt, and thus only four or five trailers can be accommodated. Parking Lot Name Surface Ownership Size Existing Facilities 20 boat Bathrooms, Western VA Boat Landing on trailers, 50 administrative office, Paved Water Reservoir Road cars,4 horse boat rental, permits, Authority trailers picnic area, fishing pier Bennett Springs on Carvins Cove Road Timberview Road Park 'n Ride, Daleville, on US 220 Gravel Paved/ gravel Table 11. Existing Public Parking City of Roanoke VDOT/City of Roanoke 6 horse trailers, 40 cars 3-4 cars beyond turnaround Paved VDOT ~ 30 cars AT Parking, Route 779 Dirt VDOT ~ 12 cars AT Parking, Route 311 Gravel VDOT ~60 cars Kiosk School bus turnaround is posted No Parking; some spaces beyond that near gate Access to Appalachain Trail; foot travel only; 2- 1/2 mile hike to ridge above the Cove Access to AT via 3 mile hike on Andy Layne Trail; foot travel only Access to AT; foot travel only; 6 mile hike to AT above the Cove Trails Accessed Happy Valley All Horse Pen, Trough, Gauntlet Appalachian Trail Appalachian Trail Appalachian Trail One official trail, Happy Valley, is accessible from this end of the Cove. Trail users will travel three miles before they reach a single track trail. While Happy Valley is an easy trail, it is a road and the distance from the boat launch to the network of trails is a deterrent for many users. 31
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Carvins Cove Trail Plan - Roanoke

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