Bryom Park - First Impressions

Past Sunday a couple of us made it out to the newly constructed, and on Friday officially opened, Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve Park (Byrom Park). If you follow our blog and local news you probably already heard of it. This 612 acre park lies on the foothills of Browns Gap near Shenandoah National Park.

A recent comment on OUR blog by one of Patricia Ann Byrom's grandchild sounds exciting:

Laura Lee Neva said...

It is awesome! I grew up there with the bear, mountain lion, deer, good trout fishing back then too, brookies! ENJOY it ALL!!! Patsy Park is Heaven on earth!

8/12/2011 2:42 PM

Following some first CAT impressions:

Christian:
The park features a couple of mostly shaded double-track trails with some significant elevation gain, my GPS showed 2615ft on our 7.5mi. We didn't see much wildlife, besides some deer ticks or chiggers I took home and discovered later. Parking lot and restroom facilities are nice. There weren't many overlooks but who needs that when doing hill repeats ;). Trails itself are fairly soft and have some rocks/roots here and there but nothing too technical really. So far I like the park for hill workouts. Due to short trails you can't really cover much distance but the park is still in development, close the the SNP which gives hope for a connector trail.


Sophie:
This park is what I call a "climbing park." If you want to get in some good vertical without having to drive south to the Priest, this is the place! As the trails get used and linked up into circuits, I can envision multi-loops that will provide perfect training for any mountain 100, Mountain Masochist, or Hellgate. It is a beautiful area and a lovely memorial, and I enjoyed knowing that generations of a family had grown up there and were happy to share it with the rest of us.


Mike:
From the very start, Byrom Park lets you know that it is not kidding around.  With a climb out of the parking lot on the red trail to warm up the hamstrings, we started with an out-and-back the white trail, which will eventually form a longer loop.  I counted myself lucky to be joined by my "unusual friends" Sophie, Christian, Bob, and Chris on this inaugural run, as trail runners are the only people who would readily (and happily!) cover 7.5 miles with ~2500 ft climb in more than 2 hours. 

Climbing Park indeed.

We headed over to the western park of the park, where the county has painted over the bear scratching post (read: trail marker at intersection of blue and red trails), for a double loop of the blue trail.  Parts of the Blue Trail loop make the climbs of the dreaded "purple trail" on the Catherine's Fatass Course look downright flat.  I had to laugh as we faced what appeared to be a wall of jeep road on the trail, only to have to climb it to the "summit," which was blocked off by a enormous fallen tree and brush.  It was a thrill to run on the soft side-hill down the blue trail which I had the opportunity to work on several weeks ago, which dumps into a serious downhill (that runs like the backside of Terrapin). 

Overall, the trails are still raw, soft, and cover an unbelievable amount of vertical over a short distance.  It is the hardest I've worked for 7 miles in a long time, and what a place to get strong at climbing, and to top it off it is only a 30-35min drive from town. 

Byrom is a fantastic park and I can't wait to get back out there.  Tough, beautiful, and rugged.


Bob:
Good place to get some climbing in with >10% overall grade and much steeper sections. Hopefully it will connect to some SNP trails someday. Paved parking for maybe 20 cars plus there is horse trailer parking that I guess we could use if the lot fills. The trails will only get better with use.


More info:
http://www.cvillepedia.org/mediawiki/index.php/Byrom_Park

http://www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=parks&relpage=12998

Garmin Data:

Byrom Park Inaugural Run Sunday, August 21st

I've gotten final word that Byrom Park will officially open Friday, August 19th! 

If you are interested, I'll be "hosting" an inaugural run out there Sunday, August 21st at 7a. 

There will be a map posted in the kiosk and there *should* be 8.5”x11” maps at the kiosk as well.  There will be a 5-6 mi loop and a couple of 1-2 mile long "dead ends" that should hopefully whet your appetite for what is to come.  We can run every bit of it and then if some of you would like to double the loop, I'd be game.  Expect a run (with climbing) of about 8-12 miles, though you could always triple the loop for 18-20 mile run.

As usual, you will be responsible for your hyrdation (Bring a handheld or two) and navigation (grab a map at the start).

I have put directions at the end of this email, and it should take about 45 minutes driving from Greenberry's if y'all would like to meet up at 6:10a there to carpool.  I'd love for someone to bring an accurate GPS as well so we can figure out how close we can get to SNP/AT. 

I hope you will be able to join me, and I'm looking forward to it!
-Mike

Directions to Byrom:

Byrom Forest Preserve Park

6610 Blackwells Hollow Road

Crozet, VA 22932

Directions from town (takes approximately 45 minutes):

1.       Follow Garth Road to the Piedmont Store

2.      Go around the curve to the right onto Rt. 810 (do not go straight up to Sugar Hollow)

3.      Follow Rt. 810 for 7.8 miles and parking area is on the left

Byrom Park

The Scoop: The Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve Park

After a quick Blackrock Gap jaunt Saturday morning, I headed to Byrom Park to do some trail work and get the scoop on what is sure to be a great addition to the county park system and a climbing park for trail runners.

Climbing park?

Byrom park is 612 acres cut right into the base of the Blue Ridge, and the trails start with an aggressive gravel road climb out of the parking lot. We rode a gator up the “draft” trails on Saturday and my quads were twitching with excitement. At present, the plan is to have one of the loop trails totaling 5-6 miles completed by August 19th, which is when the park will open officially. The next phase will be to finish clearing and then open a larger concentric loop and connect a trail that currently goes to nowhere (Shel Silverstein part II) back to the entrance (old logging roads have been converted to trails to deer stands as the property was leased to a hunting club).

Bears? You bet, with the plentiful berries around and the clear evidence that one had been using a wood trail intersection marker as a scratching post.

Blaze? The current “blazing” is letters on foam, which are temporary markings from the county-sponsored “Bioblitz” (a summary is available here). The recommendation relevant to trail building that came from this exercise was to “[p]lan trails and recreation areas so that there is minimal disturbance to the few identified unusual species (ex. American chestnut, American elm, Big-toothed aspen), groups (ex. ferns, orchids), geology, and habitats (ex. seeps, wetlands, and streams especially where streams and old logging roads intersect or adjoin (along trails A and E)).”  I'm sure the first trail will be blazed at opening, and its would be a true joy to get the first runs on it with the CAT group.  

So what is in store for the future of Byrom Park? Why should I be so excited?

1. SNP Connection: The property has a thin corridor that makes it contiguous with Shenandoah National Park. It is a mere 8 miles by road away from the turn that goes to Sugar Hollow on 810 (just keep going right at the store). The county is going to apply for a trail connection, which is complicated as it will require (1) the approval to build a trail leading out of Byrom, (2) a trail built from the SNP side, and (3) the federal government paperwork mill.   By my cursory map-gazing, this puts a possible connector trail to Loft Mountain/Big Flat Mountain? I could be wrong here, any insight from the more map-able is welcome.

2. Mountain Running:  This will be a mountain running playground, and its unlikely to receive the same pummeling as Preddy Creek as the grades are quite steep.  Your calves and quads will thank you when you knock out >3-4k elevation in a 5-6 mile run. 

3. The work continues!: Tucker Rollins who has been organizing the volunteer trail work, and has a passion for the park and its potential, will be hosting monthly workdays again September throughout the winter.  In addition, he would be more than happy to schedule a workday for us sometime.  Anyone game for August 6th?

-Mike