Today, we had the pleasure of visiting Powhatan State Park for the first time. This 1,565-acre park can be found about 40 minutes northwest of Richmond. Powhatan is home to 12 miles of trails, including options for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Other features include picnic shelters, campgrounds, yurt rentals, a playground, three canoe slide launches, a park office/store, and a historic cemetery.
Deriving its name from the famous indigenous chief and father of Pocahontas (which happens to be the name of a different state park about 45 minutes away), Powhatan State Park opened 10 years ago. In fact, its 10th birthday 10-miler race was postponed from yesterday to October 1st due to rain. The park boasts a unique combination of forest, meadow, and frontage along the James, Virginia’s longest river.
Upon arriving at the park, we made a quick stop at the office/store to pick up a map and a sticker for my big kid’s water bottle. Then we headed down River Launch Road and parked near Canoe Launch A. As I mentioned previously, there are three canoe launches within the park for visitors who arrive with their own equipment. If you’d like to rent gear, Maiden Voyage Outfitters offers self-guided kayaking, SUP, and tubing excursions. They will shuttle you to one of the canoe launches in the park so you can paddle or float down the river to the place where you left your car.
Our plan for the day was not to navigate the river, but simply to hike alongside it, so we headed to the River Trail. One of the park’s popular hikes is the 2.7-mile loop from the River Trail to the Gold Dust Trail to the Turkey Trail, which brings you back to the parking area. We decided to take the River Trail to where it dead ends at the Gold Dust Trail, but instead of making a right to access the Turkey Trail, we made a left and traveled about 0.1 to a little scenic overlook. Then we retraced our steps for a 1.4 mile, out-and-back hike.
One of the best parts about today’s hike was running into Dorian, one of the park’s wonderful employees. She joined us for a portion of our trip and shared interesting tidbits about the unique flora in the park. Both of my daughters were absolutely fascinated by the park’s pawpaws. Pawpaws are native fruits that grow near bodies of water. They are in season from about mid-August through the end of September. They have the appearance of skinny, elongated pears, but they taste more like a cross between a banana and a mango.
Dorian showed us how to press on a fallen pawpaw to see if it was ripe enough to eat, and then break it open to enjoy the yellow flesh inside (while avoiding the inedible skin and seeds). The result was a sweet, sticky fruit that each of us sampled and my toddler adored. I had never seen or tried pawpaws before, and Dorian explained that due to their extremely short shelf life, they aren’t often found in stores. Powhatan State Park is proud of their pawpaws, though, and they even hosted their very first Pawpaw Festival last weekend. I am marking this down as a must-do event in the future.
Are you ready for a crazy pawpaw fact? The flowers are pollinated by flies and smell like rotting meat! Some pawpaw tree owners will hang actual meat on the trees to attract flies and encourage pollination. I don’t feel like I need to bear witness to that part of the lifecycle.
Pawpaws are not the only edible product of Powhatan State Park’s forested trails. We also came across a multitude of black walnuts. Dorian explained that quite a bit of work is required before reaching the nutty center. First, you need to peel back the green outer husk, and then crack open the hard black shell (a hammer is helpful for this part). Be careful, though – the inky black interior will stain your hands. In fact, the park occasionally offers print making events using black walnuts for dye!
The final edible item we encountered were spiceberries. Though a bit too strong to eat on their own, Dorian explained that spiceberries can be used as a substitute for peppercorn, or as a flavorful additive to tea. We obviously didn’t try any, but they sure were pretty to look at!
As for the trail itself, we were treated to a lovely stroll through the forest, with frequent views of the peaceful river below. The mostly flat trail is also home to a couple of bridge crossings over little streams – a feature that both of my daughters love to encounter when hiking.
After concluding our hike, we hopped in the car and drove over to the park’s playground. The toddler was fast asleep by that point, but the tween enjoyed a few minutes of play time while I took in the views of the adjacent wildflower meadows.
Before long, it was time to conclude our visit to the park. We thoroughly enjoyed our first excursion to Powhatan, and we look forward to lining up future trips to coincide with interesting programs and events that the park appears to hold regularly. I also couldn’t be more grateful to our new friend for sharing her time and knowledge with us. Thank you, Dorian – you truly made our first Powhatan State Park hike a magical, memorable experience!
Old Dominion for Young Virginians 