Overall, this is a nice park with a good number of picnic tables, a splash pad that's great for…read moresummer, decent restrooms, and a small playground. The walking trails were the highlight well-maintained, shaded, and surrounded by dense trees.it's clean, peaceful, and a pleasant place to spend a few hours outdoors.

I know why the blue left, and the red told me why it was leaving, but why did the Greenleaf?…read more This lovely park in the north of Charlottesville also contains one of my favorite YMCA locations in the country - so it's a great park for more than one reason. Definitely one of the best recreational areas of a lovely town.

Came here to kill some time by walking the path along the river. It was a beautiful sunny day and…read morewhile it started chilly, it warmed quickly. We parked at the playground - plenty of parking spots at 11ish on a Sunday - and got going. The trail is paved and wide, nice and smooth for two miles with marked posts about every 0.5 miles. At the end of two miles the pavement stops and turns to an actual trail. We didn't go past that point so turned around and headed home. There were plenty of people out - runners, bikers, walkers, families. There are a few spots where the edge of the path is close to a drop off/ledge at the riverbed so if you have small kids just be careful. The trail has a few areas that connect back to a nearby road which is nice too. Wish we had more places like this back home I could go run! Loved traveling right along the river and it's little rapids the whole time.

Great paved path, well maintained, that runs along the river. Couple of notes that they have some…read moreoff leash areas for dogs and many owners allowed their dogs to approach our without recall. Additionally there are some homeless encampments along the path.

I was heretofore unfamiliar with this tract of land despite having spent plenty of time in the…read morearea. It seems I missed out, as a splendid variety of experiences were available for free. Traversing an overlook over the river, I went down into a valley, spotting majestic birds of prey, a large fish, energetic baby turtles, singing frogs, and a snake, all spotted in less than an hour. As wildlife preserves go, this one had a lot of wildlife. Conditions vary of course, but there were a couple more hours worth of trails I didn't get to. Near the entrance were some buildings, including a water station and primitive bathrooms. People seemed to come for a variety of reasons.

Our Charlottesville son has come here with his two young sons (5 and nearly 4 years of age) …read more Trails, marked by colors (eg, Red Trail, Blue Trail, etc.) are easy enough for the little guys & certainly easy enough for us as well. They are well maintained, go uphill in some areas, flat in others, skirt a small creek, a large pond with turtles, fish, ducks & geese, lots of marked trees & meadows, all good distractions for big & little hikers.

TOTAL DOG HEAVEN. My pup Otis and I frequent the dog parks in town around Charlottesville a few…read moretimes a week, and decided to take a little winter adventure up to Chris Greene Lake this past weekend. Despite being VERY muddy (everywhere is muddy right now because of all of the rain and snow!), it was absolutely awesome. As soon as we arrived at the dog park area at Chris Greene, which is a short and pretty walk through the woods from the parking area, Otis went NUTS! There's a ton of space to romp, and I think the dogs really love the added fun of dodging in and out of the many trees. I've never seen Otis run so much at a dog park, and despite the cold and ice on the lake he jumped right in. This place will be perfect when the weather is warmer and the dogs really want to swim! It also offers what no other dog parks have: total shade, which will come in handy in July and August! I did get a little turned around leaving the park - there are two paths and I couldn't remember which one we came in on. I took the wrong one, but it just took me on a pleasant little loop before arriving back at the parking area. For the direct exit, take the path on the right. I also think it's important to note that this park is big and your pooch can get pretty far away from you at any given time. I try to stay pretty close to my guy just in case he encounters a grumpy-pants-pup, and that feels pretty hard to do here. Still, like most dog parks around town, the owners were all pretty keyed into their dogs behaviors and we didn't have any problems.

Nice park with many activities. However the dog park is not…read morefenced properly. Our dog got through the fence and ended up miles away and hurt herself doing so. Fortunately she had a name tag with phone number and we got her back that night. If they don't fix the fence you need to stay right with your dog, which defeats the purpose of the park.

I wanted to go kayaking and explore what Cville had to offer on the riverfront. I launched from…read moreDarden Park and went down the river all the way to I64. The water level was low (as I expected. We are on a drought warning). Made the rocky river a little more interesting. Got down to the bend just north of Riverview park and I was thinking...no problem getting back up the river on my kayak, I am gonna keep going. Then I turned the corner and went down the biggest section of rocky water drop and got wedged in between to rocks. My fault. Got loose and continued on thinking well I can carry my kayak around that coming back. Well the water runs a little harder in the south direction after that. (of not: my kayak is an inflatable). Some beautiful views along the river and some old smokestacks made for an interesting trip down to I64. This is where things got tricky and scarey for me: I should have embanked at Riverview park and walked back from there. Instead I kept going and had no where to get out and having no knowledge of what lied further on and the sun beginning to set I went and wedged myself next to a down tree and an area that would have normally been under water and then climbed up the embankment-it was a comical endeavor with me trying to get my dog and kayak up, as well as, me in flip flops. Walking the Rivanna Trail and then the Old west trail back to my car was very nice! Would be a great trail for some mountain biking and trail runs. Marked with mile markers and well kept.

I've lived in Charlottesville my whole life and had never rafted down the Rivanna river until…read moretoday. In the beginning it was truly peaceful floating down but near the end got extremely rocky. Our floats got stuck multiple times due several underwater rocks, and one of us had to get out to get us moving again. I feel like kayaking would be a lot more fun on this river as it's easier avoid obstacles. Once you reach the end it is brutal getting out, there are several sharp and slippery rocks that caused two of us to fall and get hurt. But you cannot change nature, it does what it wants. If you want to go I'd probably wait until it rains so the water is deeper and you can have less problems with rocks in the water, otherwise go kayaking instead.

One of our favorite parks to visit and walk at. There's some trails, hard to walk on the paved…read moreareas due to cars, but it isn't impossible. There's a great swimming beach and playground with a good amount of shade. It can get busier with folks fishing, but the small lake is pretty and is generally pretty quiet!

This park is a seasonal swimming hole. The beach was already closed when I visited, despite the…read moreweather still being warm. There is also a frisbee golf course and some trails. At least in the off season, there wasn't a charge to enter.

It's a great park, lots of fun for the kids even teenagers. Only problem we had was it's a public…read morearea and the pavilion is free to the public and the other people that were there were mean to my 1 year old daughter. No one wanted to share the swings, they hogged literally almost everything there. So she had to just enjoy herself running around the park in the grassy area. I wish it didn't have such nasty people because it's amazing to be free. I gave it two stars only because of the people that were being mean to my daughter.

This is a nice splash pad/park combo. Both areas are clean…read moreand well maintained. The splash pad has several fun features for kids and my 10 month old enjoyed it as well. There is a pavilion with picnic benches under it beside the park as well as a large grassy area offering ample sitting room. There are 2 separate playgrounds, one for 5 and under and one for the older kids. Just be careful when kids go back and forth from splash pad to playground because I have heard a couple stories of children slipping on the metal playground structures when wet, which could obviously be dangerous. One thing I do like about the playground is that the ground is the soft rubbery stuff and not pebbles or mulch, so my little one can crawl around as well. One thing that would make the playground better is if it was covered. Unless it's overcast or evening, the structures probably get too hot to use during the summer. Overall a very nice and fun place for the kids to burn some energy!

Just a few blocks from our apartment, The Park is a simple, yet great place. For students, they…read morehave recreational sports here, such as flag football and softball. I've watch many a law school softball games at the fields here. For the nonstudent like myself, the park is open for walking, walking or playing a sport. I spend most of my time here walking the half-mile loop that is paved around the softball and turf fields. In addition, I've played Frisbee at the end of the park in the grass. No matter the time of day, you'll see people of all ages coming and going from the area. I walk from my apartment to get here, but in the evening you could park in the parking lot. It's well lit at all hours. Along with the sports areas, it has picnic tables and water fountains throughout the park. Like I said, it's simple, but serves lots of needs.

Disappointing nature trail. We made it barely over a mile before we had to turnaround due to downed…read moretree, and there were several downed trees along the trail that made the trail difficult to navigate. Didn't find it well maintained either way.

Very big, clean park! My husband and I were in town with our dogs to go hiking and stopped in here…read moreone morning after grabbing coffee to walk the nature trail.

This is a sweet and relaxing little park near to Monticello. It is 89 acres and comes complete with…read morea nice hiking trail complex, a pond, some great paved and wooden walkways, an arboretum, a woodland theater, and even a "secluded farm." Walk off all the fried chicken at Michie's Tavern by coming here. It will totally make your visit to Charlottesville greener, healthier, and more refreshing. Also, you will meet lots of locals, their kids, and their dogs. This place has a lot to offer those who just need to stretch their legs, fill up the memory cards on their cameras, or really pound out the miles on the trails. Highly recommended to tourists and longer-term residents alike!

Park here and walk multiple trails up the mountain for lookouts or over a boardwalk to Monticello…read more(you can reach the new visitors center / gift shop and restrooms without an admission ticket). Beautiful area. Nice for running, although it was absolutely freezing the day we went. Monticello stop was a nice warm up before heading back to Kemper.