Friday, March 2, was going to be an anxious day for Blue Ridge School students, faculty and staff even if weather conditions were perfect. Travel days are like that. Students were going home for a highly anticipated, well-earned two-week Spring Break after completing their second-trimester exams.
High winds were certainly in the forecast. That’s not particularly unusual for this part of central Virginia that bumps up against the mountains. But no one could have anticipated the massiveness, intensity and duration of this high-winds event. Winds began howling the night before and continued to sway trees and loosen roof shingles until the next afternoon. The Blue Ridge campus is blessed with a canopy of large trees. It became obvious by 10 am on March 2 that both small and large limbs from many of those trees if not entire trees would litter the entire campus. A few of those trees would take down power lines, which compromised communication systems on a day when communication was critical. 70mph+ wind gusts resulted in destroyed cars and damage to our fifteen-mile trail system as well.
Many hands came together to clean up the campus and repair the damage. Perhaps the most heartwarming aspect of the massive clean-up involved restoration of the trail system.
“The community really came together to help us clear our trails quickly,” said Outdoor Program Director Tony Brown. Dave Tevendale and Bobby Casteen, members of the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club (CAMBC), organized three different work crews. Members worked alongside Tony Brown and Outdoor Program instructor Cory Woods as well as other BRS faculty. One crew even worked at night! Club members put in thirty total man hours while BRS teachers put in thirty-five total man hours over two days.
“I was motivated to help clear the trails at Blue Ridge because of the relationship the School has developed over the years with our local biking community, in which I am very involved. We have been so impressed by the School’s open generosity and ease of access in letting the public come out to ride the trails at any time,” says Mr. Casteen. Bike club members have group rides on our trails. This past winter, they did a Tuesday night ride almost every week.
“I met Tony years ago, and he invited several of us out and showed us around the BRS trails,” says Mr. Casteen. After Tony worked out the logistics regarding public use of the trails, he encouraged everyone to come out and ride. “And, of course, my other motivation was, the sooner we got them cleared, the quicker we could start riding them again!” adds Mr. Casteen. “Because of the School’s generosity, we wanted to give back for letting us ride there.”
Blue Ridge School was honored in 2012 and 2017 by receiving support from The Walton Family Foundation to improve its mountain bike trails. The initiative was led by Tony and the Arkansas-based firm Progressive Trail Design.
The first phase of the initiative included the completion of the Gateway Trail (Chesley Creek Loop), a multi-faceted, two-mile long trail that circles the perimeter of the School’s main campus. Phase two was completed just last year thanks to the generosity of the Robert and Hoyle Rymer Foundation and The Walton Family Foundation.
The machine-built paths, three to four feet wide, are designed for hiking, trail running and mountain biking. They build upon Blue Ridge School’s miles of existing trails that wind throughout the 750-acre campus. They incorporate the natural terrain and contours to give them a rhythm and flow as if they were streams of water.
