Who would have guessed that a late February hike could be done in just jeans and a T-shirt? Taking full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, we buckled Mr Rigby in the back of the car and made the short drive west to York River State Park. 

February 21 York River State Park

We stopped briefly at the welcome center for some information and enjoyed our lunch on the steps of the amphitheater overlooking the scenic York River. With a wide variety of paths to choose from, we mapped out about a 6 mile hike that took us from Fossil Beach towards the Majestic Oak Trail via the Mattaponi and Backbone Trails. We took the Powhatan Forks trail back to the Backbone which lead straight back to the welcome center.  

The tree-lined trails provided a great outdoor experience, and the slightly hilly environment gave us a pretty good workout while still being easy enough for us to complete our hike in just a few hours. 

This park provides a unique range of scenery. Fossil Beach is right along the York River, and while there's evidence of some fossils being found, we didn't manage to find any of our own. 

Tree lined trails made for a beautiful winter hike

Hike to Fossil Beach along the York River

There are amazing vantage points along some of the trails

The trails further back in the park take some time to get to, so plan to commit to a solid mile of easy hiking before reaching the trail heads. The vegetation of the park continuously varies along the walk leaving you wanting more. 

There are a few overlook locations on the trail map too, while we wanted to check one or two out, it would have required more backtracking than we preferred to do, so we opted for the loop trails when possible. 

We still had some beautiful views of the river, despite the lack of official overlooks, but we did this hike in the middle of winter, so on a summer adventure an overlook trail might be a better option.

Our favorite parts were the footbridges right over the salt marsh alongside the York River.

While hiking with Mr. Rigby is our wonderful, it does limit us from trying the other great things this park has to offer: miles of mountain biking and horseback riding trails and kayak rentals to journey through the marshes of Taskinas Creek (Sarah has actually done this before and it was an awesome experience and definitely worth it!).

All in all this is a beautiful park for some daytime exploring!

Take your time so you won't miss the intricate small details along the trail 

If you would like to go on your own adventure to York River State Park and would like more information about this park, click here. 

Guest Bloggers Peter Radlowski, Sarah Sumoski and Mr. Rigby plan to tackle all 36 Virginia State Parks in 2016 and they invite you to come along on the adventure with them.