MtbREVIEW.com supports IMBA and responsible riding. Please submit only legal
trails to our list. If you discover a trail posted on this site that is not
open for public mountain biking, please email our IMBA friends at
info@imba.com with detailed info.
They'll help us remove the unauthorized trail from the site.
Click here for info about keeping our trails open.
If this is the correct location, click "Save Point" below or type the nearest location (country, city, Zip, or land mark) and the map will pan over to the location if the location is found.
Save Point
Go to Nearest Location:
Lat:
Lng:
Observatory Hill
22 reviews
4.14 of 5
Tecnical and rocky and rooty and at some times of the year, covered with leaves. Typical Virginia riding at it's finest. If you've never been into the big hills of the west, this is a great testing ground. For those of you with technical skills it will test you. For those of you without technical skills, it will teach you. But don't be intimidated. This is what it's all about. And just before the downhills get to you they end (which has the depressing side effect of LOTS of climbing)
This is a great place to train for the Va championship series if you're a racer, and there's also a race here held every March.
Oh, there's a bunch of ways to get to the trial head. One is to turn away from grounds at the light at the back of UVa campus and drive (ride) up the road to the fire gate on the left.
Another is to drive out JPA until it turns into Fontaine. Go by the Amoco and up under the tunnel of trees that forms and then park on the right just after the trees.
Summary: New to the area, and rode there once. I definitely think I took the wrong routes, as I seemed to be riding uphill more than half the time through rock gardens.
I don't know the area that well, so someone give me a good loop to go through using this map:
http://www.cambc.org/images/OHill_Trail_Map.pdf
Other recommended trails in the same area: if you are ever in southwest virginia, its worth checking out the pandopas pond & Brush Mtn area. best natural single track trails I've ever been on.
no room for bridges and other man made obstacles, its all natural here.
plus, there are lots of really cool trails that are not on the maps. I think they were actually older trails that have been "forgotten" about.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: Observatory (OHill) is packed with about 7 miles of steep, rocky, rooty, technical single track. There is not much here for the beginners but if you are an intermediate to advanced rider, then this is a little slice of heaven right in the middle of C'ville and next to the UVA campus. Unlike all of the riding in the Virginia Piedmont that labels inclines as "cardiac hill" or "lung buster mountain", OHill has the climbs of sufficient duration to put you in "a spot of bother" to say the least. Some free ride obstacles have been setup but it is unclear if these are sanctioned by CAMBC (cambc.org). Part of the Rivanna Trail passes through OHill along the base of the hill parallel to RT 29. OHill is a piece of cake to navigate since you just go up hill to get to the observatory or look at the cars on RT 29 traveling north to point you, well north. There are a few maps for OHill, one on http://www.gpstrailsource.com/Maps.aspx?MapID=19 and another at http://cambc.org/rides.php.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Sherando
Walnut Creek
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Recommended Route: I was on business here for a week and rode the trail 3 times. I parked by some stores close to Ivy & I29. There is a small fire house just before I29 where you can pick the trail up and ride about 2-3 miles through small hills and a few jumps and bridges. Just keep going right at any splits in the trail. This will bring you out to the southern part of O-Hill on Fountaine/JPA. From there you go double back or just keep follwoing the trails up.
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: O-Hill is killer for being on the UVA grounds. I have ridden it a few times, and I can say that it has a LOT of stuff. It has a freeride park, some ladder bridges, a few rock gardens, logs, fast downhills, and grueling climbs. the one downside is that it is way overcrowded (too many trails merging and cutting into each other).
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
Summary: This trail packs a lot of punch. It has a little bit of everything, and is very convenient to Charlottesville and especially UVa. It is mostly singletrack, but it also has a good fireroad climb, as well as a paved road that bisects the trails. You can get as big a workout as you want here, and it offers enough in the way of technical riding to keep your skills honed. UVa used to have a race here at least once a year, called the O-Hill Meltdown, and it was a lot of fun.
Recommended Route: There is one main loop around the "mountian" with many trails branching off from there. You can pretty much go in any direction, and if you get lost just keep going up and you'll eventually run into the road.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Walnut Creek
Would you like to Comment? Join MTBR.com for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.
4.14 of 5
3 of 5
3 of 5
4 of 5
4 of 5
5 of 5
5 of 5
