In 2025, I had a few weeks of vacation to use up before leaving one job and starting another, so I decided to see how many Virginia state parks I could visit. I set myself the rule that I had to walk or jog at least 5 kilometers (3+ miles) in each park, so I'd see a bit of it (and not just drive in and drive out). During that brief period, I managed to visit more than 20 parks, sometimes visiting four in a day. After doing a few, I learned that the Virginia State Parks system has a Trail Quest: the challenge is to visit all 40 Virginia state parks. (There are a couple of additional parks not in the Quest because they are managed by other states.)
On December 13, 2025, I visited my 40th park, less than seven months after starting the quest, and in just total 15 days of hiking/jogging. (So, on the days that I visited parks, I visited an average of 2.7 parks per day.) IT WAS MARVELOUS! There are so many incredible, beautiful parks, filled with wonderful trails all around Virginia. (There are also some other parks that were less to my taste.)
Stories
My own forest: On December 13, I followed Google Maps to my penultimate park, False Cape State Park on the coast of southeast Virginia. (An hour south of Virginia Beach.) But it took me to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. After jogging two miles trying to find my way to False Cape, I checked the website. The False Cape website clearly states (but I had not read) that from November to March, the only way to access False Cape State Park is by walking on the beach. So I jogged 4+ miles on the beach to get to the park, and then walked a couple of miles in the park, a forest just off the beach. It was deathly quiet and I didn't see another soul. It was fabulous. Then I jogged 4+ miles back. It ended up being 13.5 miles total of walking and jogging.
Saved by a night activity: On December 12, I visited four parks. As I drove toward the fourth park (Staunton River Battlefield State Park), darkness overtook me. I know the parks close at dusk, but I decided to drive up to the park anyway. Sure enough: this particular park, on just this particular weekend, had a nighttime activity wherein families could walk one of the trails and see Christmas decorations. I walked that trail and then ... just kept walking. The night sky was gorgeous, and I was so grateful to get my fourth hike of the day (and my first night hike the entire trail quest).
My favorite parks
My favorite park was Hungry Mother State Park, just outside Marion, Virginia. I visited it back in May, my fourth park on a day, and I almost canceled the subsequent day's activities just to spend more time at Hungry Mother. Beautiful hills, many trails, gorgeous, lush foliage, striking lake. I loved it.
My favorite park within an hour of Washington, DC, is Sky Meadows State Park. As the name suggests, it's high up, with a little piece of the Appalachian Trail. I took my two sons on a hike there a month after I'd gone on my own, and I'll go again.
Other great parks:
Smith Mountain Lake State Park: just lots of beautiful trails
Pocahontas State Park: just off I-95, so it's easy to access
Natural Tunnel State Park: it has a cool chairlift, and is not to be confused with Natural Bridge State Park, which is also awesome
Grayson Highlands State Park: it has wild ponies!
Bear Creek Lake State Park: beautiful trails through the woods and around the lake
I could go on and on. There are many great ones.
Here were a few that were less to my taste:
Southwest Virginia Museum State Park: this is just a museum. Fine if you happen to be in town (they had 80+ Christmas trees set up!), but the only park I visited that wasn't actually a park.
Machicomoco State Park: not a lot of trails, not a lot of shade.
Shenandoah River State Park: too much of the park is walking right near RV camping/parking. Maybe camp here while going to the national park.
I adored visiting all of Virginia's state parks, and I'm excited to revisit many more in the coming years!