The Great American Backyard Campout is June 23, and all 35 Virginia State Parks are offering campouts or camping demonstrations, and a variety of programs promoting fun in the outdoors.

Because it may be intimidating to take the first step to try camping and learn about the necessary gear, state parks are offering special programming for the Great American Backyard Campout. A special group camping experience for novice or first-time campers will be offered in these state parks: Caledon, in King George County; James River, in Buckingham County; Leesylvania, in Prince William County; New River Trail, in Pulaski County; Pocahontas, in Chesterfield County; Sky Meadows, in Fauquier County; and Smith Mountain Lake, in Bedford County. The offerings vary by park, and all require advance registration.

The James has something for almost any type of river-goer, from sandy beaches to huge granite boulders to secluded areas away from the crowd. Richmond.com wants you to vote on the best river beach or hangout spot.Read More

Did you see this story on CBS6? Neighbors along Riverside Drive complain about overgrown grass and want the city to claim responsibility.Read More

Here’s a big opportunity to help the RVA ascend to its rightful place in the pantheon of “outdoors-friendly” cities. Heard enough about Portland and Austin? Me too. Now we have a chance to do something about it.

Outside Magazine is about to open online voting for its “Best Town Ever 2012” contest.  Richmond is one of 10 cities nominated. Chattanooga was the 2011 winner. The vote takes place on Facebook (where else?), and participants can submit comments and photos. Voting begins June 12 and the winner will be featured in the 35^th anniversary issue of Outside in October. Go to Facebook.com/Outsidemagazine for more info and to start voting tomorrow.

Considering it’s being run on July 14th, it’s probably a good thing this isn’t an individual marathon. In the Richmond Relay Marathon, teams of 4 runners (all male, all female, or mixed) will each run a lap (approximately a 10K) along the James River for a cumulative team marathon time. The start and finish line will be at the very scenic and beautiful Brown’s Island, in the heart of downtownRichmond. All entry fees are a 100%, tax-deductible gift to the 501c3 Project Athena Foundation, and will be used to help several Richmond Survivors (of medical or traumatic setbacks) to live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery. 

Project Athena’s Founder and recent speaker at St. Christopher’s ‘Saintennial’ Leadership event, Robyn Benincasa, has set a goal to host 300+ teams and to honor 20 local Survivors at the start and finish lines. All Survivors receive free entry and training for the Richmond Relay Marathon and may also apply for a grant to participate in other Project Athena Adventures at www.projectathena.org.

Once a year the James River Advisory Council holds its river-wide James River Cleanup. It’s a huge event that pulls tons of trash and recyclables from the banks of the James. This year’s clean up takes place this Saturday. Pre-registration is technically over, but I don’t think anyone will turn people willing to work away. The JRAC website has a list of all the cleanup sites. Reedy Creek is probably the most centrally located one for Richmonders. The cleanup starts at 9 a.m. and runs until 1 p.m.

I’ve written about Ethan Seltzer and Pedal Power, his non-profit, in this space before. His goal, through cycling, is “to demonstrate simple steps we can all take to reduce energy consumption and have a positive impact on the environment.” At Dominion Riverrock, for instance, Pedal Power had a booth set up where festival goers would pedal a stationary bike that would produce power that was stored in batteries. That power was then used to charge the riders’ phones. Simple, right? But it allowed people to feel just how much effort it takes to do something as easy as charging a phone.

Well, now Seltzer is looking for a new name for his outfit. He’s holding a contest to get people to help him. Check out this link, make a suggestion and possibly win some shwag.

Seltzer said they’ll keep the “Pedal Power” name “for our annual event (20 two person teams competing to produce the most watts in 30 minutes).” But in the meantime, “we want the new name to convey our primary mission, which is to help educate the public on energy conservation. In addition we are seeing more confusion with the bike shop of the same name here in town.”

I’ve been meaning (and forgetting) to blog about this since it was released back in late April. Luckily, Friend of RichmondOutside.com (FROC), Will Loy, reminded me. There is now an iPhone and iPad app for Richmond city parks.

“This mobile app allows city residents and visitors alike to gain detailed information about our city’s great parks, facilities and amenities, while re-emphasizing the city’s efforts of developing new technologies to enhance our customers’ service experiences,” said Mayor Dwight C. Jones. “RVA Parks also provides walking and driving directions along with bus routes from each user’s current location which further enhances the experience.”

Self-aggrandizing aside, the mayor is right. I’ve downloaded the app and it’s quite user-friendly. You can search for facilities and parks or comb through a list of all of them. Once you select one, you have the option of getting directions to the park or simply seeing its location on Google Maps. Each facility page also tells you what you can do there and gives you a few, albeit grainy, pictures.

If you’re saying to yourself, ‘Hey, that sounds a lot like what RichmondOutside.com offers,’ you’re not entirely wrong. The parks app is a handy guide, but it doesn’t offer the complete experience that RichmondOutside.com does. And while we’re quite accessible on your Smartphone, we don’t have an app yet (it’s in the three-year plan). The point here is that the RVA Parks app is useful and, considering it’s free, is worth putting in your quiver.