After getting my VA fishing license, I started to explore options for river access points near my home. After looking at several resources, I stumbled upon something that I never knew existed. It was the pipeline walk that runs in between the southern tip of Brown's Island, past Haxall Point, and down toward Vistas on the James. Just a short walk from the parking lot, the trail will take you along the flood wall to a small ladder that drops you onto the walkway. You can also enter from Browns Island but it is hard to find if you don't know where to look. It is a very unique perspective of downtown Richmond that very few have seen.
Extremely dangerous during high waters. See footer notes below on Westham gauge.
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| Pipeline walk and Seal Team PT out for an early morning run. |
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| Looking south toward Sun Trust Mortgage and UPS under 9th Street bridge. |
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| Looking down the flood wall at the BB&T building. |
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| Railroad bridge near S. 14th Street / Vistas On The James |
PARKING LOT IS SMALL AND VERY LIMITED
Fishway Rapids and Pipeline Rapids consists of a hole in the Manchester Dam (located just beyond and to the right of the VEPCO Levee) and allows shad to move upstream in the spring. This main current becomes a series of rapids that follow a large steel pipe with a walkway on top. Warning: between about 7 and 8 feet, at the Westham gauge, the river develops a deadly cross-current that can sweep boaters into a strainer on the left from which there is no escape. ( Description courtesy of Richmond Regional Planning District Commission )
