A network of more than six miles of walking trails leaves large areas of natural habitat undisturbed. The 1.5 mile Central Red Trail leads back to the parking lot and barn, and all other trails stem from the Red Trail. A 0.75-mile paved trail is provided for visitors with special needs, and the parking lot, restrooms, barn, and Education Building are all wheelchair-accessible. Along the trails are freestanding stone fences built from stones cleared from the land, often marking boundaries between fields or properties, including a stone retaining wall on the Red Trail above Martin's Branch and a long stone wall near the intersection with the Orange Loop that is cited on 19th-century land plats. Springs supplied clean drinking water and storage for perishable foodstuffs, and one improved spring lies off the Blue Trail. An overlook off the North Field Trail looks toward Hydraulic Mills, a thriving mill community once located on Ivy Creek at its confluence with the Rivanna River and once a central commercial and social community for the African American neighborhood of Union Ridge, but now under the reservoir. Throughout the natural area are remnants of both public and farm roads, many of which led to the village of Hydraulic Mills.