Virginia Creeper Trail

Planning a trip over Memorial Day is a bit of a drag. All the campgrounds were full that I called and I spent nap time for almost an entire week planning how, when, and where. There was more than one time that I thought staying home was the better idea. I mean, we live on a lake! Staying home for a long weekend won't be bad. You know, we could....mow the lawn, do laundry, go grocery shopping... A change of scenery is always refreshing so we went ahead with the plans and got outta dodge.

Keith was home by noon on Friday so we loaded up the truck and drove. We were thinking how nice it was to be leaving town and not hit a wall of traffic like we always did in Philadelphia. We were able to just hit the road and fly. Our destination was the Virginia Creeper Trail, Damascus, VA.

We had heard about the Virginia Creeper Trail years ago. The guy we bought our tandem from raved about it, but from Philly, it was a 10+ hour drive with no traffic. Not happening back in the day. But now, that drive is more like 2.5. Almost close enough to do it every weekend.

The Creeper Trail is touted as "the most beautiful bike ride in the East." The bike path is a former railroad that winds 34 miles in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Being a rail trail, it's wide and flat and has a gentle grade and no sharp turns. So casual. The greatest part? It's ALL DOWNHILL.

We camped at the top of the trail in Whitetop, VA. The campground was actually a Christmas tree farm on the side of a mountain with some flat spots thrown in there for fun. Awesome. We woke up on Saturday morning, jumped on the bike and rode up the street to the old Whitetop train station. We were the first ones on the trail for the day.

We had planned to ride the full 34 miles and take a shuttle back to the top. But after we did the first 17 miles, we realized we had only pedaled about twice and decided we needed a workout. So instead of going down the remaining 17 miles, we turned around and rode back up. It was a steady grind back up the mountain, especially pulling the kids. But the incline is so slight, we never felt like we were trying to slog up Big Sur. In the end, we saved $30 bucks on the shuttle AND got a workout! Totally worth it.

The weather was perfect...

And the kids were happy....
The trail crosses loads of trestles and bridges. Bennett, of course, loves all things to do with trains so he LOVED all the bridges.


The trail also parallels this beautiful river. The kids liked throwing rocks in the water whenever we stopped.
A Christmas tree farm along the way. There were lots of tree farms. Makes me feel even better about being a FRESH tree buyer every year. Supporting the local farmers!
This caboose marks the halfway point on the trail and it's part of a fun park in the cute little town of Damascus, VA.

Bennett was in heaven with this toy. :)An ice cream mustache before we got back on the bike for the uphill.

Still smiling after a long day in the trailer!! These guys did awesome. Such good travel kids. Although, we feel strongly that they have their free agency in all our adventures. They can either be sad in the trailer, or happy in the trailer. See, it's all about free agency.
I don't know what's going on with Bennett's helmet in that shot. I think it's getting a little small for his noggin.


Fun, fun times. And that was only day one of our Memorial Day weekend! More to come.
We're such party animals. :)