Camp was pretty chily when we woke up the next morning. We once again made use of our little heater to warm up the tent enough to let us all fathom climbing out of our bags to get dressed.
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| Nothing like hot chocolate and a campfire in the morning! |
Andy started the campfire while I made breakfast -
breakfast grilled cheese. I had assumed breakfast would be a huge hit
since the filling was basically raspberry jam, cream cheese, and powdered
sugar, but Emma and Chloe were unimpressed. I ended up heating up a
couple of plain waffles for them to munch on before we left for our ride on the
Virginia Creeper.
The Virginia Creeper
Trail is a multi-use rail trail just over thirty-four miles long that runs from
Whitetop to Abingdon, Viriginia. While some people ride the entire trail
in one day, most people catch a shuttle in Damascus, Virgina to take them to
either terminus and then they ride back to Damascus. From the research
I've done, riding the trail from Whitetop to Damascus is the most popular
option and is the route to which most of the Damascus shuttle providers.
On the way to our
campground the day before, I had called and made reservations with a shuttle to
take us to Whitetop. On the weekends, a shuttle can be hard to come by if
you don't make your reservation early. I had assumed we would be okay
since we were planning to ride the trail on a Monday, but even calling the day
before our shuttle options were limited to noon or after. (I have since
learned that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the slowest day on the trail.) I
had gone ahead and booked the noon shuttle, so after breakfast I made Italian
subs for everybody while Andy filled water bottles and Camelbacks. Then
it was time to load the bikes again. This time I stumbled upon the
magical configuration needed to load our bikes without a lot of rearranging.
I took a picture when I was done to remember it for all time.
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| Waiting for our shuttle to Whitetop. |
The drive back to
Damascus took about thirty minutes. We checked in with the shuttle and
then waited for our driver to arrive. The drive from Damascus to Whitetop
is suppose to take around thirty minutes, but stuffed into the back of the cargo
van with all three kids and windy mountain roads, it felt like a lot longer.
I was kind of hoping for some history of the trail from our driver during
the ride, but nobody in the van said anything at all for the entire trip.
The kids actually fell asleep.
The shuttle unloaded our
bikes at Whitetop Station, more on that in a minute, and while every body made a
pit stop, I pulled out a map of the area. I had intended on doing a lot
more research on the trail before our trip, but never got any further than ordering
a map. And the first time I actually managed to crack that map open was
in the parking lot.
Anyhow, according to the
map the Virginia Creeper Trail doesn't start at the parking lot of Whitetop
Station, but actually begins a little less than a mile southeast of the parking lot at
the Virgnia/North Caroling state line. Even though we were only planning
to ride half of the trail that day, Andy and I agreed we had to at least start
at the beginning of the trail. So while all of our fellow shuttle riders
headed west, Andy, the kids, and I headed east.
It is fairly obvious by
the condition of the trail that most riders don't do this. While not in bad condition, it was fairly narrow in spots and there was some ducking under branches hanging over the trail.
We soon came to the North Carolina state line marked by a sign. My Garmin said it was about eight-tenths of a mile from Whitetop Station. Andy walked down the railroad grade just a bit while the kids giggled over being able to stand in two states at once.
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| The real beginning (or end) of the Virginia Creeper Trail! |
When we got back yesterday, Andy and I both tried to
find out why the trail doesn't extend into North Carolina, but there is not
much information to be had other than most of the railroad grade in NC was returned
to private land owners who don't want the trail running through their property.
I did find out that there was a geocache somewhere on the North Carolina
side and numerous ones along the rest of the trail. Again, I wish I had done a bit more research before our trip.
Now that we were at the
official start/end of the Virginia Creeper Trail, we could start our ride.
Chloe took the lead, followed by myself and Emma while Andy and Logan
kept an eye on us from the back. Very quickly we found ourselves back
Whitetop Station.
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| Tasting the apples at Whitetop Station. |
The Whitetop Station building is actually a slightly larger replica of the original building. (That building was torn down in 1977 when the rail line was abandoned.) Inside were an enthusiastic husband and wife volunteer team. (They told us their names and were probably wearing name tags, but unless you are shorter than me, I have a mental block when it comes to names.)
We chatted for a while, somehow the husband discovered Logan was a Cub Scout, and on our way out the kids noticed apple trees growing along the trail. Before you knew it, the husband had managed to pick apples for everybody to try. They weren't grocery store pretty and I had to convince Chloe that they were okay to eat, but boy were they delicious.
Finally we climbed on our bikes and really started riding. Actually "really started coasting" would probably be the better turn of phrase as riding from Whitetop to Damascus is pretty much all down hill. I personally gritted my teeth for the first couple of miles because my bike isn't a true mountain bike and I just knew I was either going to pop a tire or wipe out. (I ended up doing neither.)
There are numerous markers to read all along the trail and numerous places to stop and just enjoy the view. We even stopped at one point to enjoy the view of Whitetop Mountain from one of the many Christmas tree farms in this part of the Virginia.
After 3.5 miles of coasting, we rolled into Green Cove Station. Unlike Whitetop, the building in Green Cove is the original. Before exploring the inside of the station, we picked a picnic table to have a quick snack that turned into lunch.
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| Riding into Green Cove Station...perfect spot of a snack. |
The inside of Green Cove Station looks exactly like the general store from O Brother, Where Art Thou? During the railroad days, it was a post office, general store, and cargo location. I probably could have spent an hour in there looking at everything, but we hadn't managed to travel too far down the trail yet, so we climbed back on our bikes.
That is, we climbed on our bikes after a fellow cyclist took a picture of the kids and I. I always enjoy having at least one photo to prove I was there.
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| Look! I was there too!! |
Okay, this seems like a good stopping point. I will finish up with part three soon!
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