Last year, a RideTHISbike.com reader and folding bike owner (Jim Lukens) wrote that he was planning to go bicycling on the Virginia Creeper Trail. I caught up with Jim over the weekend. He did get to ride the trail in September on his folding bike and here are his comments about the ride.

"I went up in September and stayed in one of the B&Bs in Damascus (Virginia) to scout out the area. I took a shuttle to the top, then rode back to Damascus, then traded in my rental bike and rode another 16 miles (8 down, 8 back) on my Downtube folding bike. I got so enamored with the place that I made my family go back a couple weeks later (they have a great playground for the kids in Damascus) and I'm trying to schedule some spring weekends to get back up there with some of my buddies and maybe do an Out and Back from Abingdon with some camping up in the state forest. I think I found my little corner of heaven. I'm not sure how I'd write a review of the trail or the place other than to just rant over and over 'this place is great'."

Jim also mentioned that some of the local creeks near the Creeper appear to offer good potential for whitewater kayaking.

Thanks Jim, for the info. I'll definitely keep the Virginia Creeper Trail in my upcoming rides to do list.

By the way, another site that focuses on the Virginia Creeper is VaCreeperTrail.com. Although it's not the "official" site for the trail, it does offer useful lodging and travel planning info.

I'm always looking for first hand reports about bicycling on long distance bike trails. If you rode a trail recently, write me about the experience using my email link at the bottom of this page. If I publish your info, I'll be glad to give you the credit.

Happy trails. L

Labels: bike trail, places to go bicycling, rail trail, Virginia Creeper Trail