Fullcount

A couple of weekends ago, I finished my first century on the Virginia Capital Trail. This is one of the few areas in VA, where you can do a century on a paved trail that is completely separated from the main highway. It is safe enough that your grand kids could ride it.

They just recently finished the section from west of Charles City Courthouse all the way into Richmond. The completed trail now runs continuous from Jamestown to downtown Richmond. I started at the Charles City Courthouse trail head, rode west to Richmond, back again and still felt good, so rode to Jamestown and back.

For those of you riding the TransAm from Yorktown, you will pick up this route after you get off the Colonial Parkway and ride about 35 miles of it until you split off at Willis Church Road. No longer will you have to deal with the sand trucks as you will be on a completely paved and segregated path as you take USBRS 76 in eastern VA. Here are a few pictures:

thumpism 

Great to see a review of this trail. Nice pix! I have not had a chance to try it out yet but will definitely do so. There is surprisingly little info on the route specifics, despite the number of Google hits.

Fullcount

Well Thumpism, maybe it is time for a short description of the trail. The Capital Trail is one of my favorite, so maybe I can do one here. I usually ride from Jamestown west, so here goes.

Trail starts at the end of Jamestown Road in Williamsburg, VA just before you cross the ferry over to Surry. The Jamestown Festival Park is located here, so there is a huge parking lot for use at this trail head. You will see the beginning of the trail near the Kiosk located across the street from the Parking Lot. For those of you who are riding the Trans Am cross country trail from Yorktown, VA to Florence, Oregon - you will enjoy this new section as it is completely paved and off the main highway by about 10' on average. You will enjoy this off road path for 36 miles as you head west on the TransAm where it splits off at Willis Church Road - no more battling sand trucks on Hwy 5.

For the Cap riders, when you start off heading west, you will tuck in behind a subdivision for a section and will not see the highway at all, but rather meander through the woods on a raised wooden walkway. You will find a few nature walking trails that head off of the raised section, so if you have small kids, this is a great section to do some exploring. Continuing west, you will eventually come to Chickahominy Park where you can actually stop to camp, swim in the pool or to have a picnic (ice creme also!). This is a nice place sitting right on the river and a favorite stop off point for the east bound TransAm riders to stop before they end their ride in Yorktown. This park/campground has primitive spots for tent campers as well as a separate section for RV campers and groups. There is a golf driving range there also, but I doubt I would see any bikes pulling into this place with their clubs...but hey, you never know.

The next section is the 13 or 14 mile section that goes to Charles City County Courthouse. You start out with the biggest climb on the eastern section of the Cap Trail as you climb the bridge over the Chickahominy River (...and yes, a completely divided bike lane once more!). After the bridge, it is pretty flat and smooth. There is a convenience store (Sandy Point) midway on this section in case you need to pick up something to drink or snack before you get to Charles City. Once in Charles City, there is a restaurant (Culls Grill) that serves great food - highly recommended. It is the only true sit down restaurant until you get nearer to Richmond. One thing about Charles City County Courthouse: This is the best trail head in the center section. There is a bathroom here that they keep open 24 hours for changing your cloths, doing your business and plenty of parking on both sides of the bath house. There are also some historic buildings here so do some exploring.

Continuing west, you will go through some corn fields before you finally come up on the Berkeley trail head parking / picnic area. This trail head is tucked away from the main highway and you actually get off on a low impact road for about 100 yards to get to this parking area. Once at this trail head, you can take another low impact road to Berkeley Plantation. All along this Cap Trail, you will see a scattering of colonial plantations that are open for visitation, so if you are coming to this area for the ride, don't forget to take some time and visit one or two plantations - there are about 6 or 7 along this route.

From this point continuing west, you are on the newest section of trail. You will pass a few more plantations, pass the "Add a Rock" monument, the turn off for the TransAm / USBR 76 at mile marker 36 and finally arrive in Varina Park. This park sits across the street from a Dairy Queen and a very important stopping point for my ice cream appetite. The park is geared primarily to cyclist with bathroom facilities, parking and picnic areas. This park is right next to I-295 and a perfect spot for those in Richmond heading east to start from. Of course, if you are heading west, you still have another 10 miles or so before you come to the western terminus.

When you leave Varina Park heading west, you will leave Hwy 5 for about three miles as the Cap Trail follows Four Mile Creek through some woods. You will go under I-295 on this section and eventually come to the only spot on the trail where you have to ride on the highway for about 300 yards. You will take a left at this road (low traffic and wide shoulder) and see where the Cap Trail picks up after 300 yards heading west. You will eventually see Hwy 5 again and follow this into Richmond. This is the one section where I would say that parents need to monitor their kids safety. The pathway is segregated from the highway, but there are a lot more driveways that you have to cross and as a result, the risk rises somewhat as folks are pulling out of a drug store or convenience store.

There is a great Bar B Que joint on this section of the trail, look for the signs as the owner is definitely cyclist friendly. You can get a great sandwich and sit with you bike outside. The final push into Richmond will bring some great views of the city and a lot of history as you pass the old Yuengling Brewery turned into Rocketts Landing and the section called Tobacco Row. Look for the old smokestacks and warehouses where the farmers used to market their wares. You finally end your 53 mile journey at the entrance to Canal Street and levy door.

If you get a chance to make the journey, you will not be disappointed. Enough to explore for multiple trips.

BigAura

You can view the route or get a GPX file from my site bikegpx.us (totally free)

to view:

• select group --> Rails to Trails
• select select route --> Virginia Capital Trail

to see satellite view:

• click satellite on left-middle of screen

to see street view:

• drag the little-man-icon from the left to the point on the route you want to see

to download:

• click view GPX
• click download

just view here

thumpism 

Great resource! Thanks for the info. Gonna have to try our trail and many others now that I found that.

Philly Tandem

Great write-up, @Fullcount! Thanks! We were down in Williamsburg New Year's week 2015-15 and rode the section from Jamestown to Chickahominy Park on New Year's day. It was chilly, but a nice ride. We hope to get down and do the entire trail one of these days, probably as an overnight trip.

thumpism 

Finally got a chance to try out the Capital Trail on Saturday. My bro-in-law is retiring soon and wants to do the TransAm ride with me so we did a short ride to see if we're even remotely compatible on bikes and it turns out we are. He loaded his new Jamis Aurora with his new Thule bags filled with pavers to get an idea of riding with weight on a bike. I rode the RB-T I bought for the trip. Here we are at a rest stop. We'll probably do an overnight to the Chickahominy campground and possibly a GAP/C&O ride for shakedowns.

alan s 

Looks like a nice weekend out and back ride. Any recommendations on parking in Richmond and camping in the Jamestown/Williamsburg area?

thumpism 

There is surely parking in downtown Richmond but I'm not sure how I'd like leaving a vehicle overnight in town. The trail begins at Great Shiplock Park. I parked at Four Mile Creek trailhead just outside I-295, a nice little spot with good access from all directions but, once again, not sure about the security of overnight parking.

There's a campground where the trail and Route 5 cross the Chickahominy River about 30 miles east of Four Mile (40 from downtown Richmond), and probably other commercial campgrounds in the Williamsburg/James/Yorktown area (never camped there so don't know), ones like KOA and the like.

tarwheel 

Thanks for the ride report. I should check that out, as Richmond is only about a 2 hour drive from Raleigh.

If you are ever heading my way, the Neuse River Trail east of Raleigh is about 30 miles end-to-end from the Falls Lake dam to the town of Clayton. It also connects with several other trails in the Raleigh greenway system, and you can easily ride 100+ miles on trails away from traffic.

https://www.raleighnc.gov/parks/cont...iverTrail.html

Neuse River Trail | North Carolina Trails | TrailLink.com

hokie cycler

You could park at Rockett's Landing which is very near the Richmond end of the trail. There is a surface lot there that I would trust.

As for camping, the Chickahominy Riverfront Park near the Williamsburg end is nice. I camped there a few times with my kids years ago and it's pretty nice. From there it's a pretty easy ride into Colonial Williamsburg with only a short stretch with no trail or bike lane.

DropBarFan

Thanks for the post, looks like fun. Virginia has so many nice area/roads for biking but some areas it's nice to have a dedicated path. A few years ago I drove down the Colonial Parkway & liked the retro-style of no lane marking.

Fullcount

FYI - There is a biker hostel available just north of the trail at Willis Methodist Church where the Tran Am splits off at mm 36. You will ride about 3 miles before you get there. Can't miss the Bikes Welcome sign.