I had never heard of the Virginia Creeper trail until two weeks ago. My wife had heard about it and we have a place (we call it our Green Acres house. Porch falling in, one room we never go in, etc. Belonged to my wife's deceased great aunt who passed a dozen years ago or so and it sits empty) in the very northeast corner of Tennessee, so the trail is about an hour away for us. I tell you what, we'll never come up here again without a day on the trail!

So two weeks ago the wife and I rode it from Whitetop, where they shuttle you to, back down to Damascus, VA, a 17 mile ride. Great weather and a nice ride mostly on a very gradual downhill grade which suits the wife just fine. Today me and the daughter are back for prime time mountain colors and we rode the whole 34 miles into Abingdon, VA. Again, another perfect weather day. Peak colors. With my daughter. Doesn't get any better.

So a heads up for anyone near the TN, VA, NC junction, if you haven't ridden the Creeper trail, make it a day trip and do it! I wish it were closer to home where I could ride it more often, but we have a great greenway in Nashville and that will have to suffice. At least until we retire and I talk the wife into building on the hill here. I don't think that will take too much pressure

It's even better if you ride it up the hill then back down. As you said the grade is quite mild and my wife and I always ride up to Whitetop and back to Damascus. Try it, you'll like it!

That's likely what we'll do. That'd be a bit much for the wife, but when I come alone or with the daughter we could do that and save the shuttle fee. Plus get a better workout!

I posted a few photos in another Creeper Trail thread. You get to see a lot more when you are riding uphill at a slow speed.

Winston Link took a lot of photos of steam trains before they were replaced by diesel.

Green Cove Station looks exactly the same now.




He's noted for his night shots, made with a lot of flashbulbs in big reflectors.

Agree it's a nice trail! The bridges are nice. Seems like you have to stop and open a pasture gate or two??

Haha. Yeah, we turned around at the first gate and thought we had lost our way There are no gates from Whitetop to Damascus and no sign on the first gate, so we thought we had gone astray. Couldn't find another path though and asked a local out in his yard and he told us 'yeah, just open the gate and go on through!' 5 or 6 followed over the next many miles. Why don't they put a sign on the first gate? Heck, I don't know...

First time we rode it, I was on my hybrid. This time I brought the MTB. In retrospect, I think the hybrid was the best bike for the ride. It has no trouble on the mostly hard packed crushed rock and I'm more comfortable on it on a 30+ mile ride. It'll be the bike I bring back.

Have you thought about riding over to Abingdon?

We did ride into Abingdon. We were shuttled from there and rode back.