Wytheville, VA - New River Trail (4/5 - 4/11/24)

Not far from our last stop we headed over to ride the New River Trail. This is not a HoF Rail Trail, but probably could be. It was very similar to the Virginia Creeper, but almost 2 times longer. Here we stayed at the Wytheville KOA Holiday. This place seemed popular with overnighters coming off I-81 nearby, but did have many amenities common to Holiday KOAs.

At 58 miles long and with some portions closed for bridge work, we rode 62 miles in the two days we had available to ride. This trail is the longest linear state park in Virginia.

The trestles were also plentiful on this trail.

This trail also had two tunnels. One of the tunnels was closed due to the bridge construction. This tunnel was dark, but not too long that you needed a headlight.

This was a familiar scene with whitewater along the trail, was along most of the trail we rode. It was very relaxing to hear the rushing water along the ride.

The New River flows mostly north from NC across VA into WV where it eventually flows in the Ohio river.

Here near Fries Junction, you can see the bridge going south to Galax. Fries Junction is where the two southern spurs of the trail meet.

One day we rode from Fries to Galax on the south side of the trail. That was about a 36 mile ride round trip.

The second day we rode from Foster Falls towards Draper. Along the way are some primitive campgrounds to use if you want to bikepack the trail. Due to the rain coming in, we only rode about 26 miles this time.

Another long bridge on the northeast side of the trail. This picture was taken just after the eclipse that was not visible for us due to the cloud cover.

Foster Falls is near the middle of the trail and it has camping, an Inn, and other amenities.

At one of the restrooms along the way, I can't believe our society has come to the point to need to post signs on how to use a bathroom.

Along the trail you'll also see the Jackson Shot Tower. It might be the first one built in the U.S., This tower resides right above the trail. The structure was built on a cliff and goes down another 75' where the shot was retrieved after forming.

In our campground, we also were visited by Guinea Fowl who acted wild even though they can be raised. Our next stop we move to Maryland to ride a very long trail, so stayed tuned for my next post.