For Memorial Day, Alexis and I tried something different. She came up with and idea to use the van while we had the chance and also shuttle it up closer to PA.
We drove up convoy style with the van and the truck. We drop the truck off at the Foster Falls State Park. Then we made the drive up to Galax, VA. We started on the trailhead right in down town. This part follows chestnut creek, until it meets up with the New River. The trail was a very gradual and nicely up kept railroad bed. We wound slightly down hill, (basically completely flat) through pasture fields and woodlands. The creek was very pretty with several waterfalls and deep pools. Just before the end of the 1st portion we were treated to and other tunnel to bike through.
We cross many large trestle bridges on the trail. Each had their own character. At one point we came across a horse down situation and then had to bike multiple miles to get cell service to reach park rangers. The new river has several really nice beaches far away from the masses.
28 miles later we made to the van at Fosters Falls. A quick rise and ip in the river, and we made our way back up to the Galax. We stopped at a brewery/countryclub and had dinner. Once we gather up the van, we found a spot to camp on national forest land for the night. It was kinda of a crap shoot to find a spot, but we managed.
The next day we met Tom and Veronica, we figured out the logistics of cars and bike and put together another shuttle session. Tom Alexis and I took the bikes down stream another 12 miles and Veronica took beemer in the Van to pick us up.
This section was further away from the stream but it had some nice cliffs lines and was shaded.
