Biking 7/24 on the Virginia Creeper Trail, Hiking Backbone Falls

Biking on the Virginia Creeper Trail                                             18.7 miles biking, .55 miles hiking

We're on our way up to Rockport, Massachusetts and this was our first 'adventure'.   We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Bristol and got up early to drive over to Damascus.  We had breakfast at a local diner and then headed to the bike shop.  After being fitted for bikes and helmets, we loaded into a van and drove up the mountain for a good 45 minutes.  Once you're at the top of the mountain, you simply follow the trail down.  It is 17 miles all downhill from Whitetop Station into Damascus, Virginia. It's absolutely beautiful.  I think I pedaled maybe twice and that was to get back up onto the trail.  We passed other people on the trail and stopped often to take photos.  I highly recommend the Virginia Creeper Trail!

Behind the bike shop.

A church in town.

We rented our bikes from Adventure Damascus.

This is where the trail starts.  And do you like my shirt?

 

On the way out of town, we stopped here for a short hike at Backbone Rock Trail.

These steps led up to a waterfall view.

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The small waterfall.

Kayak7/17 - Piney River

We met with the Paddling Buds group. We shuttled cars and took the kayaks down the wooden slide.  There's a small creek that leads into the river.  We had to walk our kayaks down this small creek as the water was very low.  This was a nice group of people, a lot knew each other and they were definitely out to enjoy the river.  We stopped to get into the water after only about 20 minutes, and then we stopped again in about 30 minutes for lunch.  Along the way, we passed a juvenile bald eagle and I was able to get a good picture.  Shortly afterwards, we went around a turn and there was an adult bald eagle sitting high up in the tree.  On the way home, we stopped in Dickson for ice cream.  We each had coconut/chocolate chip ice cream that was absolutely delicious!