PART SEVEN-The Abingdon end of the trail.

 Part seven – Abingdon to Damascus

August 20 2024

Millie delivered me and the bike to the beginning of the Virginia Creeper trail in Abingdon Virginia this morning. The trail is a 34-mile multi-use path that follows an old railroad bed through scenic farmland and mountains. The most popular section is the 17 mile downhill run from the top of Whitetop mountain to the town of Damascus. Being conveniently close to Millie’s sister’s homestead we have biked down the mountain six times. It is a thrill I recommend to anyone young or old. 

I peeled off the layers as the day warmed up.

Today I would be biking the relatively flat section from the opposite end, beginning in Abington and biking seventeen miles to Damascus. As with almost any subject nowdays,  Youtube gives you a primer on what to expect, and that’s good for preparation but you won’t know the trail till you ride it!

First some facts.

I hadn’t expected all the other people using the trail on this end, but it does start in downtown Abingdon. In the beginning there was a variety of trail users and more of them than I expected.   I don’t mean it was crowded but you were usually in sight of someone for the first couple miles. The further along you went the fewer companions you had.

 

There were walkers, singly and in small groups. Most of these were not thru hikers, they were just going out some distance and returning to the entrance. Yes you can take your leased dog on the trail and there were a number of them, all of them walked by singular women hikers. I wonder if they were just stuck with the family dog duty or were the dogs security?  At about the two mile marker all the walkers had turned and were returning to Abingdon.

Bikers all tended to be all transiting the trail to Damascus. About two thirds of them were in pairs with about half man/women pairs and the rest men/men. All the single bikers were men. I also encountered one runner who was 91 years old and one women on a horse.

Horse

I think all the mixed pair bikers were on E-bikes. I just don’t understand this. E-bikers don’t pedal much, if at all, so there’re not getting any exercise. They also go way too fast to see much of their surroundings, why are they even bothering to do it? 

Next post will be my experience on the trail