By Andy Greenough on July 21, 2010
My family just rode the New River Trail for the first time. We have previous experience on the Creeper and Blackwater Trails. This is now our favorite trail. We stayed in the wonderful Whistle Stop Inn in Allisonia. Just feet from the trail and a great view of the river. The Holt's have done an excellent job of preserving this bit of history. We were able to rescue one rider with a flat tire and gave a tour of the Inn to another family riding through. The area is beautiful and peaceful as well. Everyone that we encountered was quite nice.
We took a short ride across the Hiwassee River Bridge and back our first day. I wish we had ventured on to the town of Draper as well. On our second day, we waited out a hard and steady morning rain by having brunch in the always delicious Cracker Barrel. The Foster Falls shuttle service was very kind in letting us postpone our departure until the afternoon. They shuttled us to Galax where we began our enchanting ride along the Chestnut Creek and New River. We rode the 28 miles to Foster Falls in about 4-1/2 hours. This included numerous stops to take pictures and enjoy the views. Our 10 & 12 year old children were real troopers in completing this longer than our usual ride.
What a well maintained trail. Our helmets off to the Park Service/volunteers for doing such an incredible job! We only saw two pieces of trash the entire trip. Other than a VERY recent beaver downing a small tree across the path, it was clear and recently mowed.
We are already planning a return trip with other friends to tackle the entire trail. I highly recommend this trip to anyone that wants a peaceful escape to enjoy nature.
By dzj5r1 on May 28, 2010
I am manager of the New River Trail Cabins in Galax, VA. I have many guests who have ridden to Fries from our Galax entrance. Come and enjoy!
Jennifer
NewRiverTrailCabins.com
By rickford on November 19, 2009
According to a news release form the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation:
The trail will be closed from mile marker 39.8 (Fries junction) to mile marker 42.3 (Gambetta Road) from now until May 1, 2010 to restore the tunnel on that section.
I spoke with a member of the trail maintainence staff and they actually hope to have the work done faster than that, but they wanted to use a safe estimate of May 1 on the completion date.
Rick Banks