I should have gone earlier in the day as it was getting dark.. but not an ideal path. Some broken glass, some sketch vehicles idling, you're not enclosed by greenery but usually next to a neighbohood street. No significant hills and it is a wide path, like at least 5' wide.
Had to go around some truck parked on the path where some kids were scooping up sand for their own use...
Maybe its fabulous in the early morning?!

First time walking it,great walk.Beautiful Trail

Thanks

Great trail Love it

This .5 mile stretch is part of an entire 2 mile “loop”. This piece it’s self is awesome, but connecting this trail to Bakers Creek Greenway requires walking along a high traffic road.

I love this trail! I’ll definitely be frequenting it more often. Perfect for kids! It connects through 3 other trails & takes you through multiple parks.

Parking at the visitor center you walk down the hill through the field cross a foot bridge to reach the trail. Turning left the trail is paved and leveluntil you reach Old Town Rd. There the trail gets very much more strenuous. With a lot of hills which includes several steep stairs in the woods where most of the trail is dirt. You go through a lit tunnel under Silas Pkwy. The trail ends about 1/4 mile further at a locked private gate.

If you start Galax you will be rewarded with great warmup to Fries Junction and fantastic bridge over New River. Go for it and ride to park headquaters at Foster Falls. The shot tower was interesting. Lots of horses on trial near Ivanoe- so ride careful ;-). Too bad you cant ride across dams on river. Relax and Enjoy. RustyWieland

We had such a great time bike-packing the New River Trail State Park. We took the Northbound route from Galax. We parked our car in Pulaski and got a shuttle from New River Outdoors. They were fantastic! Once we arrived in Galax its a short 2-3 miles to Cliffview Campground where we spent the first night. We stayed at site #3 which was possibly the best spot in the campground. The bathrooms were clean and there was drinking water there. They even had fire wood for $6 a bundle. Each site had posts for hammocks as well and site areas were large with a picnic table and hanger for food and bags. On day two we headed out toward Foster Falls. We stopped A LOT along the way to take in views and read signs. There are bathrooms and water sources along the way. It was a VERY leisurely ride. Most of the trail is very flat and had some low grade downhills. There are a few primitive first come first served campsites near Fries. Definitely stop off at Shot Tower and take a tour. They also have heated bathrooms there. Foster Falls Campgrounds were a little bigger than Cliffview. They have two camp stores with snacks, gear and more. Firewood is also available at the store. All the sites also included hammock posts, food hook and large areas for tents. We stayed at site #9 which was right on the river and had amazing views. Water and pit toilet were available but a little walk back up to the parking area. Day 3 we headed back to the car in Pulaski. This section doesn't have as many views or bridges but the bridges it does have are higher and have beautiful trusses. You are mostly riding through properties and towns on this section. If you have a chance you should stop off at Bryson's General Store in Draper for some snacks and BBQ. It was a nice treat. The last 7 miles or so have a slight incline. So just be prepared to constantly peddle. Up until that point the majority of the trip was downhill. The entire trail is extremely easy. Oh! Also if you like to mountain bike you should definitely plan to stop off at the new mountain biking trails as well. It's definitely worth the time. We only did the first 1 mile loop but we were glad we did! We are definitely planning to come back at some point with our wives and children.

My husband and I rode the New River Trail in two days / segments. We started both days at the New River Trail State Park - Foster Falls, as it is essentially the mid-point of the trail. On day 1, we rode from Foster Falls north to Pulaski. This was an easy ride with views of the river for most of the trip. We crossed several bridges and trestles on this trip including a large one near Hiwassee. Soon after crossing under I-81, we came to the split for the Dora Trail. If taking the Dora, be aware there is a somewhat steep grade with a few washout channels in it, so watch your speed. We arrived at Heritage Park in Pulaski right on time for a picnic lunch. The ride back was also pleasant and we encountered several trail users, bicycles and walkers. On day 2, we again began at Foster Falls and rode to the Galax / Fries junction. Since we had done our sightseeing in Galax earlier on our trip, we rode to and through the tunnel on the way to Galax, then turned around and continued on the Fries (pronounced 'freeze') trail spur. The trail ends in a very nice little park with a small café. We ate here with a group of other bicyclists and exchanged stories and trail recommendations. The park is right on the New River and has a beautiful view of waterfalls.

The southern half of the New River Trail is much more scenic than the northern half, in my opinion. The New River is possibly the most scenic river we have ridden to date, especially near Buck Dam and Buck Reservoir. We rode past several historical markers like the rock crusher at Ivanhoe, and a large concrete wall structure we determined to be the lead mine. We also encountered several horses on the southern half of the trail – a first for us on our biking adventures (we have our own horses at home, so dodging the ‘horse piles’ was nothing new). There is trail access to the historic Shot Tower as well, roughly 2 miles from Foster Falls (with tower tours on select dates). The entire trail was very well maintained, and we encountered maintenance crews in several places. For reference, we ride Trek bikes (his is a Merlin mountain bike and mine is a Verve2 hybrid). It was a nine-hour drive for us to get to this trail, but the mountain views and scenery were well worth it to this ‘flatlander’. We highly recommend this trail.