Find the top rated cross country skiing trails in Virginia, whether you're looking for an easy short cross country skiing trail or a long cross country skiing trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a cross country skiing trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
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A beautiful 3+ mile paved trail along the New River for walkers and bikers. This trail is in the City or Radford but it feels like you are in the countryside. Don't miss the section that turns away from the river towards "Connellys run" - a small stream that runs to the New. This section runs through a small valley with wild flowers, forest trees and plants all around and includes an arched railroad underpass, a tunnel under Lee Highway and 3 small cool wooden bridges that cross the stream. There are unpaved side trails off the paved trial that are available to explore the mountainside. Nice restaurants for food & drink and hotels nearby.
We’re full-time RVers staying at the Newport News Park Campsites for a few nights. What a pleasant surprise to find this awesome and easily accessible trail near our campsite. Once we got on the trail so glad we turned off at the George Washington Headquarters sign. We then enjoyed a “Historic Tour” of the Colonial National Historic Park (NPS). Easy, flat loop.
If biking, Afton is a better starting point than the West start. It's neat to be able to basically coast the entire tunnel, as the grade helps considerably.
My wife and I rode the trail recently on our fat tire ebikes. Beautiful late winter day, almost 70 degrees. The trail was well maintained, almost entirely flat. The first 1/2 mile is not that great, another reviewer noted it passed by an old mine site. After that, once the trail follows the river, it was very nice. The trail was not crowded on the day we went (not a weekend). We passed several bikers and some families walking with strollers. The trail is plenty wide for passing, or being passed, in either direction. There was some "evidence" of horses, but we saw no one horseback riding on the day we went. Nice, comfortable ride, we'll go back.
This is a relatively easy trail for all ages and abilities. West side from parking to entrance is more difficult but east side has very little grade to entrance. As others mentioned, parking is limited, but hikers are coming out regularly so it’s not much to wait for a space. We were there on Sunday afternoon and waited just 10 minutes for a parking space. Great family activity.
The tunnel requires a light of some sort because while you can see the end, you are walking for about .84 miles in darkness. The flashlight is a nice addition to the hike, though, as you are able to see the differences in the tunnel as you progress from one end to the other. The parking lots on both the east and west end of the trail are small, but the west end does offer more room. It is also a steeper trail so keep that in mind; you will need to all back up unless someone meets you on the other side.
My wife and I rode this trail on March 9-10-11. It was Straight as an arrow and Flat as a pancake! My wife and I always explore new rail-trails as we travel... Normally we do 6 miles out and back. But this time, my wife said she was willing to go to the end of the trail! We parked @ the main parking lot right off of Hwy 17. Each day we did a round-trip of a bit over 17miles! Two beautiful bathrooms about 3.5miles apart. Two awesome JD 6600 Combines and some other old farm vehicles hidden in the woods! This is a beautiful and serene riding location at any time of the day! We stayed @ the HIExpress-Chesapeake; about 8 miles away. The only bear we saw was Ches A. Peake, the wooden mascot @ the trail entrance!
From Start point (Allegheny outfitters) to Smith Bridge (16 miles round trip???). This trail is well maintained, and though the portion we did, does not really ride along the river the entire time, the river is indeed very pretty. There was not a ton of wildlife or distinct features, but we did find a very cool old abandoned bridge to explore. Look promising for kayaking etc.
Beautiful and easy trail around the lake. Scenery is beautiful too and not too busy.
Not a clear connection from Boardwalk Trail but with Trail Link maps, you’ll find it. Very cool to go over the big bridge. Then follows the busy highway thru residential and business areas including the Aquarium! Partially shaded. Sometimes bumpy from roots or uneven sidewalks.
I ride this trail regularly. First of all you must have a hybrid, gravel or mountain bike to traverse several sections of gravel. My favorite section is between West Springfield and Route 50 because you pass by beautiful Lake Accotink.
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