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Print Friendly MapThe South Fork New River Greenway offers a winding, paved pathway through the town of Boone, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Brookshire Park is at the northern end of the trail and Watauga High School is at the southern end. Midway, the nearly 2-mile trail heads under U.S. 421, providing a safe and covenient route for students to get from school to the park, where they can play tennis or soccer, or simply enjoy the open fields.
Parking is available towards the north end of the trail in Brookshire Park (250 Brookshire Road).
We had to put our car in the shop while on our Blue Ridge Parkway trip and there were no rental cars available in Boone, so we headed out on our bikes. We enjoyed the first part of this along a scenic brook, but the last section up a quite steep and muddy hill is better suited to mountain bikes.
This is a nice short, flat trail. Nice indoor permanent facilities (closed in winter). There is a link at the end of this trail to go up into the hills- really nice but steep start to it. You can veer off to the left and loop back to the main road (not highly traveled and fine for running) or keep going up to the top for great views of Boone - but be warned - it is a trek to get up there. The main, flat trail is great for biking or running - the hill trails I don't think would work for biking - at least not for the average biker.
This trail continues under Rt 421 on to a country road - if you follow that, it connects about a mile down to the Boone Greenway trails. All in all it is 4 miles - 8m round trip and makes for a nice, scenic long run.
I live in Boone NC. Finding a relatively level place to ride and walk can be a challenge in the mountains. The South Fork New River Greenway, along with its sister Boone Greenway provide a very nice trail system.
The New River Greenway, just completed the underpass under route 421 earlier this year. With this underpass, there is now easy and safe access from Brookshire park, north to the soccer fields, and south under US-421 and along a section of lightly traveled road, to the Boone Greenway. These two Greenways now provide a continuous 7 to 8 mile Greenway along the South Fork of the New River. Excellent for short bike rides or walking/running.
Side trails lead to some more hilly terrain. And the Rocky Knob Mountain Bike Park is only about a mile away.
I understand there are plans to extend the trail system south toward Blowing Rock and North towards Todd. I certainly hope these planned extensions are completed soon.
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