//The Virginia Creeper Trail: the most scenic bike ride on the east coast?

The Virginia Creeper Trail: the most scenic bike ride on the east coast?

Following the route of an old railroad bed, the Virginia Creeper Trail is named for the steam engine that once chugged along it and for the Virginia Creeper vine that populates the area. With the abandonment of many railroads in the 1970s, a national movement gained momentum to convert train tracks into trails. A coalition of local citizens, government and the US Forest Service banded together to acquire the old railroad right-of-way, and thus the Creeper Trail was born in 1987.

One of 47 trestle bridges on The Virginia Creeper Trail.

The 34-mile multi-use trail begins in Abingdon, a popular access point at Mile Marker 0, and then carries on through rolling farmland to Damascus at Mile 15.5. From there, the Virginia Creeper winds up to its highest point at Whitetop Station, winding through Appalachian hardwoods and alongside cold mountain streams filled with native brook trout.