24 Miles on the creeper trail

 

Fries VA to Troutdale VA

Tuesday May 19 2026

This morning we departed Fries Virginia and drove to Raccoon Branch Campground near Troutdale Virginia. This is a continued journey on Hwy 58; The road we’ve been traveling since Martinsville and a road we’ve traveled many times before.



Our purpose for coming to this far western corner of Virginia is to visit Millie’s sister Betty. We had reserved our favorite site (#10) in the campground and set up the RV quickly. The day was still young, so we drove over to Betty’s house and visited with Betty and her son Jason. We sat outside in rockers on the long porch and caught up with family news. Jason has recently had a major operation, and we were glad to see he was on the mend. Soon we were discussing world problems and our solutions for them.  Each of us had some good ideas, none of them could be repeated under oath of course. lol

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Back at the RV, we used our Starlink internet for the first time at this location. Raccoon Branch is a cell phone dead zone. There is absolutely no cell service by any carrier in this area.  By switching our phones to WiFi calling we were able to make calls and texts via starlink.

 

Wednesday May 20 2026

We returned to Betty’s house and enjoyed having lunch with them. Afterwards we took up positions on the porch rockers and fixed whatever is wrong with the world that we didn’t get to yesterday! You name the issue; we have the solution!  

In reality the world is still in turmoil, but I was able to repair a couple sections of the porch railing that had come loose!

On our way over to Bettys earlier today we had noticed a large plot had been cleared at Grindstone Campground. The Federal Campground has been closed for years after the septic system had failed. It appears they may finally be fixing it. Hopefully the campground will reopen someday. I would have liked to say, “would reopen soon” but this is the Federal Government we’re talking about.

 

Thursday May 21 2026

I dropped Millie off at Betty’s a little after 10am, they are going shopping today. I then drove to Abingdon. The western terminus of the Virginia Creeper Trail is in town.  The 34-mile Rail-to-Trail that runs from White top mountain, down through Damascus and on to Abingdon. The upper train was heavily damaged in Hurricane Helene and is still closed, but they are diligently working on it.

12 miles of the Creeper, out and back for 24 mile ride


I rode the Lower trail from Abingdon for 12 miles which is the best part, from there to Damascus it runs along Highway 58 so there’s not much to see. When I stopped under the Highway 58 bridge for a snack before my return, it started spitting rain. Most of the return is under a canopy of trees so I didn’t think the rain would be much bother, but soon it was hard enough that I had to but my raincoat on. Between my rain gear and the canopy of trees it was still a pleasant ride in the country. In a way the rain made it better, because it sure drove the other bikers and hikers off the trail.

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I had the path all to myself with the exception on one grizzled old man under a poncho, we stood in the light rain for a few minutes and praised the trail and the pleasantries of being out in nature. He went on towards Damascus, and I continued my ride back to Abingdon. Out and back for a total of 24 miles, another nice ride!

 

 


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