You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.
– ANsel adams
As I indicated in my previous post, I had a lot of things planned for the week of Fall Break. I took my daughter to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg for two nights on the first weekend. We had a lot of fun doing things we have done before and having new experiences. During the weekdays I was off of work I alternated between doing almost nothing at home and spending time hiking and mountain biking. One of the days I spent out I went to an Alabama state park I had never been to before. On this day I took things easy, hiking some in the morning and riding my bike just a short distance in the afternoon. In between, I even set up my hammock right in front of a small waterfall and had lunch. After all of that, I explored a wilderness area with some decent waterfalls that I took some pictures of to add to my galleries. The other day I spent outdoors I rode my mountain bike all day. I explored some new trails I had not ridden yet here in the Chattanooga area, including the relatively new gravity/flow trail that is the first in the area.
However, the other thing I did was check something off of my bucket list. I finally took the time to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail that goes from Abingdon to Damascus to White Top. This is something I have wanted to do for years and the opportunity was there so I decided not to postpone it anymore. If you are not aware, the Virginia Creeper Trail is an old railroad line that has been repurposed into a multiuse trail for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. It is 34 miles long from end to end, but many people only explore the half from White Top to Damascus because it has just enough descent that you almost never have to pedal and definitely don’t have to exert yourself, even if you are not a seasoned rider. The trail is wide, unpaved yet packed down most of the time, and beautiful. It follows a mountain stream throughout the first 17 miles, and then the second 17 miles it alternates between following a river and cutting through farmland. At some points you even have to make sure the gate closes back behind you so that cows don’t wander off the private property you are being allowed to traverse across. There are several scenic vista views, and you ride over dozens of railroad trestles. I thought and had hoped that a weekend right in the middle of October would be the perfect time to go, and while the weather was almost perfect (it was quite cold starting at the top of the mountain in the morning), the color of the trees had not reached its peak yet. It was still absolutely amazing, and an experience I would like to repeat again and again. In fact, already want to go back, but I may consider not riding the entire distance each time I go, or at least not all in one day. It wasn’t difficult, but you really don’t pay attention to the time and I actually didn’t rest as much as I could have and finished too quickly.
The town of Damascus in the middle is pretty, and very small. It does have several bike shops (more than Abingdon actually because most people only do half of the trail), and little restaurants to stop at if you want to take a longer break right in the middle. Abingdon, on the other hand, is almost like a big small town. It has a revitalized downtown area, plenty of nice restaurants, and a lot of beauty. One of the restaurants I had already decided I wanted to eat at was not open for dine in unfortunately, but we did find another place close that turned out to be really good. I had an incredible buffalo fried chicken sandwich, that was probably even more delicious because I rode 34 miles that day and didn’t eat an actual lunch. We also ate at Luke’s Cafe where I had a bacon-wrapped hot dog. This is another restaurant I knew I wanted to go to before planning the trip. When I lived in NYC, there was a place that would do bacon-wrapped deep-fried hot dogs and they are still the absolute best hot dogs I have ever had. Luke’s grilled their hot dogs but they are still very good. Hopefully next time I make the trip to ride the Virginia Creeper Trail more restaurants will be back to normal operation so I can experience different places. On this particular trip, I stopped at two different Tennessee state parks in order to break up the drive even though it isn’t super long. I just did a small amount of hiking and taking photographs to stretch my legs. Enjoy some of the sights from my trip below, and if you have any interest in the outdoors or riding bikes…plan your trip to do the Virginia Creeper Trail!! It will be worth it.
