Saturday, April 25, 2009

Guest River Gorge Trail

Two days ago Doug and I took our bicycles to Guest River Gorge Trail, in the Jefferson National Forest, near Coeburn, Virginia. It was a perfect day weather-wise, and we wanted to take our bikes somewhere other than just our lane where we usually ride. The scenic, 5.8-mile long Guest River Gorge Trail follows the path of the old Southern railway.

As you travel down the trail, you can view small waterfalls and rock cliffs on your left . . .and the Guest River on your right.

Along the way, there were adjustments to be made.


Don't make fun of my "turtle head" helmet!

I'm so prone to falling that I felt more comfortable wearing protection. In fact, I DID fall - one time when I was dismounting! Thank goodness the bike was not moving, but I sure did! I lay on the bridge, my bike on top of me, and laughed at myself. (no picture of that here!)


Look at the house up on the cliff in the next picture. Can you imagine living there? What a gorgeous view those folks have!! I'm sure they are used to people taking pictures of their lovely abode. We never noticed it before, but we visited the trail in the summer when the leaves were on the trees.


We did a "self portrait," which is mostly a silhouette of us. There were few people on the trail that day so we had nobody to ask to take our picture for us.The trail ends at a bridge over the Guest River.

When we were all done, our legs felt like lead and spaghetti at the same time! We decided that we deserved a treat, so we stopped at the newly renovated Red Stone Drive-In, located outside of the Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, Virginia, and enjoyed a meal, followed by sundaes! Thus I replaced all of the calories that I burned on the bike ride!
We plan to take another bicycle ride at a park in the near future; BUT - we will make sure that the trail is nice and level! No more uphills for us!

5 comments:

  1. That is a very scenic trail. We have a wealth of trails by us that are great riding since they are on an old rail right-of-way --- hills are leveled out or tunneled for the trains. They call the nearest trail "Tunnel Trail" for the three tunnels it includes. It just isn't quite as scenic as yours.

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  2. That was a great day,.. and I'm sure you still were ahead on calories burned!

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  3. Aleta, You were in my old stomping grounds. Didn't you go through Big Stone Gap??? I've never been to Guest River --but I've been to Coeburn. I've also been to the Natural Tunnel area MANY times. Hope you enjoyed your day.

    By the way, that big home on the mountain is MINE. Why didn't you come up to see us?????? (Only in my dreams!!!! ha)

    Thanks for sharing!!!! The Southwest Virginia area is SO pretty.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. Thanks all of you for stopping by! Betsy, we traveled on route 58, then route 72 to get to it. I don't think we went through BS Gap. Oh yes, I love the Natural Tunnel park. I've taken out-of-state visitors there many times. We live not far from there, except we are in TN. They have some wonderful activities there.
    Oh, so that was YOUR house? Me oh my! When I see a house like that that I love and that isn't mine, I say well, I wouldn't want to live that close to the road, or well, they have all shade and no sun, or something, but with that one, I see nothing "wrong"! I assume they have flat land behind it for a garden.
    Hey, Betsy, do you know of any FLAT trails around here where we could bicycle?

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  5. What a pretty bike ride you had. When we go on motorcycle rides, there's always a food/treat stop involved too.

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