A week after the Governor shut down Virginia, we were still figuring out how to live our lives. For cyclists, the answer was to ride.

Foster Falls offers a start to one of the most scenic sections of the New River Trail with many bridges and even a tunnel.

All the jokes are out there in the cycling community — excuses really — “Social distancing by bike.”

Anything to get wheels down after a long winter. Anything to escape the four walls of home during the coronavirus outbreak.

And even the governor, who told us to stay at home said it was ok to go outside and exercise.

So we went.

Foster Falls on the New River Trail

Foster Falls generates fond memories. We took the kids there for car camping when they were younger. We slept in a big tent and fished and tubed in the river.

When I was a marathon runner, the campground served as an out and back base for training on the New River Trail, which is softer than pavement and offers lots of shade. Perfect for my 20-mile training days.

I’ve paddled my canoe from the Falls to Claytor Lake, fishing and enjoying the scenery.

What better place to vent a little COVID-19 frustration?

Riding the New River Trail

Mary and I joined our neighbors, Richard and Sandy Conway and friend Dave Keilman for the ride.

For the record, we all drove separate cars. (And, once on the trail, we stayed a healthy distance apart.)

The trailhead at Foster Falls was open and we gladly paid the 7-dollar parking fee and unloaded. The little store was closed, so no restrooms — but thankfully there was a porta potty.

Just sayin’

Dave and the Conways brought their older road bikes fitted with 28mm tires, while Mary and I rode our gravel bikes. (40mm & 35mm tires respectively)

I thought the trail might be too soft for their tires, but it was no problem. In fact, they were a bit faster than the gravel bikes. (I have to admit the riders may have had more to do with that than the tires.) The point is that their bikes were just fine on the hard packed stone dust.

New River Trail Scenery

I’ve cycled the entire fifty-plus miles of the trail over the years, but this is one of my favorite sections.

We rode south and immediately passed the Shot Tower, which was used back in the day to make musket balls by pouring molten lead through a grate or sieve. That caused it to make “drops” of lead, which were captured in a vat of water 150 feet below, forming perfectly round musket balls – or “shot.”

Look up and to your left on the way out to see it, or drive your car to the well-marked parking lot and take the brief tour. It’s fascinating.

A New River Trail Tunnel

About 4 miles from the start we passed through a tunnel, which is just long enough to be noteworthy if not scary. It certainly adds to the interest of the ride.

A bit further down the trail we crossed the New River on a long trestle. It’s just a bridge right?

Well, no.

If there was no rail trail – if the railroad hadn’t built the bridge, and if ensuing generations hadn’t found a way to convert all of this to a trail, do you think for a minute that localities would build a trestle over a large river so you could ride you bike there on a Saturday?

Ha!

It’s easy to take this for granted. Just a place on your ride where the gravel becomes a wooden surface for a few hundred yards before it returns to gravel.

If the journey is the destination then this is a part of the trek when you need to look up and realize the opportunity.

Not to mention the view of the river.

The New River Trail stays interesting.

We rolled along passing lots of picnic tables and the occasional porta potty. Many of them were in use. (The picnic tables. 🙂 )

The trail takes you over numerous smaller bridges and past some rest areas. There are jagged rock cut outs, where crews blasted away the rock to make way for the original tracks. The river is always present and always beckoning me to come back with my fly rod.

We planned to ride about 20 miles total for ten out and ten back. Buck Dam appeared ahead on our left on the way out, so we extended to 11 miles so we could see the dam.

Again — it’s interesting in that it’s a bit of an interruption from the natural scenic beauty of the trail. It sounds odd — but every once in a while you want to see a tunnel or a trestle or even a dam.

You know, you can only take so much beauty.

The dam is a hydro project near Ivanhoe and dates back to about 1928. Paddlers should know that there is a portage around the dam.

Back at Foster Falls

Foster Falls is about in the middle of the New River Trail State Park.

Like most of the trail the section is essentially flat. The Garmin on my bike never indicated more than a degree of up or down.

At least not while I was looking.

Strava says we only climbed about 500 feet, so there couldn’t have been too much uphill.

Back at the campground, we all grabbed the PB & J sandwiches we had packed, while Dave supplied each of us a cold beer. We spread out at a large picnic table and enjoyed a nice spring afternoon by the New River.

The virus had thrown the world a serious curve. But mother nature had provided a rare, short-sleeved day in March. At least we took advantage of it.

There are many beautiful sections of the NRT. Click here for another of my favorites, that includes an amazing breakfast!

COVID-19 Note. As of this writing, Virginia State Parks remain open. Click here for a link to the most updated information on the New River Trail and other State Parks.

The Foster Falls Campground is tentatively closed to overnight camping until June 10, 2020 — but may be subject to change. Here is a link to the latest on camping at Foster Falls