Miracle on the W and OD Trail

The Herndon Moose Lodge #2274 welcomes all to the W & OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

Attention, ladies of the Washington region:  I have an unbelievable find. One that is astonishing and shocking.  

Ladies(shhhhh), I have found the place in the D.C. area, maybe the only place, where men exceed women by a wide margin. By a ratio of, like and gulp, 4 to 1. I counted and thus, I know.  

This was one.  To protect the safety of all, most shout out "on your left" when passing/Patricia Leslie

The Gardner Family welcomes all to the W & OD Trail, a good place to walk dogs/Patricia Leslie

Or take a survey.  The surveyor said he thought they were measuring for a new water line/Patricia Leslie

Or inventory bees?  (What was he doing?)/Patricia Leslie

Or catch up on local history.  This marker describes Sterling Station/Patricia Leslie

Sometimes (rarely) the view's not so good/Patricia Leslie 

But usually, like this and easy on the eyes/Patricia Leslie

Perhaps it is like this all the time in Loudoun County? Another reason to go west, go west.

In Loudoun County along the W & OD Trail, you might see some smart folks taking outdoor siestas after lunch.  Why don't we all siesta after lunch?/Patricia Leslie

Ladies of the jury, it is time to get out your helmet and your bicycle and get to riding on the W and OD Trail.  They are there.  Whizzing by. And trim. They do not all appear to be the same-sex variant. (Or would that be "variation"?)

But you have to stop your bicycle and get off to "engage." And you may want to think about "needing help."  Leave your bike tools at home.

Why at one point when I laid down my used pink (found at the dumpster) bicycle (no kick stand) and sipped some water and munched on my pear snack in the shade, a right good-looking dude flew past and yelled:  Did I need any help?  

Y e e-haw, come on over, dude!  

Help?  

Help?  

Yeah, I needed some HEP.

"No, no need for help.  I am okay," I shouted.  (What was I thinking?)

Let's have lunch on the W & OD Trail in Loudoun County/Patricia Leslie

Then, at the same stop a couple of minutes later, another right handsome cowpoke came along carrying a plastic bag and set himself right down at the picnic table across the lanes from me and proceeded to eat lunch in the sunshine and yelled across the trail, something about

"It's a great day!"  

"But you're in the sun," I hollered back.  Even with a breeze cooling you off riding the trail, it was hot.

And he said: "I like the sun." 

And I said, "I like the sun, too, but it's a little bit much for me today, and I really like this shade" even if I was standing in rather high grass where, I later discovered, flying varmints resided, which bit the blood out of my left forearm which to this day still bears their marks, and it is possible snakes lived there, too, but having snake experience, I maintained a snake lookout  and saw none, but ignored my arms.  Drat it all. 

The buzzards flew overhead/Patricia Leslie

He and I ate our food in silence a few minutes, enjoying being outdoors and away from horns and the sounds of the city, listening to nature's music:   the soft rustle of the wind and leaves, the buzzing of insects, the overhead vultures (they make sounds?), and then it was time for me to leave because of the huge, loooonnnng uphill slope I still had before me.

And he hollered across the way: "Well, have a nice ride!"  

And so I did.

Along the W & OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

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Bike the Virginia Creeper Trail

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

It's called "the best rail-trail in the east" and "among the best in the U.S.," and I'll bike to that.

The Virginia Creeper is a lovely trail, down in southwest Virginia, about 360 miles or six fast hours (with few breaks) from Washington, D.C., close to the N.C. border.  It's headquartered in Damascus where you bike round and round, down and down from Whitetop Station.

The Virginia Creeper Trail starts here at Whitetop Station, home of baby Christmas trees/Patricia Leslie

It took us about 3.5 leisurely hours to bike 17 miles from Whitetop to Damascus (stopping by woods for lunch and for other picturesque scenes) which is half the trail, with the remainder stretching to Abingdon.

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

You don't find any of the racers like those serious types who like to sport their latest dress and zoom along the W and OD Trail. Virginia Creeper may have too much nature for them.

It was mid-fall when practically all the leaves are down, and those remaining are not real bright but mostly browns and dull oranges without those flashy yellows and reds you associate with this time of year, but we weren't beholden to leaves anyway since it was the ride down Whitetop that took us there, and it was gorgeous even without much color.

Even over icy bridges.  Yeekers, yikers.  (Wear a helmet! Provided at the Damascus shops if you don't have one and are renting a bike.)  I hung on the handle bars and sailed over that ice like I was a biker on ice which, strange, I guess I was.

 

Icy bridges on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

It's not only ice which forces both hands on the handle bars, but look out for large rocks, too, and keep your eyes on the path or you might wind up underneath one of the bridges like the recent rider who missed a bridge entrance, careened down the ravine into the creek, cracked her skull, and had to be airlifted out, but she's okay now, our shuttle bus driver on oxygen, who lifted all 14 bikes off the rack, told us.

It's important to ride eyes open wide and keep your head down at times on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Look out and listen for falling timber on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

The view from above on the Virginia Creeper Trail which had quite a bit of snow left from Hurricane Sandy/Patricia Leslie

Along the way maps on plaques describe the history of the area including information about one area surveyor named Peter Jefferson, the father of the president.

In-season, ample snack shops along the way provide nourishment, and you won't starve off-season either, but you're better off taking your own treats. The trail has plenty of restrooms, too (excluding the outdoor ones).

The leader of our pack was a seven-year-old who made no complaints about anything the whole day and served as excellent guide when it came time to finding just the right picnic spot.

 

Lunch on the Virginia Creeper Trail.  That's our trail leader, Will Burris, on the right, with his grandmother, Anne Burris, and friend Nancy who almost missed lunch due to a falling limb/Patricia Leslie

This is a ride made for those who enjoy scenics and chatting along the way. It was a glorious afternoon made gloriouser by the sounds of rushing water from the adjoining creek which followed us most of the way down Virginia Creeper.

The Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Time for respite on the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Along the Virginia Creeper Trail/Patricia Leslie

Bikes are available for rent throughout Damascus, a biker's vacation dream spot with lots of big vans and racks to cart riders and bikes up to Whitetop on a 30-minute shuttle ride before riders embark on the downhill slope. Damascus has plenty of free nearby parking.

We were unable to get reservations during leaf peak in October but given the crowds, we probably enjoyed the trail more in early November anyway.

What: The Virginia Creeper Trail

When: Bike all year, seven days a week

Where: Damascus, Virginia ("Trail Town USA")

How much: $26 for a bike rental (with water and helmet) and a shuttle ride from Damascus to Whitetop Station with weekday discounts.  Of course, you can arrange your own transportation and take your own bike and not pay anything, but without the shuttle, it would be a pain. (The $15 for the shuttle is well worth it.) Prices run about the same from one shop to another, but reservations are highly recommended, especially if you are coming from a distance.  patricialesli@gmail.com

Biking on a sunny afternoon

Along the George Washington Parkway Trail/Patricia Leslie

The Bike Ride

How do you like to ride on a bike,
Under a sky so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a girl can do!

Ride my bike and move over the trail
And I can see so wide,
River and trees and airplanes and all
As I go cycling by

Till I look down on the pavement dull
Down down down I fall
Up on the bike I go riding again
Oh, look! There's the National Mall

With apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson

A traffic jam along the George Washington Parkway/Mt.Vernon Trail in 2011/Patricia Leslie

From the George Washington Parkway Trail with the Washington Monument in the distance and is that the Jefferson Memorial?/Patricia Leslie

A rare sighting in Vienna along the W&OD Trail:  A member of the trail patrol/Patricia Leslie

Dogs are always welcome along the W&OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

Crossing Gallows Road along the W&OD Trail/Patricia Leslie

Bike the Mt. Vernon Trail

It's one of the prettiest trails in the area.
Ride beside rolling water along curves amidst pine trees and green grass with an occasional statue to grasp your view and you won't even notice the lull of the vehicles motoring on the nearby George Washington Parkway.
Be mindful of children on uncertain paths and their parents on the trail, and the speeding pros who'll run you down faster than Herman Cain can break out in song. And watch the overheads for the airplanes landing at National Airport.
Take your hammock for some easy stretching and some shut-eye in between your rides. The trail stretches about 18 miles from Theodore Roosevelt Island to George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon and can be crowded at times.
If you're coming by car, you may park for free at Gravelly Point (can be hard to find a space) or the Washington Sailing Marina just beyond the airport where you'll find almost-clean restrooms, a great bike shop with rentals at nominal prices and a nice attendant who may put air in your tires without charge, and two waterfront restaurants (one fancy, Indigo Landing, and the other, a café with sandwiches and the critical menu item, beer).


All this loveliness is captured (in variation) by thoughts of William Wordsworth's poem, "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," probably better known as "The Daffodils," inspired by a April 15, 1802 scene found by Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy.



I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a trail,

Whose beauty is unmatched for real,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Cyclers were racing in the breeze.



Continuous as the men who whine

on Capitol Hill they often say

The bikers stretched in a long line

along the margin of the bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

riding their bikes in sprightly dance.



The aeroplanes above them flew; the bikers

Oblivious in their wheeling spree,

A walker could not but be gay,

in such a jocund company:

I gazed - and gazed - but little thought

what wealth the bikers to me had brought:



For not enough on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the soul of solitude;

And then some thoughts of bliss are stirred,

When I recall the happy bicyclers.








patricialesliexam@gmail.com