Come with me on my walk of the New River Trail last Sat. (some pics)

[Lex]

The is a Rails-to-Trail trail in Southwest Virginia, along the New River, that I hiked last Saturday. It was beautiful and lush. Of course I had my camera with me!































This was the moon later in the evening, over Blue Ridge Mtns:

[SeattleGirl]

1. Beautiful, just beautiful!

Thanks for sharing these pics!

[Lex]

2. Thanks SeattleGirl!

I had fun taking the pictures. Lots of things caught my eye. I'm the world's worst hiker because I stop every few minutes to take a pic.

:hi:

[u4ic]

3. Gorgeous pictures!

(with the exception of that spider...:scared:)

[Lex]

4. Oops.

Sorry! :(

[u4ic]

5. It's okay

I've got my vacuum cleaner handy and ready to fire up. :-) :hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. My dear Lex!

Wow, these are stunning!

Just gorgeous...

I especially like the spider, and the flower...photo #3...

But they're all wonderful...

Wish I could have been walking there too...

Thank you for sharing them... :hug:

[Lex]

10. Thanks Peggy. I think that flower is

a wild "turk's cap lily." I'll have to look it up to be sure. There were a lot blooming along the river's edge.

:hi:

[SPKrazy]

7. beautiful lex!

:woohoo:

gorgeous pics and lovely walk

:hug:

[Lex]

11. Thanks SPK

:hug:

[taterguy]

8. Love that trail.

Not sure how long it would take to hike the whole thing but I've biked most of it

[Lex]

12. As we walked we

encountered some cyclists. I think the whole trail is about 52 miles long. I've hiked in and out at different trailheads. This was the 'Gambetta' trailhead near Galax.

Nice pic!

:hi:

[Ptah]

9. Thanks for taking me along on that trail, Lex

:hi:

[Lex]

13. You're welcome, Ptah!

I had fun taking the pictures. Nature seemed prepared for some pictures that afternoon--even the deer stood still for me before scampering off into the woods.

:hi:

[underpants]

14. What was wrong with the OLD river?

:shrug:

[Lex]

15. The New River is said to be one of the oldest in the world!

So the name is the opposite of the river.

Despite its name, the river is considered by some geologists to be possibly one of the oldest rivers in the world, between 10 million and 360 million years old. According to local folklore, it is considered to be second in age only to the Nile River and thus the oldest in North America. However, the ages of rivers are very difficult to establish with precision; as the wide range of possible ages for the New River demonstrates, there is no established ranking of the ages of major rivers. The New River flows in a generally south to north course, which is against the southwest to northeast topology of the Appalachian Mountains and the west to east flow of most other nearby major rivers especially in Virginia and North Carolina. This peculiarity may mean that the New River's formation preceded much of the surrounding landscape, although again this hypothesis has not been proven beyond doubt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_%28Kanawha_River%29

[RebelOne]

16. Fabulous pix.

I copy-edit a Virginia hunting and fishing magazine among other states. I read the fishing stories about the New River and the descriptions of the scenery seem so beautiful.

[Lex]

20. I've hiked several sections of the New River Trail and

honestly, each section looks like something out of a magazine.

Speaking of fishing, here's a pic I took last year when I was on a canoe trip down the New River with my Dad:

[Critters2]

17. Wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

Rails-to-trails are great gifts to us!

[Lex]

21. Yes, Rails-to-Trails are wonderful.

I've donated some money in the past. It's a worthy cause, imho.

:thumbsup:

[HamdenRice]

18. Is that anywhere near Farmville?

I'm informed by my cousins that the rail line that ran past my grandmother's old farm has been converted in the rail to trail program. The farm near the towns of Farmville, Burkeville and Rice in Prince Edward County in southwest Virginia.

Where is the trail where these pics were taken?

[Lex]

19. Near Galax, Virginia. Carroll County and Grayson County. SW Va.

Near the NC border. I don't think the New River is near Farmville, Va. Isn't Farmville in the center of the state?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galax,_Virginia

[HamdenRice]

22. I always thought of Farmville as being in the south

but Virginia is shaped so weirdly, I can see how from a "mass" rather than "height" perspective you might see it as being right in the middle. But I can see you are really close to NC.

[taterguy]

30. Here's a link to the official park site

I've never heard of Farmville so I have no idea where it is. There's another Rail to Trail on the New River called the Virginia Creeper trail, about 100 miles west of the New River State park

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/new.shtml

[tool_of_the_people]

23. Beautiful pictures, Lex.

Thank you for not photographing any $n@kes.

[Lex]

24. Don't worry about that.

If I see a snake, I go the other way and take my camera with me! Even little green/garden snakes. I do not like them at all.

:hi: HBD!

[tool_of_the_people]

25. THX!

:toast:

[Lex]

26. Whoa.

You have over 200 posts here now. :thumbsup:

[tool_of_the_people]

29. A long way from everyone else's elusive ...

... 1000+ counts. (and a lot of them are in the 5 digit range)
No :bow: smilie. Durn!

[lost-in-nj]

27. Beautiful pictures

and the trail looks great

bet its breathtaking in the fall
when the trees turn



lost

[Lex]

28. Yes. I'll go take some pictures for us to look at this autumn.

:hi:

[Shine]

31. Gorgeous and stunning, Lex. Thanks for sharing!

I was just in VA for a short visit with the kids at my Dad's new home, on the 16-21st. He bought a house in a town called Locust Grove, which is outside of Fredericksburg. Beautiful area, with lots of Civil War history, but the humidity was absolutely unbelievable! I was constantly hot and sticky whenever I was outside. I guess one gets used to it, eventually, but for this California girl, it was hard to take.

I did love all the lush greenery, though...and the fireflies at night time. We don't get them out here. :(


:hi: