Biking the Lynchburg VA Trail system

• Date Biked: May 2, 2020
• Total miles Tracked: 19.85 miles 
• Type of Trail: Greenway
• Best Features: Long trail road tunnels and bridges
• Worst Features: Creekside trail is very rugged
• Wildlife spotted: None
• Vegetation: Pines and hardwoods, wildflowers
• Associated Website:https://www.lynchburgparksandrec.com/trails/
• Primary Author:  James

They Lynchburg greenway and rail trail system doesn't pop up if you're googling for long greenways, which is a shame, and something of a branding problem. Lynchburg's trail system is mostly interconnected and cumulatively adds up to permit 20 miles + of biking without ever once needing to ride on a road. But, rather than advertise it as one big trail, it gets promoted as a bunch of little trails: The Riverwalk Trail, the Blackwater Creek Trail, the Kemper Station Trail, and the Point of Honor Trail. There's also several unpaved mountain bike trails connecting to this, including the Creekside Trail, which has a very rough and rocky access but then flattens out into a fairly nice ride. If you're like us, you might not be motivated to load up your bikes and drive two hours to ride the three mile long Blackwater Creek Trail, or even the 6.5 mile Riverwalk. Once you discover that these are really one long greenway, the destination becomes more tempting. 

You should give in to that temptation! First, downtown Lynchburg is near the hub of three of the trails, and it's a wonderful, walkable historic area, with plenty of restaurants catering to people who've come downtown for recreation. It's a very nice blend of the old and the new, and Lynchburg gets high marks as a town that seems to really appreciate the users of its greenways. 

Another nice feature of the rail trail segments of the trail system is that Lynchburg is still very much an active railroad hub. You'll almost definitely encounter trains if you're in the area for any length of time at all. And, the rail trail makes use of some fantastic relics from it's previous life, including the Hollins Mill Tunnel on the Blackwater trail and a big trestle bridge on the Riverwalk at the end of Percival's Island.  

There are numerous trail access points, but the best two we've found are the Awareness Garden at mile 0 of the Blackwater Creek Trail, which has bathrooms and a water fountain, and the downtown parking for Percival's Island, which you'll recognize by Lynchburg's "LOVE" sign. No bathrooms or water here, alas, but it does give you easy access to the part of the trail that runs downtown. 

The trails do have a few challenges. The Kemper Station Trail is short, but a real work out, pretty much a continuous uphill grade, though it is fun to zip back down. We didn't ride the full length of the Creekside Trail because it was very muddy, probably because, you know, it's beside a creek, and it was spring time, and there was evidence that parts of this trail are probably underwater for parts of the year. Speaking of being underwater, the Point of Honor Trail crosses a spillway just beneath a dam. We wound up walking our bikes across because the water looked pretty swift, though in retrospect riding through it wouldn't have been any particular challenge. Even if you don't get wet here, prepare to be dripped on in the Hollins Mill Tunnel, which was pretty wet the day we visited. I imagine as we move deeper into summer the trail system will be dryer,

One final recommendation of the trail system is that it's got a nice variety to it. On Percival Island, the trail is flat and straight and rolling through forest and fields, while the Blackwater segment is full of deep railroad cuts, the tunnel, and is generally steeper. I'm hard pressed to think of another trail that packs in such a wealth of different scenes into so few miles. 

The LOVE sign on the Riverwalk features bike wheels, boot prints, kayak paddles and skate wheels. It pretty well sums up our feelings about this trail. It's just a lovely place to spend a day engaging in one or more these activities.