Eno River to Flat River Kayak Trip

• Date Kayaked: March 29, 2020
• Total miles Tracked: 5.1
• Type of  Paddle: River (flat, low current)
• Conveniences: 24 hour boat ramp, plenty of parking
• Put In:  Eno River Boat Launch-Red Mill Road, Durham, NC
• Water Access:  Cement boat ramp (single ramp)
• Best Features: It's our home river
• Worst Features: No facilities. Not even a trashcan. 
• Wildlife spotted: Just turtles. Usually herons, egrets, watersnakes
• Vegetation: Pines, hardwoods, wildflowers
• Primary Author: James

Boats! Starting this blog in January put the third noun in Bikes, Boots & Boats at a bit of a disadvantage. In North Carolina, the water is too cold to kayak from early November to at least the end of March. Still, on March 29, we took advantage of a warm day to run out to one of our local favorites, the Eno River. There are a few different places to paddle on the Eno, but for us the most convenient location is a 24 hour boat ramp near Red Mill Road just north of Durham. The fact that it's 24 hours means that we have been able to do some moonlight paddles from this location, and we also don't need to stress out about kayaking past some arbitrary gate closing time at a park. The launch area has plenty of parking and an easily accessed ramp and dock. That's pretty much it for facilities. No bathrooms, water fountains, picnic tables or even a trash can. 

This section of the Eno is wide and flat. Downstream takes you to Falls Lake and upstream takes you back to Durham. There's current, but not so much you struggle if you choose to go upstream.

Downstream only a mile or so, the Eno intersects with the Flat River.  Depending on the water levels, there are several wide creeks you can paddle around in. If the water is high enough, there's actually a full loop you can paddle up a creek to intersect another creek that flows into the Falls Lake. Then, from Falls Lake you can paddle back to the Eno. This time, though, we just headed up the Flat River. This is another slow, lazy river, passing mostly alongside gameland and a few farms. You do pass fairly near a factory at one point, which can be noisy. But, aside from that brief interruption, the Flat is very remote and peaceful. You see fewer boats than you will if you remain on the Eno. The only wildlife we saw on this late March trip were turtles, but this is a fantastic place to come in warm weather to find herons and egrets, and there are numerous places along the bank that show where deer come to the water.

Depending on the water level, in theory you can paddle the Flat all the way to Oxford Road. We've never quite made it, but even when the water is low you can easily paddle at least two miles up the Flat. 

The downside of there not being a lot of current is that you don't really get much of a rest heading back downstream. The ease of access, relatively rare motor boats, and great scenery keep us coming back. You'll be seeing more posts of different destinations you can reach from this ramp.

Paddling back as the light fades is no problem. The boat ramp's always open!

Biking the Tobacco Heritage Trail, La Crosse, Va

• Date Biked: April 3, 2020
• Posted length: Approximately 17 miles.  Conflicting mile markers closer to Lawrenceville
• Total miles Tracked: 36 (South Hill to Lawrenceville) and 2.2 (Boydton)
• Type of Trail: Rail trail, paved, crushed surface, dirt
• Conveniences: Picnic tables and pit toilets along the trail.
• Best Features: La Crosse section is flat and paved.  The rest of the trail is more rugged but scenic.
• Worst Features: No water 
• Wildlife spotted: None this trip
• Vegetation: Red buds, flowering fruit trees, wildflowers, hardwood forests, kudzu
• Associated Website: http://tobaccoheritagetrail.org/
• Primary Author: James

If you study Google Maps, with bike routes turned on, you find the Tobacco Heritage Trail meandering long distances across southern Virginia. Alas, while a great deal of former railroad beds have apparently been set aside for the project, the actual bikable sections are someone small and scattered. There's a mile in Boydton, and roughly two miles in South Boston and Victoria. We've biked South Boston in the past and found it a very pleasant ride, though it's a bit short to go out of your way for. If all of these small segments are eventually connected, it's going to make for an impressive bit of biking.

Fortunately, there is already one nice, long segment, just over 17 miles connecting La Crosse, Virginia to Lawrenceville. Technically this isn't continuous, since it does go onto paved roads in Broadnax, Virginia, but you're riding on lightly trafficked back streets. Odds are good you'll pass through the town without even seeing a car on the road with you.

Seriously, traffic isn't a problem. 

The old train station in Broadnax....

... located on Railroad St. 

We parked at the trail head on Evans Creek Road a few miles outside Broadnax. We'd ridden this trail twice before, but this was our first time planning to do the full 35 mile round trip ride in a single trip. Previously, we'd found the section from Evans Creek to Broadnax to be the most difficult section . It's a fairly uphill grade from Evans Creek to Broadnax, and when we first biked in in 2016 we had to get off and push our bikes across soft, sandy sections where we were plagued by horseflies. We refer to this as as the "sand swamp" and often use it as a reference point for terrible rides.  This time, however, we zipped into Broadnax without real exertion. Perhaps the trail is simply more packed down after a few years of use. Once you reach Broadnax, the trail to La Crosse is paved and flat.

The "Sand Swamp," now much less sandy and swampy!

La Crosse has a nice trail head park with a caboose. But, to the best of our knowledge, there are no bathrooms or water fountains. Still, if you are just looking for a short, pleasant ride, you can park here and do a round trip on the paved section of about 10 miles.

Oh! Right! This is an official segment of the East Coast Greenway! 

One we reached the end of the trail in La Crosse, we headed back, aiming for the town on the far end, Lawrenceville. If you are making a similar journey, you might be alarmed when you notice that you're at mile marker 20 on what's supposed to be a 17 mile trail. I assume this is aspirational mileage, because there definitely isn't a mile 0 in Lawrenceville. In fact, mile markers, which are clearly marked each half mile, kind of vanish around mile marker 4. The trail past this seems very untended, to the point that we sometimes wondered if the trail might have officially stopped. But, we kept pushing on along the ruts to reach the Lawrenceville trail head. Unlike the nice park in La Crosse, the Lawrenceville end is just a sign and two dirt parking spaces. We biked this section before and went into Lawrenceville for lunch and it was a nice enough little town, but it doesn't seem like the locals make much use of the trail or are even much aware of it. There were several people walking and riding on the trail in La Cross, but we only passed one rider on our trip to Lawrenceville.

Sometimes the trail near Lawrenceville is nothing but a pair of ruts in the grass. 

While Lawrenceville is somewhat of a dud as a destination, the actual ride from Evans Creek is quite worth it. You're mostly passing through farmland and forest. There are a few historical markers along the way, and old structures hidden back in the woods if you're watching for them. Most of the ride is shady, and while the surface can be a little rugged, the land is mostly flat. With a bike with a little shock absorption, it's a fun ride.  

After we completed this large section of the trail, we packed up our bikes and headed west to find the section of the trail in Boydton.  This section is relatively new, and boasts ample parking at both ends of the trail.  While it's only just over a mile in length, we could tell that it gets a good amount of foot traffic. It is a rail trail, but beware of the steep hills where it dips down off the old rail-line at the halfway mark.   At the terminus, we could see where the trail will continue in the future. 

We'll keep this on our watch list to perhaps return in the future when the multiple sections are all linked together.
 

This might be the first trail we've biked with a warning to look out for low flying planes. 

A great place to practice social distancing.

 

 

Not actually from our bike ride, but the Love sign in Clarkesville on the drive home.

Biking the High Bridge Trail, Farmville, Virginia

• Date Biked: March 27, 2020
• Posted length: 31
• Total miles Tracked: 37 (out and back from Farmville to western end, then a short ride to see the bridge itself)
• Type of Trail: Rail trail, crushed limestone
• Conveniences: Farmville has bathrooms and a water fountain. There are picnic tables along the way, and multiple parking areas. Downtown Farmville had numerous restaurants and at least one bike shop very close to the trail. 
• Best Features: Flat, wide, and lightly trafficked, just a nice, satisfying ride.
• Worst Features: No water outside Farmville
• Wildlife spotted: Deer, snake, birds, bugs
• Vegetation: Red buds, flowering fruit trees, wildflowers, hardwood forests
• Associated Website: https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/high-bridge-trail
• Primary Author: James

We've ridden the High Bridge Trail twice before. At 30 miles long from end to end, almost all unpaved, it's a bit long to tackle as a single ride. We can do 60 miles out and back on pavement, but pavement allows for a lot of coasting. Every uphill in one direction turns into downhill heading back. 

Most of the High Bridge trail is finely crushed limestone which absorbs momentum. There are long inclines, but they don't incline by much. Basically, heading out, you put in extra effort peddling up the inclines, then, coming back, you don't get to coast, because the incline isn't steep enough to counteract the crushed limestone slowing you to a halt if you stop peddling. For us, 30 miles on a surface like this feels like 40 or 50 miles paved. Also, you will have gravel in every nook and cranny of your biking gear by the end of the ride. 

Gravel filled shoe at the end of the ride. 

That said, there's nothing wrong with the High Bridge Trail's surface. It's actually a very well designed trail and Farmville definitely seems to view the trail as an important asset for their town. The town is pretty much dead center of the the trail and is the obvious starting point for any ride. Just be aware that the parking lot directly next to the trail isn't actually for the trail parking, but for local restaurants and other businesses. 

Farmville's trail head has very nice bathrooms and a water fountain. This is the only water you're going to find on the trail. There are pit toilets every five or six miles on most of the rest of the trail. The trail also has plenty of picnic tables along the way, though none are under shelters. 

On our previous two trips, we've headed for the main attraction of the trail, the actual High Bridge. This is a half-mile long former railroad bridge across the Appomattox River that has you biking above tree tops. It's a pretty awesome structure to ride across, and only about a 4 mile ride east of Farmville, but for this trip we wanted to see what was on the western end of the trail. It's sixteen miles to the trail's end near Pamplin, Virginia. What was there to see in that direction?

Not much, which is kind of glorious. Once you leave Farmville, you head into long miles of forests and farmlands. The closest thing to a town you'll encounter is Prospect, which is a cluster of maybe a dozen houses. (There's also a convenience store about a quarter mile from the trail on 460, which is good to know if you didn't bring enough water!) Past Prospect, the trail runs fairly close to 460 for the remaining seven miles or so, but except for occasional glimpses and bits of road noise now and then it won't invade on your tranquility and isolation. 

The remnants of the train station in Prospect. 

The trail is so flat and straight you can stop and see for a mile or more in front and behind you and, at least on our ride, these miles are likely to be free of other people. For our 34 mile round trip, we passed maybe a dozen people, fewer than we'd pass in a quarter mile on trails in Durham and Raleigh. It's the sort of isolation and emptiness that gives you time to leave civilization behind and reconnect with the natural world. Especially in spring, with so much blooming, it's a beautiful ride. 

Still, if you were only in Farmville for a single day, don't kid yourself. You really want to head west and reach the bridge. It's gorgeous, and you get a similar "middle of nowhere" experience if you ride on to the end on that side of the trail. In fact, the western end doesn't even have a trail head. I just sort of  dead ends. You can see where the old railway carried on, but it's way too overgrown to try to push on. 

Mile 0 is the middle of the bridge

The one big criticism we have of the High Bridge itself is the fencing. They've made it almost exactly as tall as Cheryl's eye level, so that Cheryl can really only see the surroundings through the chain link that lines the fence. Even at a foot taller, I have a tough time seeing over the edge. There are a few viewing platforms where the wooden top rail of the fence is lower, but it doesn't change the fact that what should feel like a flight above the forest kind of turns into a ride between two long, obscuring fences. 

Cheryl's description of the bridge: One long piece of wood

Virginia has so many nice bike trails that the High Bridge Trail is easy to overlook. It doesn't have the same allure as the Virginia Creeper Trail, nor is it a working bike highway between two tourist destinations like the Virginia Capital Trail. But, for just a good, long, peaceful ride without a lot of distractions, it's really a great choice. 

Old telegraph poles and wires can be found along almost the entire length of the trail. 

 

 

We saw other wildlife, but this was the only critter our camera captured.