We decided to stay an extra day at Bristol, Tennessee, because 1) we really like our full-hook-up campground; 2) the trees in this area are at their peak autumn color; and 3) we found a couple more things we wanted to see. So we stayed for another day of exploring south of Bristol along those winding mountain roads that have some amazing fall foliage.
It was one of those days when a picture of the GPS screen can best describe the journey.
We had heard about a place called Shady Valley, and were sad that we had just missed their annual Cranberry Festival that is proudly advertised on their water tower. Who knew that cranberries grew in these mountains?
With a little internet research, Mark discovered that this valley was once a bog where wild cranberries flourished. The moisture was trapped in the valley, like a bowl sculpted by the mountains that surround it. Then a man-made channel drained the land, and turned the bogs into agricultural fields. Today the natural conservancy group is working to bring some areas back to their original bogginess, and have reintroduced the wild cranberries. We stopped by the conservancy office (nicely disguised in the local tractor dealership). They gave us directions to Orchard Bog, on federal land off the beaten track.
At the tractor dealership we were instructed where there was a "nursery" of cranberry plants, and how to find the berries.
The berries grow close to the ground on runners that have tiny leaves. October is the time for berry harvest, so our timing wasn't so bad after all.
We were told we could pick a hand-full. Most of the harvest has been picked and frozen to be used in products that will be made for the 2017 cranberry festival. It sounds like the volunteer firemen's cranberry pancakes were quite popular this year.
It's an hour's drive to get to our next destination--Grayson Heights State Park. We had never heard of this park until a fellow biker mentioned it. That's how we find some of the best places to wander! We were thoroughly entertained by the mountain's fall foliage on the way. To get a little exercise, we parked the car at a random trail head parking lot and took off on a path that went straight up.
We were surprised to see those now-familiar white blazes on the trees. We had stumbled once again on a segment of the Appalachian Trail.
After that bit of exercise, we were back in the car until we crossed the border into Grayson County, and the state park that bears its name. It's actually named Grayson Heights State Park, because it enjoys some of the highest elevation in the state. We could look down on some of those parallel ridges of mountains that we love to see through the blue haze.
We stopped for information at the park office, then headed out on the Rhododendron Trail to score our next elusive treasure--wild ponies.
We were only a half-mile into the trail when we found the first herd of six mares and one stallion. It is illegal to feed or pet the wild ponies, but they certainly don't mind people getting close for pictures.
These little ponies are called "Virginia Highlanders" and were bred because they are small in stature and suited for the mountainous terrain. They were once privately owned, but since 1974 they are managed by a nonprofit group and allowed to meander through these public lands.
These ponies are part of a grazing program in the United States Forest Service. Each September they are rounded up for the Grayson Highlands Annual Fall Festival. At that time they are examined by veterinarians, and extra stallions are auctioned off. They are then divided into herds of mares with a single stallion. We would assume that the colts are usually born in the spring, but this mare is so round that we think she might be pregnant this fall.
Grayson Heights State Park is also well known because it includes two miles of the famous Appalachian Trail. For the second time today, we are hiking on the AT.
After so many miles on the tree-canopied AT, we think that thru- hikers will enjoy the wide-open views as they walk through the state park.
There are about 100 ponies living in this state park and the Mount Rogers Recreation Area next door. This fence separates the two public areas.
We found this second herd of wild ponies on the national recreation area land. Since we were a couple miles away from any parking lot, we had this group to ourselves.
As we stood at a distance, the stallion was the first to come towards us as if he was protecting his harem from intruders.
But one of the mares passed him and walked right up to Mark. Even though it is illegal to feed the ponies, obviously there are hikers that do that. It turns the ponies into beggars, even though there is more than enough grass on these mountains to support them.
This picture isn't of an illegal pat, it's a straight arm gesture to say, "Sorry, we don't have anything to feed you." The park literature says that these ponies can also bite and kick, so keeping your distance is good for both the ponies and the hikers.
This second herd included six mares, one stallion, and two colts that were a bit camera-shy.
The open fields of the national recreation area were littered with large boulders that make for some great rock scrambling. A pile of rocks is an open invitation to Mark to see what he can see from that higher perspective.
Mark took a panorama shot from his perch on the boulders, and could see for miles around.
If you look very carefully in the center of the picture you can see Denisa's green blouse showing up among the evergreens far below.
He could also see clusters of something bright red against the clear blue sky.
A close-up reveals those are clusters of red berries found on the mountain ash trees. They look a little like the cranberries we found earlier today. We found out later that they can be used to make jelly, but they are too acidic to enjoy by themselves. Because these berries hang on the tree through the winter, birds depend on them for nutrition when it gets really cold outside.
While Mark is looking at wide landscapes from atop boulders, Denisa is more likely poking around short stems close to the ground. She was surprised to see this perfect nest just a foot off the ground, built among stalks instead of tree branches.
The ingenious design of this nest connects it to the plant stalks. This spring and summer it was surely shaded by leaves for protection. When we find a perfectly formed nest that was cleverly assembled by a bird brain, we feel like we have wandered into another of His wonders.
Most of the trees inside the state park are past their peak, and we see many bare branches. We thought it was interesting to look across the horizon to find this one small area of peak foliage nestled in a little valley surrounded by bare trees.
As we were hiking back to the parking lot, Denisa had just mentioned that it would be nice to find some more ponies. We walked over the next hill and came upon our third herd of the day. This is Mark, hanging out with the stallion, his long locks glistening in the sunlight. (That would be the pony's locks--not Mark's.)
On the trail, Denisa thought this must be the Fabio of the wild pony world, with his long blond mane hiding his face. Interestingly enough, when we got back to the car, we read the park's brochure that had a picture of this popular stallion that they had nicknamed "Fabio."
Fabio's herd included this mare with interesting markings. We think these pudgy little ponies have made a great addition to our hike through Grayson Heights this afternoon!
The sun is already low in the sky as we make our final hike through the woods to the parking area. We had planned to also hike the Twin Pinnacle Trail today, to the summit of the third highest mountain in the state of Virginia. But we took the long loop in the park to see the ponies and ran out of time. It's been a full day of discovering the treasures of cranberries and wild ponies today. We still have a long drive through the mountains to get home tonight, so we'll just have to return to this area on another trip some time!
We have watched the Geico commercial with the gecko dancing between the state borders of Virginia and Tennessee. We thought at first that it was a regional advertisement, since we were visiting those states when we first saw it.
Then we found out this national commercial campaign was filmed here in our new home-town of Bristol! The main street in this historic little downtown is appropriately named "State" because it is here that the two states of Virginia and Tennessee collide. They closed down this block of State Street on July 13, 2016, to film the footage of their famous 6-inch gecko talking about insurance coverage in "Virginessee."
We didn't get the same protection from on-coming traffic, but we did manage to snap a picture of the tip of Mark's tennis shoe firmly planted in Virginia. I think they shined up the street marker they used in the commercial, as this one was a little harder to read.
It's an interesting street with the red state flags of Tennessee lining the south side of the street, while the predominately blue Virginia state flags are on the north. They can all be friends, however, because both sides also proudly display the United States flag.
Living together in a 35-foot motor home, we don't often see much space between us. But today Mark is standing in Tennessee, while taking this picture of Denisa under the lamp post way over there in Virginia.
Further down the street, the folks from Virginia unfurled a Virginia Tech banner that is in-your-face and five stories tall right in front of their Tennessee neighbors.
Also featured in the Geico commercial is the lighted town banner at the end of the street. It declares that Bristol, Virginia AND Tennessee are both a good place to live.
We have to agree that this is a good place to live, and we had a good time exploring this area. We have several blogs about some big attractions, but we have to include some smaller gems that we also enjoyed. We found that the local news calls this the Tri-City area. One of the sister cities in that triad is Johnson City, and we drove there one evening to ride our bikes on the Tweetsie Trail.
The trail starts out surrounded by rock walls, with the traditional cinder riding surface. We also immediately noticed that it seemed to be sloped downhill.
The fall foliage is nice along the trail, but as we continue to roll downhill, Denisa is uneasy. We don't have a shuttle ride to get us back to the car at the end of this trail. With every mile we roll downhill, she must know that she has to pedal that mile uphill to get back. She likes bike riding, but she is a verifiable wienie when it comes to pedaling uphill.
That's when Mark announced that he would make the ride back to the car by himself and bring the car to pick up Denisa (and her bicycle). He tried to convince her that he wanted to do it to see how good his new bike was at climbing hills at a faster speed. Denisa's slow bike always keeps him in low gear too. But Denisa recognized that he was just being a gentleman, and she loved it!
So she hung out at the Sycamore Shoals State Park in Elizabethton while Mark made the eight mile up-hill ride back to Johnson City. He did it amazingly fast, and reported that he had to pedal hard the entire way. Meanwhile, Denisa is taking a leisurely walk through the park, spotting this beautiful tree adorned in a coral-shade of fall.
Denisa has been looking for that quintessential picture of a white steeple church nestled among the fall foliage ever since we saw the first autumn tree. After miles of mountain driving across five states, this is the best we have found. We think that little white church you see on the postcard picture might be hiding in Vermont.
When we were biking on the Virginia Creeper Trail, we saw some Christmas tree farms. On a drive another day, we literally saw miles and miles of Christmas trees along the highway.
Planted in perfectly straight lines, it will take years before the tiny saplings grow big enough to adorn someone's home in December.
So we were certainly surprised to see big parking lots along the road, filled with already harvested Christmas trees in October.
We saw many trailers making their way down the mountain with loads of trees neatly netted and ready for Christmas tree lots across America. We're hoping that they get them into water soon.
We also did some hiking when we were in the mountains around the town of Damascus. We think this sign was placed at the beginning of the trail to scare off hikers. But to us, that is just motivation to continue.
We were heading up the trail that goes straight up to the ridge of Backbone Rock.
A little further down the trail brought us to the Backbone Rock Tunnel. This is one of the shortest tunnels in the world, as it's just long enough to get through the narrow ridge. You can see Denisa in her red jacket right above the tunnel.
The view from the top isn't bad either, as we look down the road that will take us home to Bristol. This has been a great place to enjoy the mountainous area of Eastern Tennessee and Western Virginia. Or as a famous green gecko might call it--Virginessee.
We have heard good things about the Virginia Creeper Trail from more than one source, so that usually means we will head there if we get close in our wandering lifestyle. It's an hour's drive from where we are camped in Bristol, Tennessee; and we decided that a cool autumn weekday would be a perfect time to go on the most famous bike ride in Virginia. So we drove to Damascus, Virginia, where there are several businesses that will shuttle you and your bike (or their rental bike) to the summit of White Top Mountain.
At an elevation of 3,576 feet, it was cool at the top even at noon. The old station at White Top is the beginning of the Virginia Creeper Trail.
The reason it is so popular is that this 18-mile bike ride is almost completely downhill--a no-pedal bike ride!
At this higher elevation, we can see that the trees are past their autumn peak. They had some rain and wind several days ago that knocked many of the leaves to the ground.
The evergreens certainly didn't mind the wind and rain. We discovered that this is prime Christmas tree territory, and we could walk into one of the fields of trees.
The perfectly spaced and shaped Christmas trees went on for miles around us at one point.
Denisa was glad to have her jacket with cool temperatures, and a wind chill from our steady downhill descent. We've been on the trail for miles by now, and we still haven't pedaled!
Most of the time we were riding in the shade of the forest trees. But occasionally we broke out into the sunshine on this beautiful autumn day.
There are 47 bridges and trestles along the entire 34 mile length of the Virginia Creeper that winds through the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. The trestles make nice photo opportunities among the trees and leaves.
The Appalachian Trail (AT) also winds through this area, and shows up here at bridge number 38. We've seen the white blazes that mark the AT many times this year, so it's always a welcome sight to us. We had wondered why there are double white blazes at times, like the one that Denisa is standing beside. We found out that this is the signal to hikers that they are on the right path, but there is a complicated turn or change to be aware of. This complicated turn is out of the woods and across the tall trestle bridge the AT hikers will share with the Virginia Creeper bikers.
We parked our bikes temporarily so we could hike down the AT for a short ways. The thick pile of leaves completely covers the trail--as well as the rocks and roots. Because of the rain, the leaves are slippery and make this section of the trail a bit perilous.
We hiked on the AT until it led us to the base of this long trestle bridge. You can barely see Mark in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture, almost hidden by leaves.
This wooden trestle is the real-deal, and it goes on for 537 feet over our heads. You can see Denisa in her bright red (and very warm) jacket standing at the base of the bridge.
This bridge is also supported by rock columns that hold it up 54 feet above the little creek below.
White Top Laurel Creek is our companion for most of the day, as it winds its way along the Virginia Creeper Trail.
A very picturesque little creek, we can also report that the water is very cool in October.
There are more than 100,000 people that ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail each year. Ninety percent of them do it just like we did today--downhill from White Top to the midway point in the town of Damascus.
We've been on the trail for two hours by now, still coasting downhill most of the time. It is probably time to explain that this trail is not named for the common plant that climbs trees and fences and makes a thick ground cover--the Virginia Creeper.
Instead, it is named for the little train that used to use this exact path, carrying trees and cargo. Because of the steep elevation change through the mountains, the under-powered steam engine would barely creep up these Virginia mountains to its destination over White Top. So it was nicknamed the Virginia Creeper.
We were using more brakes than pedals as we zipped down the mountain on this favorite rail-to-trail path.
About ten miles down the mountain, bikers have options for food to sustain them on their journey. We had heard about a famous chocolate cake available on the trail, so we stopped at the Beet Cafe when we saw their sign for homemade cake beside our path. We were disappointed to find that the huge crowds on Sunday completely wiped out their cake supply.
But they did have an interesting alternative--Fried Oreo Sundae. Made with three deep fried oreos, covered with three scoops of chocolate ice cream and more oreos, topped with whipped cream, and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce.
Mark is smiling as he contemplates this massive plate of ice cream and goodness in front of him. We were smart enough to order only one. With no pedaling, we're sure we haven't burned off near this many calories on the trail today.
As we waddled back to our bicycles, we continued down the trail to find the Virginia Creeper Cafe--home of the world-famous chocolate cake. With only two eating establishments on the trail, we had accidentally stopped at the wrong one. But we think it was a great mistake to make! As we are getting to lower elevations, we are noticing that the trees here still have most of their leaves.
After so much time in the forest, it was unusual to come out into an open valley. The Virginia Creeper descends a total of 1,646 feet, so we are beginning to see mountain tops high above us now.
This trail can be crazy busy on the weekend, but it was very pleasant in the middle of the week. Besides that, the Shuttle Shack gave us a 20% discount on the shuttle price during the week. Our driver said that October is their busiest month. But after riding by so many rhododendron and mountain laurel plants, it should be beautiful when they are blooming in the spring as well.
The last couple miles are almost flat, so we actually had to use our pedals instead of our brakes. The trees close to town still have their leaves, and they are surprisingly green to us.
We were sad to come to the end of the Virginia Creeper Trail. The 18 miles went by quickly, and we certainly didn't burn as many calories as we consumed today. We heard that some of the rental bike seats aren't very comfortable for the long ride, but our wide gel bike seats even made the trip comfortable. It took us almost four hours to get back to our car, but only because we took so many pictures, did some extra hiking, and ate way too many deep fried oreos. We'd do it all again, as the Virginia Creeper is our new favorite bike trail.
