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PAGE 6A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 23. 2003
On the Bike Trail with Keith Petty
Creeping Along
the Creeper
By Keith Petty 1900.
Here, hungry bikers may stop in
Abingdon, Virginia lies just
across the Tennessee-Virginia bor
der. It is a mid-size town where the
typical meets the non-typical.
Along the corridor of interstate
on its outskirts, the proliferation of
modem capitalism is evident in the
faces of familiar franchises. Cross
ing into the town proper, visitors
are taken into a world marked by
local theater, charming antique
shops, and ambient hole-in-the-wall
restaurants.
It is here that the Virginia Creep
er National Recreation Trail begins.
In its genesis, the Virginia
Creeper Trail was simply a Native
American footpath. Later, European
settlers, as well as early explorer
Daniel Boone, used the trail.
It was not until after the dawn of
the twentieth century that the trail
began its first metamorphosis.
At that time, W.B. Mingea con
structed the Virginia-Carolina Rail
road from Abingdon, VA to Damas
cus, VA; and in 1905, the Hassinger
Lumber Company extended the line
to Konnarock and Elkland, North
Carolina.
The line, used for the transporta
tion of iron ore, lumber, supplies,
and passengers, was deemed the
Virginia Creeper because of steam
locomotives’ struggles to pull the
rail’s steep grades, the ascension of
some of them seeming almost
impossible.
After the line’s decommission as
a railroad, interested private parties
and government agencies worked
jointly to convert the rail to a recre
ational trail.
Today, the Virginia Creeper is an
outdoor enthusiast’s dream. Cover
ing some thirty-five miles, the
Creeper winds its way through pic
turesque towns, through lush mead
ows, up and down laurel covered
mountains, and along the Holston
River.
Beginning in Abingdon and bik
ing toward the North Carolina line
is the easiest way to start the Creep
er. The elevation in Abingdon is
some two-thousand feet above sea
level and the trail gently descends
some three-hundred feet over the
course of about ten miles.
At the end of this descent is
Alvarado, a spot in the road that
boasts an old-time general store
which was first opened around
Bits 4 N Pieces
performs “Alice
The Rome City Auditorium will
be filled with squeals of delight on
Feb. 10-11 when Bits ‘N Pieces
Puppet Theatre brings its giant pup
pet musical, Alice in Wonderland,
to Rome. This larger-than-life adap
tation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale
boasts a mix of jumbo nine-foot-tall
puppets, costumed characters, tradi
tional puppetry and children from
the audience.
When Alice escapes her bore
dom of this world to venture into a
dream of another, madcap high-
jinks and outlandish adventures are
the order of the day as lavishly cos
tumed characters and giant nine-
foot-tall puppets whirl, dance and
sing on their journey through Lewis
Carroll’s mythical setting. Alice
learns it takes self-reliance and
quick thinking to tame the comic
nonsense of the Queen of Hearts,
the Cheshire Cat and Wonderland’s
other unpredictable residents.
Bits ‘N Pieces Theatre has been
creating original musical produc
tions adapted from classic chil
dren’s literature for more than 20
for some of the best freshly-made
burgers one could taste or fuel up
on cold beverages for the trek on
toward Damascus. For this trek,
however, a word of caution is nec
essary.
As Alvarado is the lowest land
elevation on the trail, at 1700 feet
above sea level, the trek to Damas
cus, some eight miles away, begins
a twenty-five mile ascension to the
end of the trail near the North Car
olina line.
Getting to Damascus is relative
ly easy on the body. Beyond that, it
is best to shuttle to the North Car
olina end of the trail and bike back
to Damascus.
Knowing this, my biking partner
and I swallowed all pride and com
pleted our first day’s journey on the
trail by biking back to our original
starting point in Abingdon. That in
itself was daunting enough for me,
for just beyond Alvarado is the
trail’s Holston River crossing. The
Holston River crossing is the scari
est river or gorge crossing I have
yet encountered on any bike trail.
Towering some one-hundred-
twenty-five feet above the water
and spanning some six-hundred
feet, the trestle that spans the Hol
ston River is enough to stop an
acrophobe in his tracks.
The trestle is constructed mostly
of wood, and the original ties are
simply covered with planks of
wood; thus, while biking across, it
is impossible for a biker to avoid
seeing the eerie, murky river water
through gaps in the planking. In
addition, thin wooden rails are all
that guard a biker from plummeting
from the trestle’s height in the event
of a mishap. To top it off, the trestle
curves and banks slightly, for trains
crossing could not make the curve
without the slight tilt in the bridge.
I am to heights as Indiana Jones
is to snakes, and I had already
warned my biking partner of this
upon our first pass across the tres
tle. Upon the return pass, what did
he then decide to do? He decided to
stop in the middle of the trestle to
take pictures of the river, blocking
my path as he did so.
As I eased on my brakes, I
feared spilling from the bike and
through the scant railings of the
trestle. I am unabashed to admit
that both my buddy and two fisher-
Puppet Theatre
in Wonderland”
years. Headquartered in Tampa, FL,
the company spends most of the
year on national tour. Bits ‘N
Pieces’ achievements earned it the
1995 Atlanta Committee for the
Olympic Games’ Cultural
Olympiad Regional Designation
Award for Excellence and Innova
tion in the Arts, as well as the Arts
Council of Hillsborough County’s
Award for Excellence in Arts Edu
cation. Most recently the Florida
Theatre Conference presented
Director Jerry Bickel with its Dis
tinguished Career Award in Chil
dren’s/Youth Theatre.
Alice in Wonderland is recom
mended for students in pre-K
through 5th grade. Shows will be at
the Rome City Auditorium, 601
Broad St., Monday, Feb. 10 and
Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 9:15 and 11
a.m. Admission is $3.50 per stu
dent. Students who cannot afford
the admission, teachers and the
chaperones required for transporta
tion will be admitted free of charge.
Call 706-295-ARTS to reserve seats
for your class or group.
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The Creeper, so named because of the difficulty early steam
engines had climbing its steep grades, winds through picturesque
towns, up and down laurel covered mountains, and along the Hol
ston River.
men below got an earful of my
choice words. With me shaking and
with my buddy laughing, we made
our way back to Abingdon.
On the second day of our travel,
we drove to Damascus, bikes in tow,
and took the Blue Blaze shuttle to
White Top, the highest elevation on
the trail. White Top is about 3,500
feet above sea level. From there, the
trail descends over a seventeen-mile
span to Damascus. We both decided
this is the way to see the trail. It
wasn’t even necessary to peddle
most of the time, and the seventy-
degree air precluded any worries of
summer’s heat.
Along the descent, warm pools of
sunshine filtered through the trees,
gorgeous pink blossoms of moun
tain laurel perfumed the air, and
trail-side streams made invitation
for stops to cool one’s heels. For
three hours, the world at large evap
orated; and, save that bikes, we
might well have been one of the
Native Americans traversing the
trail for the first time or Daniel
Boone himself scouting uncharted
territory.
One of the most soothing bike
trails in the Rails to Trails Conser
vancy, the Virginia Creeper beckons
to those looking for both a physical
and mental retreat.
Just no more trestles, please.
[Petty is a lifelong resident of
Pickens County and resides in the
Talking Rock area. He is a gradu
ate of Kennesaw State University
with a B.S. in Secondary Education.
He is employed at Jasper Middle
School, and pursuing an endorse
ment for teaching gifted students.]
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Thank You
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Happy New Year!
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