Greenbrier River Trail
Days Riding: 6
Miles:  200 Plus
Flats: 1
Rain -  Yes

Click on any photo to get a high resolution version.

 


 

 

 

 


Summery:

Day 0: 
- Drove to Greenbrier Stat Park located in West Virginia
- Set up camp in the state park.

Day 1:
- Park the van near the ranger's office in Greenbrier State Park for the week.
- Ride our bikes to the start of the trail.
- Stop at a trail side tent camping area at the 28.5 MM
- Setup camp.

Day 2:
- Ride to Marlinton at the 56.0 MM
- Call the Marlinton town park office and ask if we can sleep near the town park's baseball field; they said yes.
- We overshoot the park by a mile so we can stop in the downtown area of Marlinton for supplies and a late lunch.
- We ride back to the park.
- We then cook a light diner. 
- We sleep under the picnic pavilion -- so it was a nice and dry night despite the rain.

Day 3:
- Ride to Cass and check in with the state park office to get access to the "A" frame we rented.
- We get unpacked and unload the bicycles.... back to light weight riding!!!
- We take a quick look at the rail station and trains. 
- We have dinner at the "Route 66 - Outpost" store/diner.    
- Shower!!!!!

Day 4:
- Cold and rainy. 
- We decide to ride to the "The National Radio Astronomy Observatory" in Green Bank about 9 miles away.
- We take the tour of the observatory.   Surprising good tour. 
- We ride back to Cass and ride around the train station and tracks. 
- Snack at the "Route 66 - Outpost" store/diner.    
- Make dinner back at the "A" frame.

Day 5:
- We check out of the "A" frame and head to the park office to leave our now loaded bicycles.
- We take the train ride to Whittaker Station and back.
- The train about 100 years old and still running!!! 
- Great view from the train.   
- Boy scouts and Webelos are there in droves....  but not on our train car!!!
- Just after the ride we grab our bikes, skip a late lunch and hit the trail!!!
- We get to Beaver Creek on the trail at the  49.3 MM.
- We set up camp.  Jeff gets the fire going.   We collect and filter water. 
- We cook allot of food!!!

Day 6:
- We break camp and head towards Caldwell
- Lots of scenic views and photo ops.
- Take a photo at the end of the trail.
- Bike back to Caldwell and the Greenbrier State Park where the van is parked.
- We get a good jump on the drive home.

Day 7:
- Finish drive back to Atlanta.

Videos

 

Photos

The bikes:

JT's Bike

 

The Good Jeff's Bike:

 

My Bike:

 

How to park a bike with a trailer:

Day 1 Photos:

Greenbrier State Park tent site. 
We left the van here for the week.
Then biked over to the start of the Greenbrier River Trail.


We do some last minute shopping on the way the to trail

And so it begins!!!



 

 

Just to the side of the trail:

We pass some farm land too:

Then back to the river:

 

Camp site for night 1: (Around the 28.5 MM)

 

Water pump pulls water from the aquifer. 

 

 

Day 2:
We ride from the 28.5 MM camp site to Marlinton .

There were many views like this:

 

 

 

The "Bad" Jeff called ahead for the West Virginia Air Force to keep an eye on us as we crossed the bridge.

In Marlinton we stop for a late lunch when I saw this guy casing the joint.....

 

 

We then double back a mile to "Stillwell Park" to spend the night.
Since it was going to rain we used the covered picnic table area. 
The park office said we would be the only people in the park after 10:00PM.

 


 


 

Day 3:
We ride from the 55.1 MM to Cass.

As we pass by Marlinton again, we stop by the IGA for supplies.

 

 

Yep --- Another tunnel:

 

And if you look carefully over there you can see some water!!!

 

 

We arrive at Cass:

 

And then trouble strikes:

 

 

The "A" frame is a bit nicer then we expected:

 

 

Day 4:
We ride around Cass and then head to the Green Bank Observatory.

But the local mill has seen better days:

 

 

The surface area of that dish is 100 meters by 100 meters and weighs 16,000,000 pounds. 

 

An image of Joe and I from a FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) camera at the Green Bank Radio Observatory:

Day 5:
We pack up our stuff and leave the bikes in front of the ranger station and then take the Cass Scenic Railroad.

 

 

After the train ride we head back down the trail

 

 

 

View from our camp site near Beaver Creek at the 49.5MM

 

Day 6:
We head back to Caldwell

Run into some campers heading the other way... and they took this photo:

 

Flowers seen along the trail:

The old tunnel sign is missing:

Tree Swing!!

The End!!!