Jackson River Scenic Trail

Yesterday we biked the Jackson River Scenic Trail that runs along an old railed north of Covington. It's short (about 7 miles long), but (as the name implies) quite scenic. It's also in excellent shape and an easy ride. Work is underway to extend another 4 miles-or-so up to Natural Well. Ultimately it's supposed to reach the Alleghany-Bath county line. (The train once went all the way up to Warm Springs.)

Typical scenery along the trail. This photo is looking south near the Petticoat Junction access point.

Bleeding hearts were found along the trail. This photo shows them as pink, but they were really a deep red. I'm not good enough at Photoshop to correct the flower color without making the rest of the photo look strange!

It's Eastern Tent Caterpillar season. These caterpillars make nasty-looking nests in trees -- they particularly prefer black cherry trees. In peak years they can completely defoliate the cherries, but the cherries usually survive without much harm done.