On July 5 & 6 we traveled to Farmville, Virginia to ride the High Bridge Trail.
The trail is a rails-to-trails state park that now starts in Pamplin City and ends about a mile short of Burkeville. Originally 31.2 miles long, a recently opened (April 2024) 1.1 mile extension into Pamplin City makes the trail now 32.3 miles. Farmville is very near the mid-point of the trail, and is also about the lowest point of the trail. As the home of Longwood University, Farmville has a good number of tourist amenities and makes a good "launch site".
On Friday, July 5 we rode from Farmville to the eastern end. This section includes the High Bridge - over 2400 feet long and about 125 feet above the Appomattox River. We started early to avoid the excessive summer heat, and saw a good bit of wildlife along the trail, including deer and turkeys.
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The High Bridge as seen from the eastern end. |
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Looking down the bridge. It seems to go on forever.
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The Appomattox River is near the eastern end of the bridge. It is not a very big river and quite muddy. |
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There are three pull-outs on the bridge. This is the easternmost one, looking east. |
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The High Bridge as seen on the USGS Topo Map. The built-up earthwork on the western side is impressive - especially considering that the railroad was built in the 1850s without modern (i.e. mechanized) earth moving equipment. It has obviously held up well for over 150 years. |
On Saturday, July 6, we rode to the western end of the trail. It was mostly a tunnel of trees. The best part was the downhill grade from Pamplin City to Farmville - a drop of almost 400 feet in 17 miles.
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At the end of the trail we both picked up our cell phones to take a picture. |
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The end of the trail in Pamplin City. |
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An interesting map of Virginia in the breakfast room of the Hotel Weyanoke - made from "tree cookies". |
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A closer look at the overlapping tree cookies. |