We have written before about the fantastic group of neighbors we have and that we often do things together as a group. This would be one of those outings. There was talk about doing a trip to Damascus, VA to bike the Virginia Creeper Trail. If you are not familiar, this is an abandoned railroad that has been converted into a bike path. It runs downhill from Abingdon 17 miles to Damascus with steady descent. you can do all 17 miles without strenuous effort. Damascus being the midpoint the trail takes and uphill path to Whitetop Station. Total length is 34 miles. If you start at either Abingdon or Whitetop it is all down hill to Damascus
After much discussion we decided we would ride the Whitetop to Damascus leg. Looks like the group would be Lynn and myself, Josh and Jen with their teenage daughter and adult son, Brent and Amy with one teenager and her boyfriend, Chris and Meredith with their 3 young ones, Robert and Kerri with one teenager, Jeff and Lisa, and Mike and Michelle. Whew, what a crowd! We would also be meeting some of Chris and Meredith's friends there with their two kids.
Dates were set for end of April. Excellent! Lynn and I had been there before and we love the Damascus Old Mill Inn, a historical inn on the river in Damascus. Great laid back vibe, good food, and a bar on the water. Well, turns out the entire group was planning to camp at Beartree Campground in Straight Branch, a few miles from Damascus. CAMPING?! WTF! Lynn and I are not campers. Mike and Michelle also are of the same thinking. The group put some heavy persuasion on us to join them at the camp ground so we could enjoy the full weekend experience. Umm, Ok. What the hell, let's give it a go! We reserved a camp site along with Mike and Michelle a few spots down from the main group. We knew all the folks with kids would want to be right next to each other and we were fine with a spot a little more secluded.
We don't even own camping gear so we borrowed from various neighbors to make sure we had what we would need. I borrowed a tent from Josh and set it up in the back yard to make sure it was aired out and had no leaks.
Lynn's face says it all... We are supposed sleep in that?!
Nailed it! I think. Nothing to this camping stuff...
So we headed out on Friday April 30th about noon. There were multiple vehicles due to the amount of people and gear so we were all on our own schedule and planned to meet up at the camp ground that evening. We tagged Mike and Michelle to meet us for lunch on the way up at Dooley's in Wilkesboro for a mid-afternoon lunch. This was fine with them because, like us, they were in no real hurry to get to the camp ground. Dooley's is a regular stop for us when on motorcycle rides into the mountains. Great food and the weather was excellent for outdoor seating!
You can tell by the photo we had the seats folded down and the car filled up with gear. We had no idea what we were doing. Over packed? YES! Better safe that sorry.
Notice how sunny and warm it is in Wilkesboro for lunch. This becomes relevant later...
We got to the camp ground about 5:30pm and due to the sun going down and the elevation changes it was starting to get cold. Mike and I were kind of looking at each other like OK, what do we do here to get this going? Our site had plenty of room for two tents. We managed to get the picnic table moved and the tents set up without incident. We even got the blow up mattress inflated for the sleeping bags. SUCCESS! Whatever had we been worried about?
At this point it was getting time to think about dinner. We had seen most of the rest of the group were already set up and we could already smell burgers on the grill. Thank God for good neighbors! Without them to feed us the 4 of us would have starved. We walked on over and joined the festivities.
After an evening of good food and good company it was time to get some sleep. By this time it had become cold. Very cold. A few colorful words were uttered about the cold and how do people even do this? Well first of all we realized we were without the best of gear and most of the folks there were better prepared for the cold temperatures. So we made the best of it and got settled in. Cold night to say the least.
So in the morning we got up and walked over to the main camp site area. Wow! There was fresh coffee, bacon, eggs, biscuits and orange juice. This group really knows how to camp! Thank God again for good neighbors willing to feed us when we are not in our element.
Soon enough we were all ready to head into Damascus and get set up for the ride. I think it was Brent and Amy who made sure we all had T-Shirts to commemorate the event. Silly, we all knew, yes, but it added to the fun and overall experience. We can be goofy that way. So we donned our shirts and loaded up.
There are multiple bike tour outfits in Damascus. They will fit you with a bike, taxi you and your gear up the mountain to the drop off point, then you ride back down and meet up again at the bike shop. We went with a place called The Bike Station right in the middle of town. They did a great job getting us set up quickly, loaded, and ready to roll. You can bring your own bike and just pay for the van to take you up, but given how large our crew was we really did not want to deal with hauling all those bikes back and forth from home.
Ready to roll!
The prerequisite group photo at the drop off point:
From there it was all down hill, pun intended!
This was a really fun experience. There are two places you can stop along the way for refreshment. The scenery is fantastic and as I mentioned, the ride is mostly down hill. We did have one mishap along the way. Lynn and I came up on Mike and Michelle as she was about to get back on her bike. Apparently she went off the trail into the brush but there were no injuries so all was good.
After regrouping at the bike shop we stopped by Damascus Brewery for some cold ones and to tell stories about the ride.
Back to the camp ground after that for another night of camp fire and celebration. We had a couple of birthdays in the group that we celebrated. A great night!
The next morning we packed up and all said our good byes. With a group this large everyone was following their own agenda for getting back home. This was a wonderful weekend with good friends that Lynn and I will cherish. Although we are not campers our friends helped us make the experience better than we would ever have expected. Be sure to check out our other adventures with the neighbors including Bryson City, Emberglow camping resort, Beech Mountain, and Cabo San Lucas.
If you have never tried the Virginia Creeper Trail we highly recommend it. A great family experience or a couples get away weekend trip.
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