On November 5, 6 and 7th troop 234 drove to White Top Mountain to camp and bike the 34 mile Virginia Creeper trail.  Go to http://www.vacreepertrail.com/ to take a look at the trail.  This is the most visited Bike trail in the US.  Part of its frequent use is that the first 17 miles is all downhill!  We arrived Friday night late at Creeper Trail Campground in White Top to 2 inches of snow!  The campground is located at around 3,500 feet of elevation.  The troop experienced setting up camp in the snow along with cold weather camping both Friday and Saturday night.  Camping Friday night and Saturday took temperatures at this elevation into the teens.  

Creeper Trail Campground is located on the end of the trail which makes access wonderful.  This trip completed some of the requirements of Cycling Merit Badge.  The first half of the trail was in snow while the lower elevations were rural farm land.  Most of the final 17 miles involved peddling with the last 5 miles a gentle uphill grade.  We experienced one flat tire and one off trail experience but the day in the cold clean air of Virginia was spectacular.  This was one of my most memorable scouting trips ever.  The drive is 5 hours and the cost was $30.00 including shuttle back form Abingdon, VA.  We took our own bikes to save money.  The shuttle can be avoided with some advance coordination cutting the cost by another $13.00 per person as well.  Be sure and take your own firewood as we did.  Next year we plan on staying on the White Top to Damascus upper section of the trail on Saturday and Sunday. 

J. Mark Rodgers

Scoutmaster 234

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