New River Trail and Matthews State Forest Trail (Virginia)

 July 4, 2020

Our friends have access to a house on the New River in Galax, VA and we have visited many times.  Often we go to the New River Trail. This is a 57 mile trail that follows an abandoned railroad track so it is wide and flat.  We haven't brought bikes but it would be great to ride on as well.  There are several bridges over the river or you can stop and wade a bit too. The farthest we have ever made it is Cliffview, which were were disappointed to find out did not have a view of a cliff! It did have a general store so treats made up for the misleading name.

On our most recent visit we used the All Trails app to find a new hike in the area.  While it was a bit challenging to actually find, it was fun to have a new location. This was Matthews State Forest Trail, a 2.6 mile loop with 300 feet of elevation gain. It doesn't sound like much but that is a lot of incline for little legs. I was hoping for a good view but it was more forest than vista. A nice trail but not sure we would go back.