What Is There to Do Along the New River Trail Near Woodlawn?

There is more to do than most people expect. Virginia State Parks describes New River Trail State Park as a 57-mile rails-to-trails park for hiking, biking and horseback riding, with tubing, paddling and primitive riverside camping on the river beside it. It is also close to Woodlawn, and Wikipedia places the park about six miles away.

Here at Avante Realty Group, we count it among the best things about living in this corner of Carroll County. Here is what you can actually do out there.

The trail follows the old Norfolk and Western railroad corridor, according to the Rails to Trails Conservancy, so the grade stays gentle. Its southern end forks, with one branch running to Galax and the other to Fries.

Virginia State Parks lists two tunnels, nearly 30 smaller bridges and trestles, and three major bridges. The longest of those, at Fries Junction, runs 1,089 feet, per the park's own fact sheet.

The Galax trailhead is easy to find. The Rails to Trails Conservancy notes a bright red caboose there, and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources says the Galax section follows Chestnut Creek down to the New River.

Horses can use most of it. Virginia State Parks says the trail is open to horseback riding except for a two-mile section from Galax to Cliffview, and it lists horse trailer parking at Cliffview and Fries, among other spots. Mountain bikers who want more challenge can head to the park's Hoover Mountain Biking Area.

The New River runs alongside the trail for 39 miles, according to Virginia State Parks. The park's Foster Falls area offers canoe and bike rentals and boat launches. Its posted livery schedule shows daily hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Friday through Sunday in spring and fall, and a closure from November through March.

Anglers have good reason to come. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources calls the New one of the best fishing rivers in Virginia, and Virginia State Parks lists smallmouth bass, muskellunge, walleye and catfish among the fish in it.

If you want to stay the night, Virginia State Parks runs three primitive campgrounds: Cliffview, Millrace and Double Shoals. Cliffview, the one in Carroll County near Galax, has twelve tent sites overlooking Chestnut Creek, and campers reach it on foot by a footbridge from the Dannelly Fitness Complex parking lot.

The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower stands along the trail, not far from Foster Falls. Virginia State Parks says the 75-foot tower was built more than 200 years ago, when lead from the nearby Austinville Mines was melted at the top to make ammunition. Visitors are allowed to climb it.

Nearby, a Virginia State Parks blog describes the Foster Falls iron furnace, built in 1881, as one of the pillars of that town's industry.

Linda's view is simple: knowing the area matters as much as knowing the house. If being on the trail by Saturday morning matters to you, let that shape where you look, whether that is Woodlawn itself, Fries, Galax or Ivanhoe, which has a trailhead of its own.

You can browse current listings any time. If you would rather talk it through, give Linda a call and she will tell you straight how close each home really sits to the trail.