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Article: The Roads to Damascus; Many Trails Lead to This Small Virginia Town
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 27, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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If I squint and allow the green blur to take me back in time, I
can imagine speeding through this lush valley on a clanging flatbed
rail car instead of my gently humming mountain bike. I'd probably be
sitting on a giant chestnut log, looking forward to a jug of
moonshine after days of sawing through trees as big around as the
boiler on this fantasy steam engine.
But the illusion becomes impossible to maintain as I coast into
Damascus, where colorful signs peddle ice cream, antiques and a
bicycle shuttle service. After several hours of downhill cruising
along the Virginia Creeper Trail, a grassy hiker and biker route and
one of the country's greatest rails-to-trails success stories, ice ...