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Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!
From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia Outdoor Adventures Podcast is your local guide to hiking, camping, kayaking, travel and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure, right here in Virginia. Lets Go!
Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!
Virginia’s Adventure Towns: Martinsville – Blueways, Trails, Camping and more in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge with Anna Wheeler and Brian Williams, Dan River Basin Association (Ep 75, Part 1)
Tucked into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Martinsville reveals itself as an unexpected paradise for outdoor enthusiasts. Anna Wheeler and Brian Williams from the Dan River Basin Association share their intimate knowledge of this small city with its outsized adventure potential.
The Smith River Blueway provides 45 miles of accessible paddling and world-class trout fishing on the crown jewel of Martinsville. Just beyond city limits, Philpott Lake offers 25 miles of undeveloped shoreline with camping, paddling, and hiking opportunities.
Bring your bike or borrow one for free and ride the Smith River Trail System, a network of local trails, including the 11-mile paved Dick & Willie Passage Trail, that serves as both recreation corridor and community connector.
Anna and Brian also highlight local museums, culinary gems, and fascinating history to add to your must-do Martinsville bucket list. Let’s Go!
Join us next week as we dive into Martinsville’s local attractions, including museums, culinary gems, and one of the newest state parks that is open and welcoming visitors.
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Announcer, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia outdoor adventures Podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia. I'm your host. Jessica Bowser, tucked into the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Martinsville reveals itself as an unexpected paradise for outdoor enthusiasts. ANNA Wheeler and Brian Williams from the Dan River Basin Association share their intimate knowledge of this small city with its outsized adventure potential, the Smith River blue way provides 45 miles of accessible paddling and world class trout fishing on the crown jewel of Martinsville, just beyond city limits, Philpott lake offers 25 miles of undeveloped shoreline with camping, paddling and hiking opportunities. Bring your bike or borrow one for free and ride the Smith River Trail System, a network of local trails, including the 11 mile paved dick and Willie passage trail that serves as both recreation corridor and community connector. Ana and Brian also highlight local museums, culinary gems and fascinating history to add to your must do Martinsville bucket list. Let's go. Anna and Brian, welcome to Virginia outdoor adventures.
Unknown:Thank you. Thanks for having us glad
Jessica Bowser:to be here. What do you love about martinsville? Well,
Unknown:as somebody who moved to the community, I've really enjoyed the small town feel of it, including the small town, it's crazy how much outdoor adventures there are around here. What about you, Brian? I love it because it is a small town. I lived in Atlanta. I've lived in several different states, and once we moved here, I realized how close we are to the Blue Ridge Mountains and all the opportunities that are here. It's a it's a small town, but it's really close to some major cities, so you've got a little bit of everything, and it's just a wonderful place to live. It's inexpensive and convenient and lots of outdoor
Jessica Bowser:activities. Could you describe Martinsville for the listeners, it is
Unknown:a small town, about 14 15,000 population in the city, and we have about 37,000 in the county of Henry. So Martinsville is basically in the middle of Henry County, and the Smith River runs northwest to southeast, right through the middle of our county, and it kind of connects all these little small towns, fielddale, Bassett, Stanley town, Ridgeway and right through martinsville. So it has a small town field but we also have big town things here too. We've got great restaurants, like I said, great outdoor activities, shopping, just about everything you would want. So it's still got that retains that small town feel. You can walk around uptown and enjoy the sites, go into places to eat and drink, and then within five minutes, you can be out looking at a beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains or beyond the river. One of my things that I love to highlight about Martinsville, Virginia, is that it's about an hour away from Floyd, Roanoke Greensboro, and of course, like we're connected to Philpott Lake and fairy stone state park out here, along with the future Mayo River State Park. So just a few attractions that are, you know, nationally recognized, and people from those cities can be here within an hour. Both
Jessica Bowser:of you are with the Dan River Basin Association. Could you talk about the mission of DARPA?
Unknown:Yeah, so the Dan River Basin Association's mission is to protect and promote the Dan River Basin through recreation, education and stewardship. The way that we do that is take people outside. So we get people outdoors on our first Saturday outings, hikes, things like that, building trails, building river accesses. And then hopefully, once they're outdoors, they want to learn more about their area, so they're going to read some educational materials we have in classroom presentations. Trout in the Classroom is a huge project of ours. And then once they learn a little bit more about it. We hope they become stewards of our land. So we do citizens water quality monitoring in general, you know, showing people that they need to protect it. We have people who do river watch and check out our rivers and creeks and make sure that it's safe, along with plenty of other projects. You know, the three tenants are Education, Recreation and stewardship. So we always say play, learn and care. So we know that, you know people driving across the bridge and looking at a river may see one thing, but if we can get your feet wet, get you in a river, on a river, on a trail out there, playing in a good, safe way with other people that have already experienced this, and then you can learn more about it. And then, once you do that, you start to become a good steward of it. So that's the caring part of it, and that's the way we we've done it. And as Ana mentioned, water quality monitors, our Trout in the Classroom, our education outreach programs all are based around, how do we make a better cleaner environment, cleaner community, keep our river clean and get people coming to see exactly what we have here and what we have. Have to offer. So it all ties in together with our mission. Let's
Jessica Bowser:jump into all of the things that you have to offer, because there is quite a bit of outdoor recreation in Martinsville. I thought the gem of the town was the Smith River. So why don't we start there? Could you describe what the Smith River is like and what the outdoor rec opportunities are?
Unknown:Yeah, the Smith River. It's about 45 miles long, and it comes out of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It starts. The headwaters are up on Mount Belcher, the headwaters of the Dan Rivers on the other side. So you have these two major rivers that come off the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they come down. And the Smith River is dammed up by Phil pot Lake, and our US Army Corps of Engineers reservoir. It's a beautiful lake. No houses on the lake. Fantastic recreation, nine different boat ramps, campgrounds, and then at the bottom of that, the dam is about 200 feet deep. So the tail race, part of this Smith River creates a cold water fishery, because the water coming out of the bottom of the dam is about 45 degrees. So this dam was built in the 50s, and once they realized, hey, we've just created a trout fishery, they started stocking trout in the Smith River. In addition to that, the Smith River flows right through the middle of the county, and it's a wonderful river because it has something for everybody. We have basically class one and two Rapids is the biggest thing we have on there. So nothing too complicated, but it is controlled. Flood Control is fill pots main priority. They also generate power out there. They're not doing that right now because of some issues with a powerhouse, but we have a good, steady flow of water, and a lot of times we'll have water when no one else does. Now, it does vary. So you know, learning the different flow rates and how to find the information about that is is paramount, but for the most part, it's an easy river that most anyone can do. It's got good paddling for people that know how to paddle and are white water experience that's still fun for them, but also great for beginners. Let's see. We have 13 accesses on the Smith River right now, and we've put these accesses located about four to five miles apart, so you can pick your adventure and end up, you know, spend as much time as you want to on the river, two and a half hours, five hours, whatever you want to do, you can float all day on the river and then go, you know, stop in one of these towns and have something nice to eat. But it is a world class trout fishery. It's been that way for a long time, and is always getting better. Fish and Game work real diligently on this river, and we work with them too. We have a stocked trout program where they stock rainbow and brook trout, and then we have a wild brown trout fishery, which is what we're really famous for, the brown trout raised wild in this river. And it is our guides out there on the river rafting and taking you fly fishing, that's what they're really targeting. And people come to the Smith River to catch wild brown trout. It's one of the top rivers in the state for that. So you can paddle, you can fish, you can float, you can hang out. The river's got everything. You can check out all of that on the Smith River, blueway.com website. So if you're curious about seeing what your trip times are going to be, what's nearby you on the river. That's all on that website right there.
Jessica Bowser:That is a wonderful resource. We had such a lovely morning on the river when I got to visit Martinsville, I want to thank you for such a great day. I enjoyed how beautiful this river was, and also learning from you two who are so knowledgeable about the Smith River, about the accessibility of the river and about fishing on the river, and all the ways that it stimulates economic development, but also conservation and the visitors that come to town to fish and to float and to paddle, as you mentioned, I have really had a wonderful time. And I think anybody who comes to Martinsville would be really missing out if they didn't take advantage
Unknown:of this. Yeah, it really is kind of a hidden gem. On one hand, you like, want to keep it all to yourself, but on the other hand, you know that the more people have experienced something like that, the easier it is to protect and for many years, you know, this is the we had the furniture industry, we had the textile industry. We had a lot of different things going on here, which we don't have quite as much anymore, but we do have the river. We've always had the river, and keeping this river clean and making it better and promoting it, and getting people to realize just how easy access it is, and how much fun and how great it is to come here. Do the river spend three or four days or so many other attractions here as well? But the river, to me, is the key. I've always said, you know, the headwaters of revitalization for this area is the Smith River. And we've got more than the Smith we've got the north and south mayo, and we got the Dan River just downstream from us as well, too. So it's kind of like six or seven rivers, and pick the one you want to get on, but the Smith is beautiful. It's clear, it's cold, and it's just a gorgeous river to be on. And it's, it's, you know, it's well known in the trout community, but not so much in the paddling community. So we're, we're encouraged. People to come and visit no matter what you want to do. We have Dan River Basin Association hosts for Saturday outings for people who are interested in trying out a new section of the river or a lake nearby, along with seeing what we've done, which is build all of these river accesses, we also give the opportunity for people to come and visit them as well with us. So when you go to a river access on the Smith River, you will not see anything that doesn't have a Dan River Basin Association logo on it. Thanks to Brian Williams and all of the amazing volunteers part of our community that have made that happen. So Jessica, right, like, if you don't have somebody hosting with you, take a peek along the river access, and you'll probably be able to find something about the environment around there and learn more
Jessica Bowser:Absolutely. And do you have any advice for gearing up? Because some people own their own kayaks, and if they bring them, I think that would be great. But for anybody who doesn't, do you have any thoughts on how they could access gear?
Unknown:Well, we do have Smith River campground here, and they have a few boats. We used to have an outfitter here, and we're looking for another one. So if you're a canoe or kayaking outfitter, come on down. We've got a great place for you. Most people have their own boats here. I mean, we have boats available for sale, actually, in Henry County, which is pretty amazing. But if you don't have your own boat, then you need to find, you know, a place to rental. There is a rental up on Philpott Lake. You have to look on the Martinsville website and our website, and you can see some links to get the boat. But the main thing is to know how to get on the river and do it safely, you know. So if you're going to plan on doing that, you need to definitely have your personal flotation device and some safety gear with you and plan your trips accordingly, with the right clothing. You know, we recommend technical wicking clothing because the water is chilly even in the summertime. It's one of the great things about the Smith River is it's a nature's air condition. And you can go out there on a hot July or August day and the water's still going to be chilly enough to be cool and a nice breeze coming up, and we have a real famous Smith River fog that you'll see at times of day when the cold water collides with the moisture and the warm air. But it's a great place any time of year. We paddle all year round on it, even in the winter time, but you just need to be prepared for it, you know. And most people, if they're going to purchase a kayak, they're going to hopefully purchase a life jacket with that, you know, so they can have that and the correct paddle. And know you're not usually paddling alone. So what you're usually doing is putting your boat in in one access and taking your vehicle down to another one. We call that setting shuttle. So you can do a whole run of the river, and then when you get out one vehicle's there, you can load your boats up and take them back up and get your other vehicle. We also have people around here that do run shuttles as well.
Jessica Bowser:Are there any fly fishing guides that you want to recommend for people who are interested in fly fishing? We have
Unknown:the best. We have EJ stern with Smith River Outfitters, and he's an Orvis endorse guide, one of the top guides in the country. He's been runner up several times for top Oros guide. I fish with him all the time. He's personal friend of mine. He's a fantastic fisherman and very patient. He has about five different guides working for him. So we have a lot of opportunity on the river. If it's too low to float, we'll Wade, but most of the time, you'll still be floating in a raft, and you can look him up. Smith River outfitters.com it's pretty easy to find any information on Smith river guide. There is a Smith River in California. So whenever you Google, put Smith River Virginia in there, or Smith River Outfitters, or Smith River blue way. Also the yes Martinsville site has information on there, but it's very easy, and I do recommend highly, if you've never trout fish the Smith River, go with a guide at least your first time, because they're going to show you everything they know. They're going to put you on fish. Especially you will not go out and not catch fish with EJ, I can guarantee that. And you learn the river, because a lot of people will come down and not know where to go and not know how to fish the Smith and we have some pretty smart brown trout here, so learning the ins and outs of what the hatch is and what they're hitting on and and how to actually fish the river is extremely important, and it's well worth your time, especially if you plan on coming back. But if you're just coming into town for a day or two, you probably would do do good to get a guide. And it's great because you're getting on a raft, the guide is rowing you down the river and hooking your lines up and telling you where to fish. And they know the river better than anybody else. So yeah, we have excellent guides on the Smith River.
Jessica Bowser:Hey, adventure seekers, can you believe I traveled 10,043 miles across Virginia last year. Yep, over 10,000 miles to bring you stories from Virginia's most incredible adventure towns. If you've enjoyed discovering these hidden gems and want to hear more, consider supporting the podcast through my buy me a coffee page. Your contribution, whether it's a one time. Tip or a monthly membership helps cover the cost of creating these episodes and keeps the adventure going every bit helps fuel the journey, plus members get some awesome perks. So head to my buy me a coffee page by clicking on support the show. In your show notes, shout out to the newest members of Virginia outdoor adventures. Anne from Fredericksburg, Matt from Roanoke. Barb from Chesterfield, Lori from Norfolk, Raphael from Falls Church, Kevin from Richmond and Allison from clear Brook. Thanks for helping me share Virginia's wildest, most inspiring places one adventure at a time. That's one thing I'm definitely adding to my list when I come back to Martinsville, because, EJ, when I was talking to him, I forgot how many trips he said he does a year, but it's like several 100, right? Isn't it? Like in the 200 range, and he's he's so popular, like, I think if you're planning a trip to Martinsville and this is something you want to do, maybe your first call ought to be to Smith River Outfitters to make sure that he's available to take you out, because I think he's. He's awfully busy these days.
Unknown:Yeah, he is. He's and it's getting busier all the time. But he, EJ, has been around a while. I used to guide on the Smith River, and he called me up, and that's first thing he did. He said, I want to learn the Smith River. And I said, come on up. I'll show it to you. And then eventually he just basically took over the business, which I'm very happy about. And he's done such a fantastic job. I don't think anybody knows the river as far as trout fishing better than EJ does, so definitely worth a call. I just want people to make sure that they're safe. You know, there's people here you can call. You can get the water release schedule. Right now. They're not releasing out of the generators, they will be probably in another year. But call ahead, get your information. You know, we've got plenty of information online. As Ana said, the Smith River blue way, all you got to do is type that in. You're going to get the map of the Smith River basic times that it might take you to float, estimated times it takes to float. We have a Smith river guide available through Dan River Basin website. It's a, actually a paddlers guide. So the the key thing is to know where you're going, and especially where your next access is. You know, learn, learn as much as you can. And there's plenty of people here, whether you call the tourism office or Dan River basin or Henry County Parks and Rec everybody knows, everybody knows the river. Our 911, people know the river. We've spent a lot of time teaching people about the river, so we've got a lot of good river ambassadors here. And even if you come here and you're on the river with other people that may live here locally and you need some help, they're going to help you out. That's the great thing. You know, we've got everyone here is just so very helpful. And if you're there and say, Hey, I'm not sure about this section of river, somebody's gonna be there and tell you, you know, the information that you need about it. So that's the main thing keeping people safe, making sure you have a good time on the river. I'd encourage everybody to have a safety trip plan when they go, you know, make sure people know where you're going, where you're getting on. Where are you getting off? Estimated time, all of those things, you know, food, water, first aid kit on your trip, all of those things, along with the specific safety that we have along the Smith rivers.
Jessica Bowser:Fantastic. Let's move on to Philpott Lake, because I think this is probably in contention for the gem of Henry County. Philpott Lake is absolutely gorgeous. And I have I told you when we were together that for the number of times that I've driven by, it never stopped. I don't know what's wrong with me. Like people have said to me, Well, you drove to fairy stone. Didn't you stop at Philpott lake? And I'm like, No, should I? And then when we got to the overlook, I was like, Oh my gosh, what was I doing all those times, I definitely should have stopped at Philpott Lake. Why don't you talk a little bit about it? Well,
Unknown:you did see the place that we take everybody immediately, because you're looking out over the dam, and you've got this beautiful vista, the Blue Ridge Mountains and this gorgeous Lake. Philpott Lake has around 25 miles of shoreline. It's 500 something acres. It is the water supply for Henry County. We have some of the best water in Virginia because of Phil pot Lake, and there's not much above it that's causing any problems that runs into fill pot Lake pollution and things like that. So it's a gorgeous lake. It's usually mostly clear most of the year. We do have nine accesses on it. We have the Philpott Lake blue way, which Dan River Basin, in partnership with the US Army Corps of Engineers created that means you can go to any access ramp, and you'll see a sign right there that gives you two different paddle trips. If you're just paddling, you can go in your motor boat too. That's fine, whatever you've got. But it'll say, and we've got a brochure for it. It'll say, Okay, you're, you're right here at run it bag. You can go up to Calico rocks. You can go up to Everson falls, whatever. And you just saw a small portion of it. I mean, you saw an a big overview of the lake when we were up there. But each access place has its own character, and it's beautiful. When you get down there on the lake, it's, it's gorgeous. We have a. Marina right there near Philpott dam. People keep boats there. There's a store there. You can launch there. Each one of these access ramps you can launch a boat at, and then there's three campgrounds. Is that right? And it brings in a lot of lot of tourism, and the campgrounds Stay, stay very busy. So book ahead if you're planning on camping at Philpott Lake. But you're right. It is something you don't want to miss. It's beautiful for swimming, fishing, paddling, whatever you want to do. My favorite part is no houses. I mean, it's just unbelievable to see a lake that big and not see houses and, you know, crowded with jet skis and things like that. It's a very peaceful lake because there aren't a lot of houses on there, there's a lot of wildlife available. To see whether you're camping there, you can always stop to hike at a lot of these areas. So dogwood Glen Trail is a huge one that's like, right on the other side of the county line, along with a bunch at the Visitor Center. So take a peek when you guys go out there, if you look up Philpott Lake and look at their map or the Blueway guide, it'll have all those accesses available on it, along with some trail suggestions. So it's a really beautiful spot.
Jessica Bowser:Yeah, we popped into the visitor center when we were there, and there's a lot of great displays, but all the maps and all the information that you need, I was surprised that there was an island in the middle of this lake, and I guess it's only accessible by boat, right? But there's campsites on this island that's pretty unique.
Unknown:Yeah, there's two islands. There actually Deer Island and Turkey Island, and there's actually another aisle Rabbit Island on the other side. But the two, the one you're talking about, do have campsites. They're available. You can paddle out, or you can take a boat out to them. It's, you know, just got to make reservations in advance, but a lot of people do, and they they love it because they're out there isolated on that island, but it's only like, a mile off, you know, from where you put in. So it's not like you can't get back quick if you need to, but it is really neat to be camping on an island out there and have the whole access to the lake, and it's bring your own boat. Yes, right? Important.
Jessica Bowser:Yes, important to note. And the other thing that I thought was super interesting, that I learned at the Visitor Center is that they have a concert series in the summer. Do you know anything about that?
Unknown:The concert series is hosted by Franklin County, and they're at Twin Ridge recreation area, but it's a whole summer series. You can pull up your boat, you can be at the access area, and it's just a whole slew of concerts throughout the summer. So yeah, big music scene up there. You can enjoy the music from your boat, or go to twin Ridge Marina and set up a lawn chair and enjoy it there. They've been doing that for a long time. Concerts
Jessica Bowser:by canoe. What a concept. I love it. Okay, Smith river trail system. And there are many parts of the Smith River Trail System, and we're going to get into some of the details. But could you give us an overview of the trail system? You know,
Unknown:we started that many years ago. It's been 1819, years ago. The idea was we wanted to build trails. There was no trails here. It's like we wanted to build trails. And the Dan River Basin Association partnered with Henry County Parks and Rec and other organizations to try to start figuring out how we could get trails on the ground. Of course, we worked really closely with the county in getting easements in different locations. And the the original plan was like, Okay, let's put a trail wherever we can get it. If it's a half mile trail. If it's a one mile trail, we're going to put it down. And then as we progress, we'll try to connect these trails and make a network of them. So that's where the idea came from. Well, we got to call it something. You know, we've got all these individual trails, Lauren mountain preserve, and the fielddale Trail and the dick and Willie. So what are we going to call it? So we said, let's call it the Smith River Trail System, mainly because when Dan River Basin started up here and the county said, well, we don't have any trails, and it's like you've got a trail. It's the Smith River blue way. That's your water trail. It's the first thing you you've got. So let's just work around that. So that became the Smith River Trail system since that time, we've got, I don't know, over 25 miles of trail on the ground. Now, we got the dick and Willie Rail Trail passage, which is 11 miles. And we have a lot of individual trails. And honest still working on those. I used to work on those, and honest still doing that. Now, along with just being a trail system, we use it as an opportunity as well to educate everybody about the local area, either, you know, natural history or cultural history in the area. We do that a lot in some of our locations, just because this area is so rich in history, you know, from Native Americans all the way to, you know, the industrial revolution here it's, it's huge in how much has happened in this area. So we'd like to add all of that along to our trails, and each one of our trails also has a unique experience along it. You think, oh, well, I'm just going out on a trail. There's something different at each one of these locations, and that's what makes it unique. And whether or not you think a mile long trail is going to be for you or not, you're going to find something along that trail that's for you. We have a variety of trails too. We have everything from just a. Footpath through the middle of the woods at gravelly nature preserve, which is fantastic. A lot of people love that to the dick and Willie passage, which is paved. You know, we got 11 miles of paved trail. And Ana can tell you, because she's a runner and she's run races on that trail before. So we've got enough to basically run a marathon on that but the YMCA utilizes that heavily. So we have a lots of different races that are geared around all our trails, which we didn't have that before, and we have that now. Plus you can go to a trail and be out along the river on certain trails with no paved, you know, just a gravel trail or just a dirt footpath. So it's it's a trail. There's trails for everyone. It's not just one single trail, and you can go to Lauren mountain preserve and climb up to the top of a mountain. Have an overlook a Basset walk along the river, you know, hike through wild flowers. And every trail we have, as Anna said, has something unique on it. They're all going to have a kiosk with a map tell you where to go, where you are, and what sites that you can see. And some of our trails are much more interpretive, so we might have some interpretive signage along the trail, like the textile Heritage Trail. Well, you can walk along Jordan Creek and learn in view of the field crest Lodge and the field crest textile industry, and learn more about the history of the area from that trail as well, and along the dick and Willie too.
Jessica Bowser:I really like learning about the history of an area when I'm on a trail, so I appreciated those signs a lot. And as somebody who had only been to Martinsville once before, I was vaguely familiar with like the railroad history and the textiles heritage and the tobacco farming, but I learned so much more by being on the trail. And I think that that's just such a unique way to learn to appreciate a place, especially if you're unfamiliar with it, to learn about the history and to familiarize yourself with it so that you can appreciate, you know, what made that town, and to be able to appreciate what they are offering now. So all of these, you know, trails, some of them are natural, like the the blue ways, but then some of them are, you know, old rail beds. And so there's, there's a history there that we are now benefiting from. So I really enjoy that there's signage, and I hope that people take advantage of learning about the history of Martinsville and Henry County too.
Unknown:Yeah, the dick and Willie trail in particular, we started that on the old Danville and Western Line. The Dick and Willie was named after the first engineer and conductor. It was Richard and William. So they called it the dick and Willie line. In addition to that, we followed the old rail line, but it also follows some new places that were not part of the old rail line, and we got down to the Smith River. So you've got the city of Martinsville connected to the sports complex via the dick and Willie passage. That's the name of the rail trail. As I said, it's 11 miles worth of trail on the ground now, and phase sevens in operation, which is a plan to move it all the way up to fill pot so we're not stopping. I mean, we've got a lot of trail on the ground already, but it's still going. And everyone here is on board with it. You know, back during COVID, when a lot of places were shut down, our trails and our river accesses were overrun. I mean, we had our parks and rec work in overtime to keep these places clean for people, and we were so thankful. And we had meetings and said, Hey, are we going to keep this stuff open? And our county commission chairman and every everyone agreed, yeah, we're going to keep them open for people. And I'll tell you what, people were very thankful that we had these places open that they could go to and they want more.
Jessica Bowser:Yes. And Anna and I wrote a section of the dick and Willie passage trail. And I just have to tell you, before I even went to Martinsville, and I was telling some of my friends, oh yeah, I'm going to Martinsville, and I'm gonna do this feature. Everybody said to me, are you going on the dick and Willie trail? And I was like, What? What is so special about the dick and Willie trail? But I think everybody thinks the name is hilarious as wine, that's the first thing. But then the second thing is, it actually is really special. And we had a really fun time, didn't we? Anna, yeah, it
Unknown:was a lot of fun. We actually rented bikes at the YMCA bike barn along the trail. And anybody is able to do that, you use ideas, your collateral. They're free, and you can spend as long as you want on the trail, as long as you're back by the time they close. So it's a great opportunity for people to first have bikes available for people. They have child sized bikes too. So if you're thinking about coming and like, Man, I'm coming from a really far away place, or, you know, I'm not sure if my bike fits my kid anymore, we have lots of options for those. And along with that, you know, just having that opportunity to see a little bit more than maybe what some people may be able to walk, right? So, Jessica, we got a good amount in less than an hour. We went, what, six miles in an hour. Maybe I forget. I think it was just about that. And so just thinking about how quickly people can go and see these things, along with, you know, I could ride my bike up to Uptown Martinsville, go to the ground floor the coffee shop and get a snack. And. Then ride back down and drop my bike off, you know. So there's so many opportunities for us to explore where we are, especially around the dick and Willie trail, especially since it's paved, that makes it available to a lot more people. There's restrooms at every access point, multiple parking sites. So you can look all of that up on the visit Martinsville website as well. I just like, love running and riding on that trail.
Jessica Bowser:Yeah,
Unknown:and I want to give a shout out to the county and the city both, because the trail runs through the city and the county both. So both of them work to maintain and they do an excellent job of keeping this trail open. You know, if a tree goes down or something there, they're right on it. We have a really good network of people that'll call and say, Hey, there's something going on, and our county people personnel are very quick to respond, and they have a lot of other stuff to do. We have the sports complex, we have the fair and all this other festivals and things to do, but they really keep these trails open for us. So it's not like some of those places where you go, and you're like, oh my gosh, when's the last time somebody worked on this trail? You're not going to see that here. They are sustained well. And we have some locals that are friends of certain trails that also keep them clean too. So we try to make things that are sustainable. And so when you come to town, you know that you're going to get on a decent trail, and the dick and Willie in particular, since it's all paved, you can do, you know, take a stroller down there, or rollerblade and whatever you want, or just hike it. And it does go through some remote places. I mean, even though it's going through the city, just like you experienced on the river, we took you right through the city, and you didn't even know you were going through the city, the trail is the same way. I mean, we see a lot of wildlife on that trail as well.
Jessica Bowser:I really enjoyed the trail because, for lots of reasons. First of all, I was so impressed with the bike barn that was the coolest thing I've ever seen. I don't think I've seen that anywhere else, and I loved that the YMCA has made it possible for everybody to have access to a bike, so anybody who wants to ride can have a helmet and a bike. And, you know, even those carts that you attach to the bike to put your kid in. I mean, that's that was awesome. But the trail itself is absolutely beautiful. I mean, when you start to ride away from Martinsville and you're riding through Henry County. It follows a creek, so it's super Scenic. It's really beautiful. I was freaking out because I saw Louisiana water thrush, because it was a bird that I was really excited about. But there's little waterfalls on the stream, and it was absolutely gorgeous. But what I think is so impressive about this trail is the connectivity. And every single day that I was in Martinsville, I was on that trail, either walking it or hiking it or biking it. And every day I saw people in the community using it. Some were using it for recreational purposes. Some were using it for social purposes. Some people were just walking like through town and were using it to get from one point to another. So clearly, a lot of thought was put into this, and it's being taken advantage of by locals and people who are coming to visits. Yeah,
Unknown:we love it, and we want to keep working on that and connecting to that. That's kind of the backbone of our trail system there with the dick and Willie. So we're, we're excited to continue on. I mean, we're not, we're not stopping. We'd love to connect other counties with that as well. That's in the master plan, to connect it to Patrick County and connect it to Pennsylvania County.
Jessica Bowser:Join us next week as we dive into Martinsville local attractions, including museums, culinary gems and one of the newest state parks that is open and welcoming visitors. Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback mean so much to me. You can text me directly by clicking on Send me a text message in your show notes. I answer questions, respond to comments and share your feedback on the show. Never miss an update, get even more information and inspiration by signing up for my newsletter. Click on newsletter. Sign up in your show notes or visit virginiaoutdoor adventures.com thanks for listening until next time. Adventure on Virginia is for outdoor lovers, and you'll love everything Martinsville, Henry County has to offer you.
