Blazing new and old trails

In 1828, during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, ground was broken on what was then an engineering marvel. When it was finished in 1850, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal became a ribbon of water linking Cumberland, Md., with the nation's capital 184.5 miles away.

Teams of horses towed boats that carried all manner of goods through the canal next to the Potomac River -- from frontier to civilization -- and along all 184.5 of the canal's meandering miles there exists to this day a crushed gravel towpath.

On Friday, two D.C.-area friends and I will meet up in Cumberland and begin a three-day journey to Washington. It's a trip many months in the making. We've planned and researched the undertaking. We're all avid bicyclists, but this will be the first multiday, many-mile trip for each of us.

Much closer to home yesterday, there was another reminder of the power of long-distance trails. Starting early in the morning, over 1,300 bike enthusiasts began rides of 25, 50 and 100 miles along routes near the still-in-the-works Virginia Capital Trail.

When it's finished the 55-mile paved path will connect Jamestown, Williamsburg and Richmond. The signup fees from yesterday's rides will help fund the work of the Virginia Capital Trail Foundation, which aims to make users' experiences along the trail fuller and more interactive.

Just as the C&O Canal towpath has done for towns like Hancock, Md., and the AT for Damascus, Va., the Virginia Capital Trail is almost certain to do for places along its route -- bring in visitors and their money.

"These little towns that were barely hanging on now have coffee shops and bike shops," said foundation Executive Director Beth Weisbrod, referencing another long distance trail, the Great Allegheny Passage in Pennsylvania. "I don't think ours will be any different. I think we're going to have a lot of cool things pop up."

If the Virginia Bicycling Federation has its way, the state could soon have hundreds of miles of long-distance paths similar to the Va. Capital Trail.

On May 1, the VBF sent Gov. Kaine a letter requesting the support of a resolution the group passed requiring bike and pedestrian trails in all major rail enhancement and improvement projects in Virginia.

Translation: The Obama administration has indicated it will pour money into improving high-speed and freight rail systems across this country, and Gov. Kaine has shown a similar inclination. The VBF wants trails to be included alongside any new or enhanced rails built in the state from here on out.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a network of rails with trails across Virginia," said Champe Burnley of the Virginia Bicycling Federation.

"Virginia could set the example for other states, with the first part of a bike-and-pedestrian trail connecting New Orleans to New York."

Burnley was referencing the Crescent Corridor, Norfolk Southern's 1,300-mile rail line -- from the Big Easy to the Big Apple -- that runs through Western Virginia.

Trails alongside these existing rail lines would be a boon to the communities they traverse, just as the C&O Canal towpath, the AT, and the Virginia Creeper Trail are and the soon-to-be Virginia Capital Trail will be.

And, what's more, they wake up the epic adventurer in all of us. They say, "You can get there from here. All you need is your own two feet and a couple of wheels."