Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail

Elevation: 638 ft.

Piney River is one of the many towns in Virginia that have converted their disused rail bed into a nature trail. This 7-mile trail starts at the refurbished train depot in Piney River and heads east through a varied landscape of evergreen and deciduous forest mixed with brush land and open areas. The woods along the trail are alive with birds throughout the year. Residents such as Blue Jay, Carolina Chickadee, and Red-bellied and Downy woodpeckers are joined in winter by numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Check the trailside brush piles for Song, White-throated, and the occasional White-crowned sparrows. During migration, neotropical migrants such as warblers, vireos, tanagers, and orioles pass through, and summer should be good for a variety of dragonflies and butterflies.