French Broad River, Ashville NC and Bernard Bike Path, Pisgah National Forest (October 2017)

While visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park we decided to spend a day on the bikes.  The first trail we went on was a 2-mile path in Asheville along the Broad River. It was scenic and fun.

After a picnic we drove to the Bernard Bike Path in the Pisgah National Forest. This ride was about 5 miles long and was pretty cool since we ended up on a narrow track in the National Forest and rode quite a ways along the river. We spotted a fisherman in the river, which is quite common to see in this part of the country. It was great to get out for some exercise on the bikes!

Stones River Greenway, Nashville Tennessee (September 2017)

This fantastic trail was just a few minutes away from where we were camping.  What a great find! It had some challenging hills but nothing too severe.  It started out by the Percy Priest Dam and ran all the way to downtown Nashville, but we didn’t quite make it all the way to the end before turning around for home. We rode for about 15 miles total and had a wonderful time!

There is also a beautiful dog park there and you can even rent bikes right at the trailhead.  Definitely a must do if you are in the area.

Two Rivers Greenway Trail, Little Rock Arkansas (September 2017)

This was a great bike trail that Richard found when we were staying in Hot Springs.  It was about a one hour drive from our campsite at Catherine’s Landing and well worth the drive.  We parked the car at Two Rivers Park and took off from there.  We crossed two pedestrian bridges, had a picnic lunch at great spot and saw birds, deer  and one shy turtle.

   

We rode about 15 miles but could have spent all day criss-crossing all of the trails.  This was one of the best rides we have ever done.

Assateague Island National Seashore (May 2017)

This park is located along the Atlantic Ocean in Maryland and Virginia.  It is a 37 mile long barrier island where the Chincoteague ponies, or Assateague horses, live in this natural habitat.  It was made famous by the book Misty of Chincoteague.

We parked our car at the Barrier Island Visitor Center in the late afternoon and then rode our bikes across the bridge.

At first we only saw some horses in the distance but as we rode along the path we spotted a group of horses on the beach.  So beautiful!

We caught up with them further down the path.

 

And then ran into another herd on our way back.  Certainly a great ride for horse lovers!

No Name Key, Florida Keys (May 2017)

This was a fun ride to see the Key Deer on No Name Key.  The Key Deer is an endangered deer that lives only in the Florida Keys.  They are the smallest North American deer, weighing 2-4 pounds at birth, with the adult males weighing 55-75 pounds and standing at about 30″ at the shoulder.  The females are somewhat smaller.  There are 700-800 left in total but that is up from only about 25 in 1951 when the herd was at its lowest point.  About 125-150 are killed each year by vehicles on the roads.

We parked the car and hopped on our bikes, spotting a few deer before we even took the bridge over to No Name.  Once we got over the bridge they were everywhere with lots of cute babies.  The trip would not be complete without stopping for a cold drink and snack at the No Name Pub.