Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - 11
T H E G O O D WA L K
TREASURE OUR TRAILS
Walk Amid Volunteers' Work
The Children's Forest Long Loop Trail near Covington, Virginia, is an easy, history-laden 2.9-mile
walk through a piece of George Washington/Jefferson National Forest.
Text by LEONARD M. ADKINS | Photos by LEONARD & LAURIE ADKINS
WHEN YOU
GO
THE WALK: A moderate outing
of 2.9 miles on a lightly used trail
with a nice feeling of isolation and
sense of history, with an optional
.3-mile interpretive trail.
I
am always conscious of the indispensible role volunteers play in enabling you and me to continue
taking our recreational walks. (Think Appalachian
Trail and the trails of the Blue Ridge Parkway, along
with state and regional parks.) I became even more
conscious of that on a recent outing in the George
Washington/Jefferson National Forest near Covington, Virginia:
In April, 1971, a fire burned 1,176 acres on Potts
Mountain. One year later, on April 28 (the 100th Anniversary of the first Arbor Day), more than 1,000 children
and their families from the eastern U.S. arrived on the
site. Participating through a program between the US Forest Service and Hunt-Wesson Foods, which paid for the
trees, these volunteers planted thousands of seedlings on
177 acres of charred landscape.
A monument was built (with a time capsule containing the participating children's names), trails in the area
became popular destinations, and two schools began to
bring students for social, nature and history lessons.
Sadly, according to the forest service's Elizabeth Higgins, "The trails were scheduled to be decommissioned
GETTING THERE: Take I-64
Exit 16A at Covington, turn onto
US 60 W, go 1.1 miles and turn left
onto VA 18. Continue another 12
miles, make a left onto VA 613, go
3.1 more miles, turn left onto Children's Forest Road/Forest Service
351 and come to the parking area
on the left in an additional .8 mile.
MORE INFORMATION: Maps
and short descriptions of the trails
may be found on fs.usda.gov/
recarea/gwj/recreation/hiking/
recarea/?recid=77720&actid=50.
The trail's pondering spots and signage are
just two of its many charms.
sometime around 2014. The issue was vandalism-and
one year we had a meth dump at the parking lot. However, when news of the possible closure became known,
local residents volunteered to keep the trails open."
Cynthia Baroody is one of those volunteers.
"Members of the Virginia Master Naturalists Alleghany Chapter took on the project, clearing trash and doing
simple trail maintenance," she says. "Other organizations
joined, improving conditions so that students could again
PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 14.
JULY/AUGUST 2020
11
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - 3
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Blue Ridge Country July/August 2020 - Cover4
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