Cycling through the Blue Ridge Tunnel

CROZET, Va. – One of the destinations for the WSLS Blue Ridge Games is the Blue Ridge Tunnel in Nelson County. 10 Newsreader John Carlin tested it on his bicycle.

We drive into the Blue Ridge Tunnel

As I rigged up a helmet-mounted light for my ride in the Eastern Trailhead of the Blue Ridge Tunnel, cars started filling the parking lot with other people who had the same idea.

“I hope it’s pitch black and a little creepy,” said Eric Luna of Harrisonburg.

Jerry and Judy Yeatman from Pennsylvania ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway. They were looking for places to use their new e-bikes, and the tunnel was a perfect destination.

“That’s a good stopping point for cycling. That’s why we want to do it,” Jerry said. “In many places you cannot cycle, but here you can.”

There’s a lot to think about on this route, which totals 2.3 miles from one parking lot to the next. Essentially, there is a stretch of heavily traveled trail for less than a mile on either side of the tunnel. There are parking areas at both ends, but the eastern side of the trail offers the easiest walk or ride and the least distance to the tunnel entrance.

The tunnel entrance came into view as I turned the corner. The water was dripping from above and the ground was somewhere between damp and wet.

Once in the tunnel I turned on my helmet lights and continued driving. The water seeped in through the walls and created deep puddles on the sides of the path. Later I confirmed that crayfish live in the puddles.

About halfway through I heard that I was passing under the Appalachian Trail.

After driving almost a mile largely underground, you return to daylight.

Along the way, the rough stone walls had turned to brick. And while the eastern entrance was rough, the western side was much more refined, thanks to the workers who built the tunnel from around 1850, under the direction of chief engineer Claudius Crozet.

Once out of the tunnel, I had the option of driving the approximately eight-tenths of a mile to the western trailhead parking lot. But the attraction was the tunnel itself, so I turned around and drove back through, and went back to the car.

By cycling standards this is a very short ride. But it’s long about landscape.

It is something you will remember for a long time.