John Carlin, Anchor
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John Carlin, Anchor
ROANOKE CO., Va. – Our region is increasingly recognized for its extensive network of trails and greenways. And last week, volunteers finished a five-year project that added another trail.
No sooner than I started riding the Laurel Canyon Trail at Carvin’s Cove than I had to stop as four bear cubs and their mother appeared in front of me and Turtle Eddins, who was showing me the way.
Years before I came across this bear and her cubs, a group called Pathfinders for the Greenways began building the Laurel Canyon trail. It’s taken a long time and a lot of backbreaking love.
“So our tools are Pulaskis, rock bars to move big rocks, McCloud’s, basically what are considered firefighting tools,” said Liz Belcher, a leader of Pathfinders, and the person credited with creating the Roanoke Valley’s current greenway network.
After Liz showed me the lay of the land on a map, I wanted to see the trail myself. Turtle and I started from Hanging Rock and rode up the Hinchee Trail.
Shortly, we came upon Abby Horn and two of her children who were getting in an early summer vacation hike.
“There’s lots of wildflowers and birds and all kinds of beautiful greenery to catch your attention and all kind of things to look at and it’s beautiful,” Horn said.
On a bike, it takes a bit of effort. The Hinchee trail is uphill for just over two miles. It’s a rutted jeep road, perfect for a mountain bike.
Just off Hinchee, we entered Carvin’s Cove Natural Reserve and its network of trails and fire roads. We turned right on Brushy Mountain fire road and rather quickly came to the sign marking the entrance to the new Laurel Canyon trail.
“It’s truly something; it’s one of the prettiest trails I think there is out here,” Turtle Eddins said. And he would know since he helped build many of the trails in the region.
Crews started working on the Laurel Canyon Trail in 2021. And it’s all built by volunteers. They started working from one end and then the other. And during the last week of May, they came together and finished the trail.
But a quarter of a mile down the trail, we saw some bear cubs running up a tree.
And then we saw another.
And the mother bear ran up onto the trail. She ran away from us for a few yards, watching us – as we watched her.
Then we started counting cubs and realized there were two sets of two.
So, there we were on the trail. An anxious mama bear staring us down, with her cubs looking at us from the nearby trees.
I wanted to take it all in – but I didn’t want to push mama’s patience.
We did an about-face.
We rode back to Brushy Mountain and hung out for a few minutes.
After that, we rode back to where we were and saw no more bears.
And what a trail it is. Laurel Canyon rolls along the side of the ridge, with wildflowers including turkey beard, Galax leaf or beetleweed, and mountain laurel all around us.
The Pathfinders, and their hand tools, connected the two ends of the trail by creating the last 100 feet or so.
They commemorated with a small ribbon cutting.
But more interesting – like the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the crew pounded a golden spike to mark the completion.
“… and we said, well gosh, this is worth a golden spike to put it in the place where we connect. So we had one crew on one side and one crew another side, and they were working towards each other to get to the golden spike,” Belcher explained.
Turtle was one of the trail builders. If he hadn’t shown me where the spike – really a painted nail – was, I never would have seen it.
So, here’s to the Pathfinder volunteers. Mostly retired folks who for five years hiked in to scrape a new path through the woods.
So, the rest of us can hike or bike through some new territory. And where maybe we are lucky enough to see a bear.
Here is John’s ride from the app Strava. Feel free to follow John on his adventures.
Copyright 2026 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.
John Carlin co-anchors the 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts on WSLS 10.
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