High Bridge Trail State Park

When we first set our goal to visit all of Virginia’s state parks, one of the destinations I was most excited about was High Bridge Trail State Park. Home to the 31-mile-long High Bridge Trail, the park’s namesake is a gorgeous bridge that stretches for half a mile and soars about 125 feet above the Appomattox River.

When I booked our Spring Break trip to the Farmville area in part to visit this park, I was not aware that the bridge in question would be closed for renovations. There are plenty of other attractions in the area (stay tuned for posts about Farmville and the region’s other state parks!), so we were still really excited for our trip.

Yesterday we decided to go for a hike on a stretch of High Bridge Trail that was still open. There are multiple access points to the trail between the Pamplin and Burkeville areas, but the access points that are closest to the bridge are currently closed to the public. We decided to enter the trail at the intersection of Rice’s Depot Road and Railroad Drive near our AirBNB in Rice, VA. This particular access point has a small parking lot with a public restroom. Although it is unstaffed, there is a payment box where you can pay the standard park fees (we simply hung our State Park Annual Pass from our rear view mirror in the event that a ranger came by and checked).

This area is also only a little over three miles from the bridge, making it a nice starting point for cyclists or people looking for a lengthier round-trip walk at times when the bridge is open to the public. The trail is a flat, wide, packed-gravel surface that winds between trees, farmland, and residential communities for as far as the eye can see. It’s a great place to ride a bike, go for a run, or take your dog for a walk.

The stretch we were on did not offer much shade, and the temperature reached a shocking 82 degrees for late March, so we admittedly did not last long. Still, my daughter was excited that our short-but-sweet, out-and-back walk allowed us to check off another state park visit. We definitely look forward to visiting again when the bridge has been reopened – the promise of sweeping views from a unique vantage point are absolutely worth a return trip.