The 34.3-mile Virginia Creeper Trail, which runs from Whitetop Mountain through Damascus to Abingdon, was named after the steam engine that once creeped up the rails into the Iron Mountains. By the 1970s, many railroads were abandoned. And in 1986, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy began converting old railroad beds into trail systems for hikers and bikers. The Trail began as a Native American footpath. Later, it was used by European pioneers including Daniel Boone. We biked it in early October.