Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Walking Along the Clarksville Greenways


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Walking is the absolutely best exercise in the world-in my humble opinion. I try to walk as much as I can and many of you know I normally walk the Fort Campbell Clarksville Base Trail. Well, that trail has become a bit too long for me since I had an injury to my foot (avulsion fracture) in October of last year. That fracture and the resulting pain that lasted nearly five months really laid me low. I was unable to walk for exercise during my recovery. I'm happy to say I am now better and have begun walking again. I think walking, in addition to being good for your body, is also good for your mind-and who doesn't need that? I decided I needed to find a shorter walking trail than the Clarksville Base Trail because I did not think I would be able to handle the nearly 4.5 mile long walk right away. My next choice in trails to walk was to walk the Clarksville Greenway Pollard Road Trailhead

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I was actually familiar with the route because my garden club (Beachaven Garden Club) has taken on a civic project that involves marking the wildflowers along the trail. As part of that project I have walked the first section of the greenway a couple of times but never have I walked it for exercise. Now that my foot is fairly healed I have been out walking the trail for exercise with my dear husband (Mr. Fix-it) and my one dog that can actually walk, Lady. The area is so very peaceful. The barn pictured above is classic Tennessee and only one example of the beautiful scenery you will see on this trail.
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The right side of the trail slopes down a bit and here is yet another barn. I love the bucolic setting and wonderful field. The water in the distance is the Red River. The Clarksville Greenway is a walking trail that was made from the old trail of a railroad route that is no longer used. The trail follows the Red River according to an informative sign at the start of the Greenway.
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The trail is all flat (at least the first mile of it is) and is wonderfully paved. Many Clarksville and local area residents walk or ride their bicycles along this trail. It is not uncommon to see whole families taking a stroll on a nice day. While the trail is flat the surrounding countryside includes not only barns, fields, and a river, but also some interesting rock formations.
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The rock formations resemble rocks with warts-more rocks inside of the rocks. I think this is cherty limestone but do not know for sure.
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The Greenway has a long beautiful bridge where you must cross over a steep gorge. The bridge is named the 'Raymond C. Hand Pass'. Both sides of the bridge contain plaques outlining Mr. Hand's many contributions to the community. It made for interesting reading for Mr. Fix-it. Lady was only concerned with the lady taking her picture-me!
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And here is the long beautiful bridge. The gorge is quite deep. If you are afraid of heights you might feel a little queasy on this bridge but don't let that stop you from crossing over and continuing the Greenway trail as it is most fun walking it....

in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

15 comments:

  1. We love to walk on the Greenway. I agree it's a wonderful way to exercise, get some fresh air and enjoy some beautiful scenery!

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  2. Lady is a lucky dog. What a beautiful walk!

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  3. I love these nature/dog walks and this one is especially nice. For me, it's spring, summer and fall. Winter cold with ice me and Baron mostly become couch potatoes...

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  4. This trail looks like a wonderful one to walk on for sure. I just bet there are some geocaches along the way too! I love those TN barns and miss that style of barn but here in GA, we have plenty of barns to keep me happy. We walked an old railroad trail recently and I shall talk about it at some point. So many walks with Caching and one day I shall catch up! ha.... Lady looks beautiful in that pic and yes, a lucky girl indeed! That is for sure Mr Fixit with that coffee cup at side. hee hee....

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  5. This is a great trail. Lots of interesting things to look at and I'll bet it changes a lot through the year. Glad you're foot is healing so you can walk like this again. Take care.

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  6. That looks like a great thing to do to an abandoned railway, and you are fortunate to have it nearby. My son and I like to bike the Virginia Creeper trail in Damascus VA, which is also an old railway. You are actually a lot closer to it than us.

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  7. Tina, I can comment now! So glad, because you write about such interesting things. My husband's homeplace is not too far from this trail. The scenery -- barns and gently rolling hills -- look so familiar. I'm going to show him your post.

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  8. Tina so glad to hear you are better...and what a great walk to start back with....it has been almost a year with my knee injury from a fall and I hope to be back cycling, kneeling in the garden and walking again...spring should be grand!

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  9. Glad to hear you feel better Tina and that you are out walking again. It's amazing how wintry looking your photos are, considering the amount of plants growing and flowering in your garden :)

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  10. What a beautiful place to walk! Several years ago, there was talk of creating a bike path/walkway on an unused railroad line in our area, but so far nothing has come of it. It would be so nice to have a paved path like the Clarksville one to walk. I didn't realize you had hurt your foot; I'm glad it's healed enough for you to be able to get out once again. Walking is my favorite exercise, too, but I'm afraid I've gotten out of the habit. Maybe spring will motivate me again!

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  11. What a beautiful place to walk! Several years ago, there was talk of creating a bike path/walkway on an unused rail line here, but so far nothing has come of it. It would be so nice to have a paved path like this one in Clarksville. I hadn't realized you had hurt your foot; I'm glad it's healed enough for you to get out again. Walking is my favorite exercise, too, but I'm afraid I've gotten out of the habit. Maybe spring will motivate me!

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  12. That is just the sort of walk I would most enjoy. Thank you for sharing it with those of us that can only go along vicariously. Keep healing and getting stronger, Tina.

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  13. You're so right about walking being good for body and mind and how important it is that we have safe places to do it in! Funny, I've also just blogged about a trail in South East England as well as a protests against a Countryside Park that is having a road built through it near to where I live.

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  14. Like you, I do love to walk for exercise. And like you, I've had an injury to keep me from it. Needless to say, I've gained weight. The only problem here is my injury is not going to get better till I have knee replacement surgery, and they tell me I am too young for it! I've been bike riding and doing yoga, but it's just not the same. So you enjoy those trails for me!

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  15. What a great place to walk and explore nature. I love rock outcroppings, they are interesting with the lichen and mosses. We used to play on the big rocks on the mountain side in New York.

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