The 57-mile-long New River Trail State Park, a linear park for walking, bicycling, and horseback riding, begins in downtown Fries and runs 45 miles along the New River to Pulaski, Virginia, with a 12-mile spur along Chestnut Creek to the city of Galax.

This recreational gem is a wide, level trailway that was once the railway bed for the Norfolk & Western trains that served Washington Mills in Fries. With easy access from many points along the way, the trail today serves as a window into the natural world of Southwest Virginia: its animal and bird life, its clean waters for paddle sports and fishing, its annual cycle of wildflowers and trees.

Highlights include:

• Free admission to park, with paid parking on Riverview Avenue in Fries
• Bicycle rentals, river tubing and kayak rentals and transport, fishing tackle and licenses, all at New River Outdoor Adventures nearby
• Free parking at New River Side Store & Deli, 5785 Fries Road, for access to dramatic cliff landscape downriver
• Trestle bridge, camping, riverside benches, all within easy reach of Fries
• Annual guided wildflower walks, spring and late summer, dates to be announced