Gravel Cycling at Back Bay NWR and False Cape State Park begins at the south end of Sandbridge Beach, Virginia Beach, Virginia. I parked at Little Island Park on Sandpiper Road on an overcast morning with a strong wind from the northeast that made for a chilly morning.
From the parking lot, I pedaled my Surly bicycle south a third of a mile to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge entrance and another one and a quarter mile to the Visitor’s Center. Hikers and bikers pay no entry fee. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge covers about 9,200 acres. From the Visitor’s Center, a gravel road, East Dike Trail, runs south several hundred feet and then splits to East Dike Trail and West Dike Trail.
I pedaled along West Dike Trail as it wound south, mostly between water, for about three miles until it again met with East Dike Trail and the beginning of False Cape State Park. From the road I saw Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons wading and Ospreys perched on nesting boxes. Turtles slid from logs into the water as I rolled past. The air smelled fresh, with a slight scent of fish and salt water.
At False Cape State Park, about 4,300 acres, I continued pedaling on the gravel road beside a pond, and then entered the woods of pine, oak and cypress. A mile along the road I reached the Visitor’s Center. It had rained a few days earlier and there was mud and puddles on the road.
The Visitor’s Center can only be reached by passing through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge unless one walks in from the beach. Back Bay operates a tram to shuttle visitors to the park, but I didn’t see it.
From the Visitor’s Center, where there is a monument stating that False Cape is the southernmost State Park in Virginia, the road continues to primitive camping sites and to the beach at the Atlantic Ocean. Before the camping sites, a road turns south through the woods for another four-plus miles until there is too much sand for a bicycle.
I rode east to the beach (pushing my bicycle through the deep, soft sand) and west to Back Bay. I returned to my parking spot on the same roads, except for two detours on the open sections of East Dike Trail.
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and False Cape State Park offer excellent gravel cycling with superb views of Back Bay, the beach, marshes and ponds, and woods. The roads in Back Bay are good gravel. The ones in False Cape State Park have more potholes and sandy areas, but overall, the riding is fantastic. While I was there, a week prior to Memorial Day, I saw a couple on ebikes, a family on bikes, and several people hiking. It’s a fine place to spend a few hours on a bicycle.
