ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, Va. — Did you know that during the height of the Cold War, Hampton Roads was surrounded by missile bases?
Those eight bases formed a ring around the harbor, and they were built to defend important military sites like Naval Station Norfolk and the Newport News Shipyard from Soviet bombers.
You may have even visited one of these former missile bases and not have even known, like I did.
A few weeks ago, when the weather was nice, we checked out Carrollton Nike Park in Isle of Wight County.
It wasn't until I sat down to put this story together that I discovered its history!
The name Nike should have been my first clue, the park was named for the Nike missile, not the tennis shoe.
But I did put my Nikes to good use on this three-mile trail!
The trail snakes along Jones Creek, which is part of the Pagan River, and because of the nearby creek, there are a lot of bridge on this trail.
Many times, the bridges provided nice views of other bridges, and for a lot of the hike, you spend more time on bridges than the dirt trail, which isn't a criticism.
We preferred walking on the flat, wooden bridges to the dirt trail, which does have a lot of tree roots and some gentle hills to climb.
That's one of the reasons that the trail is popular with mountain bikers, I'm sure it's a real challenge on a bicycle!
While we didn't see any bikers while we were there, I have read that there are often more bikes than hikers on the trail.
You're also welcome to bring your pup along for the walk as long as they're on a leash.
I wish I'd known more of the park's history when we visited, I would have checked out the nearby skate park, which is built directly on top of the three underground magazines where the missiles were stored in the 1950s and early 60s.
