LCC Has Bought and Developed The Trestles Climbing Area
Lynchburg's best sport climbing area...

We created a convenient and permanent climbing area.

Why we did it
To guarantee access to this special climbing area for you and future generations.
To create a place for new climbers to learn.
To further the sport of rock climbing in the area.

Here are directions to get to the Trestles in .GIF format
(You can view/download a route guide on the home page)

Photos of the LCC Trestles Climbing Area

A climber on one of Pier A's 12 bolted routes.	Pier B looking past A	Fall '99 - "dry-tooling"

Studded with rock climbing holds, the Practice Pier's face was laid out to provide beginners with a place to grow in confidence and knowledge. It boasts half a dozen routes ranging from 5.6 to 5.8 in difficulty, and four sets of rap anchors. In addition, this is a great place to learn rappeling and top-rope setup skills.

An 1887 train wreck at "The Trestles" (Big Otter River)

History of the Big Otter Trestles
The Trestles, or more accurately, piers or abutments, were built in 1850 by Mr. John Burford of Bedford. He was the general contractor for the Atlantic-Mississippi Railroad From Lynchburg, Va. to the Tennessee border. He lived at 1230 Oakwood Street in Bedford, Va. it took roughly 4 years to complete the project. He hired slave labor from local landowners along the way in order to do the work. The land that the bridge and railway are currently were taken(?) from Henry Lowry of what is now called Lowry, Va. Mr. Lowry owned most of the surrounding area and was a farmer.
The stone of the piers was split out of the surrounding area rock and you can see a small quarried area 30' south of the 1st pier. The bridge itself was made of wood and there was also another pier on the other(west) side of the creek, making 5 piers in all.
On June 16, 1864, General Hunter (Union) came over the Peaks of Otter from Kentucky and camped in Bedford, on his march towards Lynchburg. On June 17-18, he marched his troops on the railway bed across the Big Otter and over the trestles...He reached Lynchburg and realized he was vastly outnumbered by General Early, skirmished initially and then turned tail and retreated. General Early decided to teach him a lesson and proceeded to chase his troops down the Railway and out of town !!! General Hunter and his troops full of fear, panicked, and fleeing for their lives crossed the Big Otter Bridge and then proceeded to burn it down. He also did this to the Little Otter Bridge about 4 miles farther west on the track.
The Bridge was rebuilt sometime after the war ended and it was rebuilt with a combination of steel and wood. The bridge was used extensively up until sometime between March 22nd- 24th, 1887. At this point , it collapsed and many train cars plummeted into the Big Otter. At this point, I am not sure of the exact history. It was rebuilt again and then used until 1896, when again it collapsed(there is confusion on this issue, as it might have been the bridge over the Little Otter that collapsed in 1896). At this point, Norfolk-Western decided to build a new bridge. This was built in approximately 1900 and has been in use since then.
In November 1913, Norfolk-Western gave the old abandoned railbed right of way back to the county of Bedford. Currently, the County of Bedford owns the right of way from the end of route 762 up to within 600' of the first trestle. This guarantees the club and members with access to this area for future generations to come.