Of the many moments of revelation at the first annual Great Trails State Conference earlier this month in Winston-Salem, one came from Beth Heile during the closing ceremonies. Beth, pictured above (photo by Friends of Valdese Rec),is one of those folks who seems to be at least three people; among other things she’s a driver behind so many trail projects near her Burke County home and throughout the state. For our purposes we’ll simply refer to her as the founder and president of the Friends of the Valdese Rec, which supports a variety of trail projects in the community just east of Morganton.

“I recently had the honor of posting the turtle on the first state designated segment of the Wilderness Gateway State Trail,” she announced. 

Hello? I thought with surprise. This is news to me.

As to why I was surprised by this news, a quick explanation is in order. I work for the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, specifically with a unit called Hometown Strong that works with communities in North Carolina’s 78 rural counties to help them achieve their goals. We do this primarily by helping them find funding, typically in the form of grants, but also by helping them make the most of their resources. When those resources are trails, that’s where I come in, by helping communities promote and develop trails. Last year I did this through Year of the Trail, this year I’m working to promote North Carolina’s 14 State Trails. I’m doing that largely through guided events on each trail.

The challenge is that while some trails are complete or nearly so, some exist only on paper. The Wilderness Gateway State Trail, which dates back to 2018, is one of those on-paper-only trails. Or so I thought.

On paper, Wilderness Gateway will one day include 350 miles of trail linking the Hickory Nut Gorge area with South Mountains State Park, Bob’s Creek Natural Area, Morganton and several smaller towns to the east, including Valdese. Each of the State Trails, while part of the NC Division of Parks and Recreation, are administered by a partner agency, usually a local nonprofit. In the case of Wilderness Gateway, that non-profit is the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, which is working feverishly to both define the trail and get it off the ground — and on it. In my last correspondence with Foothills, in late Spring, the trail was still conceptual. Now, the first 2 miles, in Valdese Lakeside Park, have been officially designated. I was both pleased to hear this and bummed that I didn’t know earlier: If I’m trying to promote the 14 State Trails, I should have been on top of it. 

I’m vowing now to fix that. 

Another quick sidebar: Within the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, these trails are overseen by the NC State Trails Program, an exceptionally dedicated (and understaffed) crew tasked with creating this 3,400-mile network, about 1,000 miles of which has been officially designated. I don’t have time here to get into how much is involved with building what may seem like a “simple” trail; “simple” trails are not. Nor has it been easy to 

One of the few tasks they are not charged with is publicizing trail when it comes on line; that’s generally left to the partner agencies and the communities, like Valdese, that contribute trail to larger network. In fact, State Trails often piggyback on trail created by local entities. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the best-known of the 14 State Trails, piggybacks on local trail frequently on its 1,100-mile march across North Carolina. 

When new trail is added to the MST, you find out about it on the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail website. Most of the State Trails don’t have the resources to update you immediately on new additions, especially additions they weren’t directly involved with.

Wouldn’t it be great, you’re thinking, to have one location where you can find out about new additions to the State Trails network, a central location that’s easy to find and that not only has these updates, but general information on the trails as well?

That’s how I’m vowing to stay on top of developments on the trail system I’m trying to promote. Our State Trails page vows to stay on top of these developments, to let you know when and where new adventure options become available. One a week we all update the page, either with a detailed description of the new option or with a link to where you can quickly find that information.

We start right now, with the inaugural 2 miles of the Wilderness Gateway State Trail in Valdese:

Wilderness Gateway State Trail / Valdese Greenway

Where: Two trailheads: Valdese Lakeside Park, 1149 Lake Rhodhiss Drive NE, Valdese; McGalliard Falls Park, 1400 Falls Road, Valdese.

Distance: 2 miles

Difficulty: Easy, a relatively flat hike along Lake Rhodhiss and McGalliard Creek.

Surface: Crushed cinder

Added incentive: There’s an additional 4.2 miles of multiuser trail in Valdese Lakeside Park.

Find a map here

We will update this page every Friday with the goal of helping you get out and explore North Carolina’s 14 State Trails!

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Our State Trails page

Follow developments on North Carolina’s State Trails at our “Discover North Carolina’s State Trails Page,” here.