As has been the case since the early ‘90s, this Saturday, the first Saturday of June, is National Trails Day. It’s a day when all throughout the land we celebrate our trails, by hiking, biking, paddling or sprucing them up. And we do so largely by taking part in a bevy of organized events.
How many organized events?
That’s tough to pin down.
Officially, the American Hiking Society acts as the clearing house for NTD events. Fill out a form on their website and your event can appear in a searchable format on their NTD page. And while the site does include a lot of events, it’s far from a complete listing. In Virginia, for instance, AHS lists a total of 19 Trails Day events. On the Virginia State Parks website, however, you’ll find 49 events scheduled for National Trails Day.
In North Carolina, AHS lists 26 NTD events. Yet missing is the grandaddy of North Carolina celebrations: NC Trail Days in Elkin/Jonesville. This events runs four days (June 4-7), includes 3 State Trails (Mountains-to-Sea, Overmountain Victory, and Yadkin River Paddle), 2 state parks (Stone Mountain and Pilot Mountain), and hiking, paddling and mountain biking, along with other outdoor events, live music and more.
Virginia State Parks observes National Trails Day much like it does every other day, which is so say with a boatload of activities. Start the day with a 5K at High Bridge Trail State Park at 8 a.m. Or sleep in until 9 a.m. and do the challenging 4-mile Molly’s Knob Hike at Hungry Mother State Park. There’s a Wild Cave Tour at Natural Tunnel State Park, and lots of opportunities statewide to help maintain and build trail. The day ends with an Owl Prowl Night Hike from 8-9:30 p.m. at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
But again, these are far from all the opportunities out their to celebrate trails on Saturday. Check your local municipal and county parks, check with your local land conservancy, or just check with your buddies and throw your own National Trails Day event. On National Trails Day only one thing matters.
That you spend time on a trail.
Resources
- Find events throughout the country at the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day event page.
- Find North Carolina events here.
- Find Virginia events here.
- NC Trail Days.
- Go here for NTD events in Virginia State Parks.
- Go here for NTD events in North Carolina State Parks.