Wondering where you might be able to hike in the mountains this weekend?
Nowhere. At least not in North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. For one, you’d be hard-pressed to find a trail that’s passable. More on that in a sec.
The main reason you shouldn’t hike in the mountains this weekend: You’ll only be in the way.
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.
Forrest Pulley took his turn to speak, rising and giving his affiliation as the Allegheny Sparta Trails Association. He announced that his county had no trails of its own, but “We want to change that. We need your help.”
It was a sentiment echoed numerous times by participants in the opening session of the first Great Trails State Conference last week in Winston-Salem: We need trails.
Fall-like weather got you in a fall hiking mood? Perhaps a full day on the trail? Or, better yet, a full day on two trails?
You have that option this Saturday when the N.C. Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Hometown Strong initiative leads two hikes totaling 9 miles on two State Trails. The trails in question: the Fonta Flora State Trail west of Morganton and the Wilderness Gateway State Trail just south of Morganton. Let’s take those hikes in order.
Editor’s note: We run a tweaked version of this hike every fall to help you avoid crowded trails in this, the most popular hiking season.
Though most of us associate the start of fall with the passage of Labor Day, fall doesn’t officially start until Sept. 22, officially at 8:44 a.m. EST. This week has definitely gotten us in the mood, with high temperatures in the 70s, lows in the 50s.
