“Is this for Diane?”
I drove to Greensboro last night to hear Diane Van Deren speak at the local Great Outdoor Provision Co., had arrived an hour early, but discovered the folding chairs supposedly set up for her presentation were nearly full.
“This is for the Trailblaze Challenge,” a GOPC employee told me. “Diane is speaking after their meeting.”
Trailblaze Challenge? That’s interesting, I thought.
The Trailblaze Challenge is a new fundraiser sponsored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Pledge to raise $2,500, go through a 12-week training program, then do a 24.1-mile hike on June 1 on the Bartram Trail in western North Carolina. The Challenge is patterned after CureSearch for Children’s Cancer’s Ultimate Hike, which is patterned after the Cyctic Fibrosis Foundation’s Extreme Hike. The hikes, as I was soon to learn, are all extremely alike, and for good reason: they were all launched by Amy Brindley, who is now president and chief executive officer of Make-A-Wish’s Central & Western North Carolina Chapter. It was especially interesting to me because for the past two year’s I’ve been a hiking coach for Ultimate Hike.
I stepped up to the registration table. “Do you mind if I sit in on the presentation?” I asked, then explained that I was associated with what could be perceived as a competitor.
The woman on the other side of the table smiled. “Of course you can sit in,” she said. “I’m Amy, by the way.”
About 15 prospective Trailblaze Challengers listened intently as Amy explained Make-A-Wish and the Trailblaze Challenge.
Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980, initially to grant children with terminal medical conditions any wish they wanted. (The foundation has since expanded to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.) Amy said the Central & Western North Carolina Chapter was formed in 1985. Since then, it has granted more than 3,000 wishes; this year, they expect to grant 230 wishes. She shared the most recent wish granted, for three girls to attend a concert last week in Greensboro.
One of the girls was local, one was from Vermont, one was a 13-year-old cancer victim from Georgia, who was a “rush wish,” meaning she only had a short time to live. The artist entertained the girls for 45 minutes before the concert. Then the girls went to their seats to watch the show.
“The 13-year-old was wearing a wig because she’d lost all her hair to treatments and was in a wheelchair,” Amy told the gathering. “They were all having a great time, and at one point the 13-year-old ripped off her wig, got out of her chair and starting dancing.
“That,” Amy added, “is the memory her parents will have of her.”
Granting the average wish costs about $6,000. That’s where the Trailblaze Challenge comes in.
Sign up, agree to raise $2,500 and you get a 12-week training program culminating in the June 1, 24.1-mile hike on the Bartram Trail. The training program includes weekly hikes led by a hike leader and a suggested mid-week training program. Participation includes all costs associated with hike weekend, including two nights at the Hampton Inn in Franklin, transportation and food.

The $2,500 fundraising goal can be daunting. After eight weeks if you don’t think you can do it, you can opt out. If you stay, you’re on the hook for the entire amount. (Personal note: From my two years of Ultimate Hike experience, out of roughly 90 hikers I only know of one who had trouble meeting his goal by the hike date, and you typically have a month after the hike to fulfill your commitment.)
The Trailblaze Challenge kicks off Feb. 23 with a 3-mile hike at Bur-Mil Park in Greensboro. It culminates June 1 with the 24.1-mile hike on the Bartram Trail. The section they’ll be doing is from the Appletree Group Campground along the Nantahala River west over Wayah Bald to Wallace Branch. I backpacked that stretch a little over a year ago; it is gorgeous. Find out more about that adventure here.
The timing of last night’s Trailblaze Challenge recruitment meeting was fortuitous. Many in the crowd stuck around to hear Diane talk about her adventures as an ultra athlete sponsored by The North Face. She spoke of the 430-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra, she spoke of her next event, next week’s Rovaniemi 150 Arctic Winter Race in Finland, which only one person has finished on foot (other ambulatory race options are mountain bike and kicksled) and last year’s romp across North Carolina on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Talking about the challenges of a 1,000-mile race she suggested they weren’t that different than what her audience faced in what to many must have seemed an equally insurmountable goal in hiking 24.1 miles in the rugged Nantahala National Forest.
“You have highs and you have lows,” she said. “You have to greet them, especially the lows. Understand them. Learn from them.” That, she indicated, is key toward the ultimate and overriding goal.
“You gotta keep it fun.”

* * *

Trailblaze Challenge

Upcoming recruitment meetings:

• Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Great Outdoor Provision Co., Charlotte
• Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Great Outdoor Provision Co., Winston-Salem
• Saturday, 10 a.m., REI, Huntersville
• Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., Omega Sports, High Point
• Feb. 13, 6:30 p.m., Great Outdoor Provision Co., Greensboro
• Feb. 16, 9 a.m., Reedy Creek Park, Charlotte
• Feb. 16, 10 a.m., Great Outdoor Provision Co., Winston-Salem
• Feb. 23, 9 a.m., Bur-Mil Park, Greensboro

Check out the Trailblaze Challenge Web site here.

Also on June 1, Ultimate Hike will hold its Spring Foothills Hike. That program is aimed at residents of Charlotte and Asheville. Learn more about that hike here. If you live in the Triangle, the Fall Foothills Hike has just been scheduled for Nov. 6. Keep an eye on this blog and the Ultimate Hike site for details.

The post Trailblaze Challenge: Make a wish come true appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

A lot of great stories emerged from Saturday’s annual meeting of the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Saxapahaw.

There was the story of Scott “Taba” Ward, who crossed the 950-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail for the fourth time in 2012. This time, for variety, he did the 500-or-so miles still on paved roads on a skateboard.

There was the story of Jim Hallsey, who also did the entire trail in 2012 (there were 10 last year, 36 total have made the entire passage). Hallsey’s story was interesting for two reasons. One, he was the first person to do the eastern portion of the MST by canoe, on the Neuse River. And, Hallsey was a key figure in the trail’s formation in 1977, when he worked for the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.

There was the story of Jeff Brewer, who was honored for his 13 years as president of the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a period from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s that saw a dramatic revitalization and push to build the trail. Brewer’s story might not have been had he not been intrigued by a class offered at Louisburg College while he was attending N.C. State. It was a backpacking and hiking class that he wound up taking four times, in large part because of the instructor, a fellow by the name of Allen deHart.

And there was the story of deHart himself. Like Hallsey, deHart was there at the beginning, in 1977, and he was there in the mid-1990s when trail development was flagging. DeHart decided to jumpstart trail development by founding and personally funding the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, then publicize its existence by becoming the first person to hike it, in 1997, then write a guidebook about the trail. (Among his many accomplishments: he’s the author of nine guidebooks, in 27 editions, on trails from Florida to West Virginia.)

Now 86, deHart remains a force in the MST. In accepting a lifetime achievement award he recalled that when the trail was officially recognized in 1977 he asked Hallsey how long he thought it might take to complete. “‘It’ll probably take four years,’ Jim replied. Jim was so ambitious.”

The trail hasn’t quite kept to that timeline — the 63 miles added last year brought the total completed to 550 miles, with about 400 to go — but the momentum of the past 15 years has continued to grow. MST Executive Director Kate Dixon told the gathering that 851 volunteers donated a total of 18,500 hours to trail development and maintenance in 2012. Thirty-seven volunteers (including deHart) were recognized for volunteering 75 hours or more. DeHart made a nod to those numbers.

“I may not be around to see the trail finished,” he said. “But when we all get to heaven, when I look around at this crowd, I can tell you, we’re going to build another.”

In that crowd of more than 200 was the Friends’ one employee, Dixon. Everyone else was one of the volunteers who are making the trail happen. Though the trail is part of the North Carolina State Parks system, it is driven almost exclusively by volunteers and donations. It is, as was evident throughout the meeting, more than a footpath from Point A (Clingman’s Dome on the Tennessee border) to Point B (Jockey’s Ridge on the coast).

“This trail is about more than going from one place to another,” one of the trail’s biggest political advocates, N.C. House Rep. Nelson Dollar from Cary, told the group. “It’s about making connections.” Human connections.

That fact wasn’t lost on one of the handful of out-of-staters in the crowd.

Last year, Colorado ultra runner Diane Van Deren was one of the 10 people to do the entire MST, and she did it faster than anyone before her: in 22 days, 5 hours and 3 minutes. It was, she has stressed almost since first setting foot on the trail last may, “not about me, but about we.”

Actually, it turns out, she realized that before even seeing the trail.

The keynote speaker for Saturday’s meeting, Van Deren had returned to tell her story and reflect on what her record-setting run had meant to her. Toward the end of her slide-show-backed presentation, a non-descript image of a hotel room appeared on the screen. Van Deren paused.

“This is our hotel room at the Pisgah Inn,” she began. “I get a little choked up when I see this.”

The photo is of a conference call that occurred a day before the ran began atop Clingman’s Dome. In the photo are Van Deren and two of her support crew chiefs, Chuck Millsaps and Amy Hamm with Great Outdoor Provision Co., which sponsored the run. The call was with 15 trail runners who would be taking turns accompanying Van Deren, who as a result of brain surgery 10 years earlier to deal with the effects of epilepsy had lost the ability to do certain things — like read a map and figure out directions.
“The runners were, like, ‘OK, I’ll take Diane on this stretch,’ and ‘No, let me have her there because I train there and it’s a little tricky in spots.’ There was all this love, with the staff, with the runners, with the volunteers.”

Part of the goal of the MST Endurance Run was to get Van Deren across the state in record time. But as Van Deren noted, the larger goal was to raise awareness and money for the trail (donations as a result of the run have exceeded the goal of $40,000). This group effort would benefit Van Deren, sure. But the long hours volunteered by so many people to make that happen would also benefit the trail.

“This is what the trail is about,” Van Deren said, motioning to the picture of a bland hotel room. “It’s not a me thing. It’s a we thing.”

The post Mountains-to-Sea: We, the trail appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: Mountains-to-Sea Trail at 35

This year, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail turns 35, a milestone celebrated at the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’s annual meeting Saturday in Saxapahaw. At present, the estimated 950-mile trail, running from Clingman’s Dome on the Tennessee border to Jockey’s Ridge on the coast, is about half finished. (You can read about what’s going on with the remaining 400 or so miles here.)

We’ll be writing more about Saturday’s meeting this week. For now, come with us on a 90 Second Escape along the MST.

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When the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail gathers for its annual meeting Saturday in Saxapahaw, they’ll hear a keynote address from Diane Van Deren, who set a record for crossing the 950-mile trail last spring. They’ll honor top volunteers and the 10 hikers who did the entire trail in 2012. They’ll have workshops and take a hike on one of the most recently minted sections of the MST, a short stretch along the Haw River just outside of where they’ll be meeting.

What they won’t be able to do is answer the overriding question on everyone’s mind: When will the trail be done?

At present, a little more than half of the roughly 950-mile trail linking Clingman’s Dome on the Tennessee border with Jockey’s Ridge on the coast, is finished. Folks such as Van Deren and the 36 hikers who have covered the entire MST since 1997 have used the existing trail and a patchwork of temporary country roads to make the crossing. The temporary country road route is less than inspiring and in some spots dangerous. The Friends know this and are pushing hard to make the entire trail … trail. In 2011 alone (the 2012 figures will be released Saturday), volunteers put in 18,432 hours building and maintaining trail, and made major connections both in the mountains (a file-mile stretch opened near Boone created a continuous 300-mile run of the MST) and in the Triangle (a bridge over Little Lick Creek completed a 60-mile stretch along Falls Lake. Currently, 550 miles of the trail is completed.

So, the impatient among us ask, what about the remaining 400 miles?

“In five years,” Kate Dixon, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’s Executive Director, said last week, “we should see an additional 150 miles, upping the total to 700 miles. “In another five years,” she added, “we should see another 100 miles, bringing us to 800 miles.”

She paused, and as she did I tried to do the mental math that would reveal how long, at this rate, it would take to complete the trail. My brain bogged down at 887.5 miles completed by 2047. Didn’t matter, though, because projecting when trail will be built is a little like predicting the weather. It’s an imprecise science at best.

“It’s really hard to say whether the trail will ever be completely off roads,” Dixon said. She dug out a map showing where the trail snakes up NC 12 to Cedar Island.

“It’s always wet up in that area,” she said. “There are certain places where it may always be along the road because that’s the only dry spot.”

“OK,” I said, shifting gears. “What about in the near future. Those 250 miles in the next 10 years? Where will that be?”

Dixon pulled out a collection of maps and spread them over a conference table. “I love talking about trails,” she said. “Let’s start at Stone Mountain … .”

* * *

Stone Mountain to Pilot Mountain, 30 miles. In 2011, the trail made its way down from the Blue Ridge Parkway, where it resides for 300 miles, to Stone Mountain State Park. Dixon is encouraged about the prospects for the 30-mile stretch linking Stone Mountain and Pilot Mountain state parks thanks to “a dynamite volunteer group, the Elkin Valley Trails Association.”  The planned route for this stretch has been rerouted: from Stone Mountain it will now follow Elkin Creek and an old rail bed into the town of Elkin. There, it will follow the Yadkin River, part of which is in the Pilot Mountain State Park corridor, to Pilot Mountain. (At Pilot Mountain, the trail will hook up to an existing 30-miles stretch of MST, the Sauratown Trail, which takes it into Hanging Rock State Park.) Dixon estimates stretches of trail, especially between Stone Mountain to Elkin, will open within 3 years, the entire 30 miles should take about 10.

Greensboro Watershed Lakes to Haw River State Park, 7 miles (estimate). Another motivated volunteer group, the Guilford County Task Force, is building trail from MST along the watershed lakes (Brandt, Higgins and Townsend) north of Greensboro, north to Haw River State Park on the Rockingham County line near Brown Summit. The trail to Northern High School should open this year, Dixon says, the stretch from Northern to Haw River State Park within three years.

Hillsborough to Clayton, 150 miles. This stretch through the Triangle is nearly complete. It runs from Hillsborough along the Eno River, through Durham to Falls Lake, where it picks up a 60-mile stretch of completed trail running from Penny’s Bend to the Falls dam in Raleigh. From there, the MST piggybacks on the work-in-progress Neuse River Trail, a 28-mile greenway that runs to the Johnston County line. From southeast to northwest, here’s where the trail stands:

• Clayton in Johnston County to Wake County line, 5 miles. Completed last year.
• Neuse River Trail, Johnston County line north to Falls dam, 28 miles. Thirteen miles of this paved greenway are finished, the remaining 15 miles is expected to be done by year’s end.
• Falls Lake Trail, Falls dam northwest to Penny’s Bend, 60 miles. Completed.
• Penny’s Bend west along the Eno to West Point on the Eno city park, 5 miles (estimate). Unfinished. Progress is being made with access over land managed by the Plant Conservation Program administered by the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Customer Services. Access has already been secured across Durham’s River Forest Park. This stretch could open next year.
• West Point on the Eno City Park west along the Eno to the Pleasant Green Access of Eno River State Park, 10.5 miles. Finished.
• Pleasant Green Access, Eno River State Park to Hillsborough, 41 miles. Most of this stretch is finished, and most of what isn’t is on state parks land and is being developed. Small pockets of private land remain near Hillsborough. This will likely be the last section of the Clayton to Hillsborough stretch completed.

Clayton to the coast. This is where the future becomes more distant for the MST. Originally, the plan was to follow the Neuse River to the coast, where the MST would hook up with the 23-mile Neusiok Trial, then run up to Cedar Island, ferry-hop to the Outer Banks and beach-hike up to Jockey’s Ridge. Two problems with the Neuse route: 1) lots of private land owners to deal with, 2) especially as it nears New Bern the land is perpetually wet, necessitating miles and miles of costly boardwalk. So the MST is contemplating two options: a paddle trail MST that would continue down the Neuse, and a land trail option that would swing south and take advantage of an arc of public lands, from gamelands to state park lands to state forests and land conservancy holdings to come up through Jacksonville and into the Croatan National Forest from the south. This concept is in the early stages.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway. As the crow flies, this isn’t very far, about 22 miles. Clip the crow’s wings and make him hike through the rugged Smokies and you’ve got a whole different trek on your hands. Originally, the plan was for the MST to parallel the Blue Ridge Parkway to its conclusion north of Cherokee. There, it would hook up with trail in the Great Smokies and climb to Clingman’s Dome, the MST’s western terminus. Problem is, this route would cross land within the jurisdiction of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation. Despite years of prodding, the Cherokees have expressed little interest in the trail. That got the MST to looking, at least temporarily, at a route that would snake north through the heart of the national park on existing trail, then head east for a connection west of Waterrock Knob. Some protested that the route was too arduous. Another route following the Appalachian Trail for a spell was proposed, but can two prominent trails share space?

Fortunately, says Dixon, the Southwestern Commission, a regional council of governments including Swain and Jackson counties, the two counties through which he MST connection would likely be made, are onboard with the project and eager to make it happen. Thus, the MST now has options.

From Clingman’s Dome, drop down on existing trail to the Deep Creek Trail, which comes out near Bryson City. A popular option is to run the trail along an old rail bed paralleling the Tuckaseegee River to Dillsboro. (It’s the stretch where the train wreck scene from “The Fugitive” was shot; you can still see the wreck from the movie river right.) From there, the MST would follow existing trail up Pinnacle Creek through Pinnacle Park to Waterrock Knob and the MST.

A second option is the northerly route mentioned above.

Dixon says the Southwestern Commission is working on a draft plan for the trail that could be released as soon as February.

* * *

Over the next five weeks we’ll take a closer look at each section, looking at the challenges faced, its esthetics, what it means to the trail as a whole and, yes, when it will likely be completed.

• Stone Mountain to Pilot Mountain: Feb. 1
• Greensboro Watershed Lakes to Haw River State Park: Feb. 8
• Hillsborough to Clayton: Feb. 15
• Clayton to the Coast: Feb. 22
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Waterrock Knob: March 1

The post Mountains-to-Sea Trail growing … but when will it be done? appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Climber/photographer Cory Richards is in town tomorrow night to speak about his experience as a top climber and photographer. His talk at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, “Both Sides of the Lens,” is part of The North Face Never Stop Exploring Speaker Series. I managed to get an interview with Richards late last month; I say “managed” because Richards was on location in the Crimea and he managed to fit my questions in between his climbing and shooting.

I’m looking forward to meeting Richards in person tomorrow. Maybe buy him a beer, go climbing with him.

Oh, please, you’re probably thinking. This is Cory Richards — first American to climb an 8,000-meter peak in winter, creative eye behind some of the best mountain (and non-mountain) images made, the guy who was part of Conrad Anker’s team on Everest this past May. You think Cory Richards is going to have a beer and go climbing with some blogger?

Sure. Here’s why.

A couple years ago, Conrad Anker was in town as part of the same TNF Never Stop Exploring Speaker Series. Chuck Millsaps, Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s Minister of Culture (actual title; bet he’s the only one of those on LinkedIn) mentioned that Anker would be at their Cameron Village store the morning of the talk. “Drop by if you have a chance,” Chuck offered. So I did.

A minute with Anker and we were like old climbing buddies. Just as interested in where I’d been and what I’d been up to (“Tell me more about this Umstead place … .”) as I was in his latest exploits. When it was time for him to leave, he said he was going stand-up paddle boarding. “Wanna go?”

That evening after Anker spoke, Andrew Kratz and Joel Graybeal saw America’s most famous climber “just sort of hanging around,” so they bought him a beer. “We’ve got a climbing gym in town,” the two told him. “Wanna come climb with us?” The next morning, Kratz and Graybeal were living the dream, climbing with Conrad Anker in their Triangle Rock Club. “He invited Andrew and I to go ice climbing with him in Montana,” Graybeal recalls.

Five months later, Graybeal is in the Atlanta airport and he spots Anker. “You probably don’t remember me,” Graybeal begins, but he’s cut-off. “Of course,” says Anker, “we climbed at your club in Raleigh.” Both had time to kill before their flights, so the two old buddies grabbed a bear in an airport lounge.

“He was completely awesome and down to Earth,” recalls Graybeal. “He gave me his cell and personal email — he also said that if I ever aspired to go to Everett Base Camp that he would hook me up with his personal sherpas!”

OK, so Anker’s the exception. These high-profile athletes, they —

No, not the exception. Last October, ultrarunner Diane Van Deren, another elite The North Face athlete, comes to town, also as part of the Never Stop Exploring Speaker Series. Diane is a regular at the Western States 100, arguably the hardest ultra marathon in the country, and once raced 300 miles across the Yukon, had such a swell time that the following year she signed up to do the 430-mile version of the race. The Mayo Clinic has studied her to see what makes her tick.

“Hey, a few of us are going to run at Umstead with Diane,” Chuck mentioned when she arrived in town. “Join us if you want.” So I did. After 4 miles, Diane had asked me more questions about myself than I had been able to ask her.

Later that evening, after her talk, Diane decided she would like to run across North Carolina (which she did in May). As plans for the run progressed, I heard that she would need trail guides, someone to run with her 40 or 50 miles each day. “Can I get in on that action?” I asked Chuck. A bold request from someone who’d never run more than 20 miles in a day. I ended up spending a few days on the trail with Diane and became her official trip chronicler. And I did one better than Joel Graybeal with Conrad Anker: Every once in a while I get a call from Diane on her morning training run in Colorado, just checking in to see how things are going. I’m not the only one from her record-breaking Mountains-to-Sea Trail run who hears from her, either.

Based on the interview with Cory Richards, I can tell he’s cut of the same cloth. I asked him some hard questions, he gave me surprisingly honest answers. I heard him in an interview with Colorado Public Radio and he was the same. In fact, he was the same in every article I read to prepare for the interview. I can’t vouch for every elite adventure athlete, but in the decent person department I’m batting a thousand so far.

So come hear what Richards has to say tomorrow night. And bring your climbing shoes: There’s some sweet flagstone to be climbed downtown and I’m guessing Cory would be more than happy to give you some pointers.

* * *

Cory Richards: “Both Sides of the Lens”
The North Face Never Stop Exploring Speaker Series
When: Oct. 10, 7 p.m.
Where: Main Auditorium, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, 11 W. Jones Street, Raleigh
Cost: $20, including exclusive VIP reception at 6 p.m., $8 for reserved seat, free for general attendance (based on availability). Proceeds benefit the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
For tickets, go here

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