Water.

So in a way, it’s appropriate that we shall spend Earth Day this year getting drenched. A week of sun, a day of rain: What better prescription for the planet we love?

That being the case, instead of kvetching about our plans for tomorrow — which is Earth Day, btw — on the verge of being rained out, we instead make the most of what, in Mother Nature’s view, is a good thing, we make the proper adjustments. In our case, that means tweaking the Year of the Trail Weekend Trail Days Festival we’ve been planning with the city of Eden, the county of Rockingham, and the Dan River Basin Association over the past eight months. (“We” incidentally, being the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Hometown Strong initiative, of which I am employed.)

Fortunately, there’s a lot of enthusiasm for Year of the Trail here in the land of Eden and rather than cancel the event outright, we’ve opted to simply move as many events as possible to Sunday. We’ll still have a kickoff twilight hike this evening on the Smith River Greenway, we’ll still have a downtown festival in Eden Saturday evening, Otherwise, it’s all on Sunday. Here’s our revised schedule:

9 a.m. – Hike at Mayo Mountain State Park, Mayodan. Deshazo Mill, 1.5 miles. Beginner/family. Ranger led. Learn more and sign up here.

10 a.m. – Hike at Lake Reidsville, 4 miles. This trail ducks in and out of forested coves along the lake. Beginner/family friendly. Learn more and sign up here.

1:30 p.m. — Hike on the Smith River Greenway, Eden, 3 miles. See Friday’s evening hike for a trail description. Beginner-friendly. Learn more and sign up here.

1- 4 p.m. – Paddle on the Dan River. 5 miles, mellow stretch of river with some Class I rapids and assorted riffles. BYOB (Bring Your Own Boat), shuttle will be provided. Paddlers from the Dan River Basin Association will lead this trip. The Dan is wide and easily navigable on this stretch from the new Dan River Game Lands boat ramp to the Leakesville Landing boat access in downtown Eden. Members of the Dan River Basin Association will lead this trip. Learn more and sign up here.

The forecast for Sunday: Highs in the 50s and low 60s under sunny skies. A gift from Mother Nature after she takes her day in the spotlight for a well-deserved drink.

The post Mom Needs a Drink, Year of the Trail is Happy to Oblige appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

This should be of interest to you for two reasons:

1. You likely haven’t heard of a lot of the trails, and thus they offer new opportunities for exploring.
2. A lot of other people haven’t heard of them, either: if you’re tired to sharing the trail, especially during the busy spring season, these trails are often blissfully peaceful.

Case in point this coming weekend (April 21-23) in Rockingham County. On tap we have:

• Beginner paddle trip on the Smith and Dan rivers
• Experienced paddler trip on the Dan
• Night hike Friday evening
• Off-trail hike at the Dan River Game Lands Sunday morning
• Waterfall hike
• Hike through the heavily forested grounds of a sizable estate
• Guided mountain bike ride
• Lake hike
• Beginner-friendly greenway hike

As you can see, there’s something for everyone.

If you’re a hiker who loves great scenery, check out the 9 a.m. hike at Mayo River State Park’s Deshazo Mill Access. The 15-foot waterfall (pictured at top) ending in a sizable pool is the marque attraction. But the ensuing hike up Fall Creek and then along the Mayo River to Virginia is pretty fetching as well. Follow that up with the 1:30 p.m. hike on the Chinqua-Penn Walking Trail, which features stone structures (including a dam with an impressive drop) and mature hardwoods (and cows!).

Like to get some miles in? I’ll be leading two longer hikes: a 4.5-miler at Lake Reidsville at 11 a.m. and a 3-miler on the Smith Creek Greenway at 3 p.m. I walk the latter, a natural surface path, nearly every morning, beneath a lush hardwood canopy.

Like a good adventure? Sunday morning’s off-trail on the 1,800-acre Dan River Game Lands promises hidden natural beauty plus visits to abandoned farm sites from the area’s past. Martha Beckton, who heads up the trail program at Rockingham Community College will  describe where a trail could and should go, and what would go into making that happen.

Not a paddler but curious? We’ve just opened 5 more spots on a beginner-friendly trip down a 2-mile stretch of the Smith and Dan rivers. You don’t even need a boat for this one: our friends at the Dan River Basin Association and the Madison-Mayodan Recreation Department will supply canoes and kayaks (as well as paddles and PFDs).

You are a paddler but want to try a new waterway? We’ve got you covered as well, with a 5-mile trip down the Dan, starting at a dazzling new Wildlife Resources Commission boat ramp and ending at one of Eden’s four river accesses.

And because life isn’t strictly about hiking and paddling and mountain biking there’s the Sip, Shop & Celebrate Year of the Trail Festival in downtown Eden Saturday from 5-8 p.m.

It’s a full day of exploring trail you likely haven’t explored before but likely will want to come back and explore again.

Find the full schedule and sign up to join us here.

The post A Weekend of Exploring in Rockingham County appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sometimes that’s the key to exploring a trail. Patience, as in following a trail that isn’t well blazed — or blazed at all. Patience in finding the trailhead. Or patience in even finding clues on the internet that the trail even exists. Thank heaven for friends who somehow found it and hiked it.

At the end of last year, a new hiking friend in my new town of Eden was telling me about trails in the area. Some I’d already hiked, others I’d heard of but had yet to pay a visit. Then there was the trail at Lake Reidsville, which I hadn’t heard of. “I think it’s about 3 miles,” said my friend.

Curiously, the website for the Lake Reidsville Recreation Area was short on details about the multi-use trail. In fact, you had to download a park brochure to learn they even have a trail. The Dan River Basin Association was more helpful; on an interactive map of recreational resources in their coverage zone — the piedmont of southern Virginia and northern North Carolina — I learned that the park has two nature trails and one hiking/biking trail, that the latter “weaves in and out of a disc-golf course, and was lengthened by the Dan River Basin Association in 2020 and 2021. The new section of trail includes boardwalks and bridges along the lakeshore which may provide glimpses of wintering waterfowl.” 

I had a general description of where to find the trailhead, which was unmarked. Still, it took two visits to find. That was half the battle. Keeping the trail was equally challenging: a variety of trails weave through the first quarter mile, none of which are marked. I saw two blazes in 4 miles. But once I got a quarter mile in, patience and perseverance paid off.

For the most part, the trail hugs the shore of Lake Reidsville. A mile in, though, the trail is a series of three strung-together loops. Bear right at each loop intersection and a simple out-and-back becomes a hike out along the lake, a hike back that diverts up to the ridge. There’s a section of mature bottomland hardwoods and lots of hiking through  young, maturing forest. The trail that was added by DRBA in 2020 and 2021 was designed for both foot and bike traffic, as evidenced by sections with subtle berms and banked curves. 

I saw no one on my hike, both blessing and curse. Blessing because who doesn’t like a quiet trail. Curse because the fledgling trail has been used little and in spots appears to be reverting back to nature. The trail needs traffic to survive. 

By the time I got back to the trailhead, I’d clocked 4.3 miles on my GPS. That’s not only the longest trail I’ve found in the tri-city (Reidsville, Eden, Wentworth) area, but worth, oh, say, an hour, hour and a half to hike.

My two contributions to this trail’s future:

1. I’m working on an eguide for the trail, including map, route description and other pertinent details (like how to find the trailhead). Until then, I’ll point you in the direction of the trailhead: enter the park, at 630 Waterworks Road in Reidsville, and drive to near the end. When you see the lake, you’ll see a camp store on your left, parking on your right. The trailhead is near the picnic shelters across from the parking. A wooden staircase way leads down to a footbridge; continue straight; shortly, go right over another footbridge and continue.
2. I’m leading a hike on the trail as part of Eden/Rockingham County’s NC Trail Days Weekend Festival April 21-23. The hike will be on Saturday, April 22, at 11 a.m. Learn more and sign up here.

Sign up to join me on April 22. The more hiking feet the merrier

* * *

Year of the Trail

Learn more about the NC Trail Days Weekend Festival in Eden/Rockingham County here.

Learn more about other Year of the Trail events at the Great Trails State Coalition web site here.

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Not when you love the outdoors and 2023 happens to be Year of the Trail in North Carolina.

As I’ve mentioned over the last couple of months, next year has been deemed Year of the Trail in North Carolina and there’s going to be a lot going on. For starters, the State Legislature in 2022 allocated $29.15 million in funding for the Complete the Trails Fund. That money will fund State Trail projects as well as projects deemed :shovel-ready” — that is, the land has been purchased and the trail designed; all that’s needed now is the money to build it. Expect a lot of “Excuse our Mess” signs out in the woods next year.

Activity-wise, the Great Trails State Coalition, a non-profit created to promote North Carolina trails in 2023 and beyond, hopes to see a trail-related event — hike, bike ride, paddle trip, horseback ride — conducted in all 100 North Carolina counties in 2023. And the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is working up a full slate of fun as well, including programs through their PATH — or Parks and Trails for Health — program. But it’s another Department of Natural and Cultural Resources program that has me suggesting you get out your 2023 calendar (or buy one in the first place).

Big adventures in smaller places

Hometown Strong is an initiative of Gov. Roy Cooper that works with the state’s 80 rural counties to boost their prosperity. In general, communities identify problems they need help with — from modernizing their websites to overhauling their water treatment systems — and Hometown Strong’s policy analysts work to help them solve those problems, in large part by helping them find available funding. 

Sometimes, though, it works in reverse. In the case of Year of the Trail, Hometown Strong identified 11 communities with unheralded — or underheralded — recreational resources, and is working with those communities to shine a light on said resources. This will take place in 2023 in the form of trail day weekends celebrating these resources with street fairs and guided hikes and trips. This is where you get out your 2023 calendar to jot down the following trail festival dates:

• February 17-19 — Elizabethtown
• March 24-26 — Morganton
• April 22-23 — Eden
• May 12-14 — Sanford
• June 2-4 — Old Fort
• June 2-4 — Elizabeth City
• September 15-17 — Swansboro
• October 15-17 — Robbinsville

Other communities with dates yet to be determined are West Jefferson, Edenton, and Shelby.

With the possible exceptions of Morganton and Old Fort, you may be looking at this list and wondering: I’ve never heard of some of these places. Who on Earth put this list together? 

I did.

Elizabethtown? Eden?

In July, I was brought aboard Hometown Strong as an ecotourism advisor. It’s a dream assignment because in my 30 years of writing about the outdoors in the Southeast, and my 10 years of guiding trips, I’ve been all about uncovering the state’s hidden gems. From the state parks less visited (Medoc Mountain), to the back entrances to popular spots (the Longbottom Access to Doughton Park), to the places you might not think to visit unless you think about the right time to visit (the Great Dismal Swamp, in the dead of winter).

Basically, the places best accessed through the towns Hometown Strong will celebrate in 2023.

But … Elizabethtown? you ask.

You bet, Elizabethtown! (For those of you scratching your head, Elizabethtown is in the Coastal plain, southeast of Fayetteville.)

For starters, the Mountains-to-Sea runs through Elizabethtown. The area is also home to Jones Lake and Singletary Lake state parks, as well as Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest. There’s also Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area, Bladen Lakes State Forest, the Suggs Mill Pond Game Lands. There’s at least 70 miles of hiking in the area, through pine savannah, bay forest and more. On a cool and sunny winter’s day, you can’t find a better place to hike.

And Eden? I don’t even know where that is?

It’s north of Greensboro, near the Virginia line. It’s also where we recently relocated to, in part because of the varied outdoor opportunities. (I can be on the Smith or Dan rivers in less than 10 minutes after getting a hankering to paddle.) And where hikes such as the one in Mayo River State Park take you to surprising finds such as Deshazo Falls, pictured above.

Through the end of this year, I’ll be taking you to the 11 communities we will celebrate in 2023. I’ll provide an overview of the activities and a hint of the event itself (a “hint” because some won’t be fully conceptualized until after the first of the year).

Truly, the Great Trails State

In fact, some of you may even scoff at the notion of North Carolina as the “Great Trails State.”

For starters, there’s the 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the 300 miles of the Appalachian Trail (some of which we share with Tennessee); The Great Smoky Mountains National Park with its 800 miles of trail (again, we share some with Tennessee), the Blue Ridge Parkway, known for  its scenic pavement but with 369 miles of trail (some of which is in Virginia), the Art Loeb Trail, the Neusiok Trail, the Bartram Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Foothills Trail … .

Perhaps even more impressive is everything that’s to come. There’s the 159 trail projects identified by the Great Trails State Coalition as waiting to come out of the ground. There’s the Fonta Flora State Trail, which is seemingly growing by the month and will one day link Morganton and Asheville. There’s the 40-mile Northern Peaks State Trail, the northern terminus for which will likely break ground in 2023 on Paddy Mountain near West Jefferson. There’s footbridge construction in the works that will result in a 12-mile continuous stretch of the MST near Elizabethtown, resulting in one of the longest completed stretches of the MST east of Smithfield. 

Trails are in demand in North Carolina and the money to build them is becoming available. That’s thanks in part to the State Legislature and its visionary Complete the Trails Fund. But also to the communities, especially the smaller ones, willing to allocate often sparse resources to create trails. Those communities are the ones we will celebrate in 2023.

So, again, mark your calendars.

 * * *

Resources

• Great Trails State Coalition. You can find additional information on Year of the Trail here; you’ll find even more when it posts its calendar listing all events planned for the year.
• Parks and Trails for Health. This program through the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a new initiative intended to promote physical activity in the state’s parks, greenways and other outdoor spaces. Find information about those activities and, in 2023, Year of the Trail events here.

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