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.

Last week’s inaugural conference was an outgrowth of sorts from 2023’s popular Year of The Trail, a celebration of trails authorized by the North Carolina General Assembly and backed with a $29.15 million investment in trails. The sponsoring Great Trails State Coalition (co-sponsored, actually, with the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources*) was eager to see how much lingering support there was for trails in the state. They were hoping to attract 300 attendees; they had to cap attendance at 378.

The three-day conference was full of revealing moments, such as the one delivered by Mr. Pulley. Among them:

• 100 new miles of trail have been officially added to North Carolina’s 14 State Trails. By “official,” that means they have received “official” designation, ticking off all boxes to qualify as a State Trail. As a whole, 3,400 miles of State Trail are envisioned in North Carolina, about 1,000 miles of which have been officially designated. 
• The Roanoke River State Trail became the first State Trail to be declared officially complete. The paddle trail runs for 140 miles through the coastal plain and includes 16 camping platforms.
• There are four trail collections in the state. The one most of us are familiar with is the Carolina Thread Trail, currently encompassing more than 300 miles of trail and 170 miles of blueways in 15 counties in the Charlotte area. There is also the Piedmont Legacy Trails (550 miles of trail and 250 miles of blueways in the Triad region), Triangle Trails Initiative (trails in 15 counties in the Triangle region), and the Hellbender WNC Trail Network (linking multiuse trail in western North Carolina; about 18 miles are complete).
• The outdoor industry in North Carolina contributes $14.6 billion to the economy, exceeding Colorado’s $13.9 billion outdoor rec economy.
• Outdoor recreation accounts for about 146,00 jobs statewide.
• North Carolina’s Equine State Trail was approved as a State Trail in 2023 and is currently in the planning stages. The trail will travel through eight North Carolina counties: Chatham, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore and Richmond.
• For years, there’s been talk of a rail trail through Person County that would nearly link the American Tobacco Trail’s northern terminus in downtown Durham with the Virginia line. And for years, the Norfolk Southern Railway has balked at letting go of the line. However, it was revealed in a session on rails-to-trails projects that the railroad’s stance may be softening (the trail would become part of the East Coast Greenway, the North Carolina portion of which is a State Trail).
• The NC Paddle Trails Association, which disappeared in the early 2000s, is back! At the time it was the best source of information for paddling east of I-95.

There was more, which we will cover in the coming months. Suffice it to say that if you worried that Year of the Trail was a passing fancy, it wasn’t. The General Assembly followed its Year of the Trail investment with allocations of $25 million for both 2024 and 2025. The next goal of the Great Trails State Coalition: secure recurring funding for trails in the state.

And in case you wondered what Forrest Pulley and the folks in Allegheny County have in mind, it’s a 25-mile loop trail that would begin and end in Sparta and include a stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Here’s hoping that’s a hike we can do in the not-too-distance future.

* The author employed by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, as a Rural Advisor in the department’s Hometown Strong rural initiative.

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Great Trails State Coalition

For more on the Great Trails State Coalition and its efforts to grow trail in North Carolina, go here.

The Coalition also has a calendar of trail events being held statewide. Find it here.

The post Great Trails State continues Year of the Trail momentum appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Goals.

Goals are typically associated with January and the new year. But when it comes to hiking, goals is ideal for September, which for many marks the start of the hiking season. Cooler temps, drier air, blue skies, fall color — who doesn’t want to hit the trail? And to make sure you hit it as often as possible, why not set some hiking goals for the month? I have.

1. Hike the Doughton Park Loop solo. I’ve done this hike, which ranges from 14 to 17 miles, 8 or 9 times, every time leading a group. Leading is fine, but when done right (see Goal No. 3, below) only a fraction of your attention is on the trail and scenic surroundings. This loop in particular deserves your full attention. The proper progression: Start from the Longbottom Road access and head up the Cedar Ridge Trail. You get about 80 percent of your climbing out of the way on this 4.5-mile trail, and 80 percent of that in the first mile. You also get your first views. At the top, take the Bluff Mountain Trail (a k a Mountains-to-Sea Trail) west for 6-7 miles, mostly through rolling mountain-top meadows. There are three ways to descend: the shortest (and most brutal) is the Bluff Mountain Primitive (very primitive, very steep) trail; the Flat Rock Ridge Trail, the longest, a generally mellow descent bordering game lands); and, my favorite, Grassy Gap, which crosses a gorgeous stone bridge and may require a knee-deep stream crossing near the end. The ideal way to spend a 70-degree September day.
2. Hike a new (to me) trail. This is a bit of a challenge because I’ve been hiking in North Carolina 30+ years, writing guidebooks and leading hikes along the way. My resume is deep — but a little less so in the Great Smokies, and fortunately I’m attending a conference mid-month in Cherokee, the eastern entrance to the Smokies. I’ll be looking for something in the 5-mile range, something I can fit in between the last presentation of the day and the awards dinner. Since it’s a three-day conference, I might even be able to get in two new trails.
3. Do a group hike that I don’t lead. I love leading hikes. I love exposing people to places they haven’t been, and to places they may have been but in a different season, or under different conditions. However, when you’re leading a hike, you’re constantly thinking about the hikers (or should be). About their safety, about whether someone is struggling, about whether the folks in the back are feeling pressured to keep pace with the speedgoats out front, about keeping everyone on track. It’s nice, for a change, to let someone else think about all that.
4. Log a 40-mile week. Back when I was guiding full time it wasn’t unusual to hike 40 miles in a week. With up to four guided hikes a week, and the training to stay in shape to lead them, it wasn’t hard to log 30 to 40 miles. Now that I’m a dedicated State of North Carolina worker, it’s not so easy. My psyche and my waistline miss those 40-mile weeks. Now I understand why folks were amazed at my ability to rack up 40 miles in a week: it wasn’t the distance, it was finding the time to do it. Forty miles a week averages out to nearly 6 miles a day, or about two hours. Who has time for that? That’s why I’ll likely need to piggyback this goal on the week I tackle Doughton Park. Even so, I’d still need to average nearly four miles a day for the remaining 6 days. If it’s to be done, September’s the month to do it.
5. Lead a night hike. I started night hiking in the mid-1990s, started leading night hikes a decade ago. Until last year, I was leading one a week. In the past year, though, I’ve led one (and that one gets an asterisk because it ended before official sunset). Night hikes are especially rewarding with first-timers, who often view the notion of entering the woods after dark as something out of a Grimms’ fairy tale. And yes, that first hike can be a little scary — but scintillating as well. I can’t recall a single soul I’ve led on a night hike who ran from the woods screaming, never to be seen again. It’s so rewarding. And yes, while one goal is to not lead a hike this month, another is to lead one.

Keep that last thought in mind as you set your own Year of the Trail hiking goals for September. Goals are often associated with only the highest of bars. In fact, a goal should simply be something you want to achieve. Forget about how a goal may look to others, it need only make sense to you.

I’ll talk more about that next week as I set out on a sixth September hiking goal. One that involves a Pop-Tart.

The post For YOTT, resolve to set a September hiking goal appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

On Sunday in North Carolina we enter Year of the Trail, as deemed by the State Legislature. All year, we will celebrate trails of every stripe: natural surface, paved surface, equestrian, hiker, mountain biker, trails of blue. Even our cultural trails. We’ll get into all this in January, but for now we focus on Sunday. And first, those Outings.

Because trails come in various stripes, they are celebrated in various ways this Sunday. For in addition to our decade-long tradition of First Day Hikes, we now have First Day Outings. Outings that include:

• Chimney Rock State Park’s First Day Hike or Bike, which commences at 8 a.m. from the park entrance near the Old Rock Cafe in Chimney Rock. Hike or bike the 3.2 miles up to the park, an especially alluring prospect for cyclists since no motor traffic will be allowed. Shuttles will be available to get you back down. More info here.
• Carolina Godiva Track Club New Year’s Day 8K Run, 1 p.m., Hillsborough. Run in the new? Sure, why not, for this nearly 5-mile race that begins in the town’s Gold Park, heads down the Riverwalk along the Eno River, does a lap around the Historic Occoneechee Speedway, then heads back. More info here.
• Birding and a Hike, 9 a.m., Wilkesboro. Our choice for the day because we’re helping to run it! Join us at 9 a.m. along the Yadkin River for two hours of birding in conjunction with the NC. Wildlife Resources Commission’s NC Bird Atlas project. Use loaner binoculars and hang our with experienced birders to help with the Bird Atlas, a citizen science project intended to give an overview of North Carolina’s bird population. Then, in the afternoon we relocate to nearby Rendezvous Mountain State Park for a ranger-led hike. Learn more and sign up here.

These events and more can be found at the Great Trails State Coalition website, here. 

You might want to bookmark this page, btw, for it is the go-to source for all Year of the Trail events scheduled for 2023. For instance, if you’ve wondered whether local municipalities and counties conduct First Day events, the answer is yes, and you can find several of them at this site.

First Day North Carolina

North Carolina State Parks once again welcomes the new year with 47 First Day events. A sampler:

• First Day Scavenger Hike, Umstead State Park, Raleigh, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Complete the challenge on the Old Rock Trail, win a sticker! Self-guided. More info here.
• First Day Hike: Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, 9:30 a.m. One of the more challenging First Day Hikes, this one is an out-and-back from the Visitor Center to Wolf Rock. About 3 miles total. Learn more here.
• First Day Hike: Eno River State Park, Durham, 2 p.m. Two hikes here, actually, a 4.5-mile outing and a 2-miler. Good thing, because this long-standing event has been known to draw more than 500 people on a sunny day. Held in conjunction with the Eno River Association, which serves post-hike hot chocolate. Learn more here.

Again, 47 First Day Hikes in North Carolina; find details on all of them here.

First Day Virginia

Some of Virginia’s 41 State Parks will hold more than one First Day event. To do so, you need to start early. Such is the case at Sky Meadows State Park, where the first of four First Day events begins at 5:30 a.m., with a sunrise celebration of the new year. Learn more about what’s happening at Sky Meadows here.

Lots of self-guided First Day hikes, lots of ranger-led activities. Check ‘em out here.

No excuses for not starting 2023 with some trail time. Kick off the year on a local trail.

The post First Day options abound appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

“People need to know about this,” I thought.

Of course, yesterday’s secret eventually becomes today’s go-to. And so I would move on, in search of that next unsung sanctuary. In a state with as much eco diversity as North Carolina — from the wild wetlands of the coast, to the open spaces of the coastal plain, to the rolling piedmont to the rugged Appalachians — that’s an enviable task. And in a state that values trails as much as North Carolina, it’s a fruitful one as well, one that will be even more fruitful as we head into 2023.

Last year, the State Legislature declared that North Carolina would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the North Carolina Trails System Act by declaring 2023 the Year of the Trail. The proclamation is no mere gesture; it comes with $29.15 million — the Complete the Trail Fund — to build more trail across the state.

But that’s just part of what Year of the Trail is about.

In late July, I signed on with Gov. Cooper’s Hometown Strong initiative, aimed at helping the economies of rural communities throughout the state. This is a multi-prong effort helping communities with everything from overhauling outdated water treatment systems to building more effective websites. My prong, as ecotourism advisor, is to help the communities unleash the potential of their recreational resources, particularly trails. The goal is two-fold: to help locals discover trails in their own backyard, and to also let outsiders know that, say, Sanford is a pretty decent place to spend an adventure weekend.

Sanford?

Absolutely. Did you know that Sanford is home to:

• Deep River State Paddle Trail, which currently has at least six canoe and kayak access points in Moore, Chatham and Lee counties
• San-Lee and Governor’s Creek, two parks with nearly 20 miles of mountain bike trail, combined
• Raven Rock State Park (a 25-minute drive), with 12 miles of hiking, 14 miles of mountain biking, 8 miles of equestrian trail and paddle access to the Cape Fear River.

Or what about Old Fort? You probably only know it as the last exit on I-40 before Black Mountain, en route to Asheville. In fact, it offers:

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  Great jumping off spot to explore the Curtis Creek area, the oldest tract of land in the Pisgah National Forest

• 42 miles of new trail, thanks to the work of the G5 Trail Collective
• An emerging portion of the Fonta Flora State Trail

Or Morganton? People think of Asheville as the jumping off point for adventure. But why drive the extra hour when Morganton makes for the ideal (and less expensive) basecamp, with access to:

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  Linville Gorge, one of the wildest wilderness areas in the East; a 30-minute drive

• Wilson Creek, with some of the best options for remote waterfalls and waterplay; a little more than a half-hour drive
• South Mountains State Park, North Carolina’s biggest state park hosting more than 40 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trail; less than a half-hour south
• Lake James State Park, a 20-minute drive, offers great hiking, biking and paddling
• Fonta Flora State Trail, a rapidly evolving state trail that will eventually link Asheville and Morganton, includes more than 12 miles of finished trail, mostly between Morganton and Lake James.

Or West Jefferson, tucked up in northwest North Carolina, in Ashe County. The area gets be dismissed because there’s no national forest land. But there is:

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  Elk Knob State Park, the summit of which offers one of the best views in the state

• Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, with more great views from its mountaintop trails
• New River State Park, with the headwaters of its namesake river offering some of the friendliest mountain paddling in the region
• Three Top Mountain Game Lands, which isn’t easy to reach, but well worth it when you summit it’s spiny ridge
• Pond Mountain Game Lands, with its wide open spaces a less crowded version of popular Mount Rogers (which you can see from Pond Mountain) in Virginia

This is just a sampling of the adventures we plan to highlight in 2023. Most of them aren’t new, but they may well be new to you. And they’re all accessible from smaller base-camp towns that offer the amenities you look for in the better-known trail towns: good food, brewpubs and wineries, coffee, a range of lodging options and more.

As I continue to scout this fall I’ll be sharing what I find in this space, as well as letting you know more about plans for 2023, North Carolina’s Year of the Trail.

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Learn more about Year of the Trail

Learn more about Year of the Trail by following us here, at GetGoingNC.com, as well as on our social media:

• Facebook
• Instagram

You can also keep track of what’s going on by following the Great Trails State Coalition, here

The post Year of the Trail will explore the trails (and towns) less traveled appeared first on GetGoing NC!.