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!.

This year, the American Hiking Society, the official clearinghouse for National Trails Day events, lists  508 NTD events. Thirteen events are scheduled in North Carolina, 14 in Virginia. Keep in mind this is not a complete listing: Virginia State Parks alone is holding more than 100 events Saturday, North Carolina State Parks has 10. North Carolina’s Great Trails State Coalition events page lists a dozen.

Instead of highlighting a handful, we are providing links where you can find the events closest to you and best suited to your interests. The important thing is to simply get out and enjoy your trails this Saturday, June 1, National Trails Day.

• American Hiking Society (NTD events nationwide)
• AHS NTD events in Virginia
• AHS NTD events in North Carolina
• Virginia State Parks
• North Carolina State Parks
• Great Trails State Coalition

The post Saturday is National Trails Day; Here’s where to Celebrate appeared first on GetGoing NC!.