How many organized events?

That’s tough to pin down.

Officially, the American Hiking Society acts as the clearing house for NTD events. Fill out a form on their website and your event can appear in a searchable format on their NTD page. And while the site does include a lot of events, it’s far from a complete listing. In Virginia, for instance, AHS lists a total of 19 Trails Day events. On the Virginia State Parks website, however, you’ll find 49 events scheduled for National Trails Day. 

In North Carolina, AHS lists 26 NTD events. Yet missing is the grandaddy of North Carolina celebrations: NC Trail Days in Elkin/Jonesville. This events runs four days (June 4-7), includes 3 State Trails (Mountains-to-Sea, Overmountain Victory, and Yadkin River Paddle), 2 state parks (Stone Mountain and Pilot Mountain), and hiking, paddling and mountain biking, along with other outdoor events, live music and more. 

Virginia State Parks observes National Trails Day much like it does every other day, which is so say with a boatload of activities. Start the day with a 5K at High Bridge Trail State Park at 8 a.m. Or sleep in until 9 a.m. and do the challenging 4-mile Molly’s Knob Hike at Hungry Mother State Park. There’s a Wild Cave Tour at Natural Tunnel State Park, and lots of opportunities statewide to help maintain and build trail. The day ends with an Owl Prowl Night Hike from 8-9:30 p.m. at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

But again, these are far from all the opportunities out their to celebrate trails on Saturday. Check your local municipal and county parks, check with your local land conservancy, or just check with your buddies and throw your own National Trails Day event. On National Trails Day only one thing matters.

That you spend time on a trail.

Resources

• Find events throughout the country at the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day event page.
• Find North Carolina events here.
• Find Virginia events here.
• NC Trail Days.
• Go here for NTD events in Virginia State Parks.
• Go here for NTD events in North Carolina State Parks.

The post National Trails Day: Find an adventure this Saturday appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

For the second year in a row, the Dan River Basin Association, the nonprofit that oversees the trail, and the Rockingham County Tourism Development Association will host the second annual celebration of this paddle trail, which runs for 90 miles through Surry, Stokes and Rockingham counties. (The entire Dan runs for 214 miles, beginning high in Patrick County, Virginia, dipping into North Carolina, and ending back in Virginia, in Kerr Reservoir on the Roanoke River.)

The Dan River State Trail being a paddle trail, most of the weekend’s events are water-related: There’s a kid-focused education session and whitewater kayaking Friday at Madison River Park, and there’s a 6-mile paddle on the Dan lead by DRBA plus a “snorkeing” session on Saturday. There’s a also a hike at Hanging Rock State Park Saturday as well as an appearance by “To the End of the World” author Andrew Waters in Eden to kick things off Thursday evening. Event times and descriptions follow.

Thursday, July 31
5:30 – 7 p.m. – History with Andrew Waters “To the End of the World,” The Hive, 622 Washington St., Eden. Author and conservationist Andrew Waters discusses 1781’s Race to the Dan, a pivotal event in the American Revolution. Waters, author of “To the End of the World: Nathanael Greene, Charles Cornwallis, and the Race to the Dan,” will share this lesser-known story of our fight for independence. For more info and to sign up for this free event, go here.

Friday, August 1
4 – 7 p.m. – Kid-Focused Environmental Education Session, Madison River Park, 640 Lindsey Bridge Road, Madison. Virginia-based EnviroScape will be on hand with its environmental education models – and Tub o Bugs! – to demonstrate water pollution concepts and their prevention. Also presenting will be Stormwater Smart, Mayo River State and more.
6 – 8 p.m. – Park ‘n’ Play, Madison River Park, 640 Lindsey Bridge Road, Madison. Whitewater boaters are encouraged to bring their boats and frolicin Madison River Park’s whitewater park.

Saturday, August 2
9 a.m. – 2 p.m. – 6-mile Paddle on the Dan River. Join the Dan River Basin Association for a 6-mile paddle on the Dan River from a private access off NC 89 to the Hanging Rock State Park canoe access off Flinchum Road in Stokes County. This paddle is suitable for most skill levels with some Class I and II rapids. The free paddle is part of DRBA’s First Saturday Outings program. Learn more here.

10 a.m. – noon – Snorkel the Dan, 1258 Flinchum Road, Danbury. Ever wonder what lives beneath the surface of our Piedmont waterways? Come prepared to find out — and get wet — using underwater viewers to check out the marine life below your knees.
2 – 5 p.m. – Social Hour at the Green Heron, 1110 Flinchum Road, on the Dan River in Danbury.
5 -6:30 p.m. – Guided 1.5-mile Hike at Hanging Rock State Park. From the Flinchum Road Access we’ll hike the Riverbluffs Trail to wind down the day. Meet at the park’s Dan River Access, 1258 Flinchum Road, Danbury.

Sunday, August 3
Choose your own adventure! Adventure abounds along the Dan River. To find the one best suited for you, check out these resources:

• Dan River Basin Association — DRBA, the non-profit partner for the Dan River State Trail, has comprehensive collection of adventure options — hiking, river access, parks, cultural attractions, and more — on its interactive map. Check it out here.
• Trails in RoCo — You’ll find a rundown of trails in Rockingham County at this site from the Piedmont Legacy Trails.

The post A Weekend to celebrate the Dan River State Trail appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We have the American Hiking Society to make sure we remember to pay homage to our trails, whether it’s by grabbing a mattock and pickaxe to build new trail, grabbing a rake and trash bag to tidy up existing trail, or by simply taking a hike, a ride, a paddle on the first Saturday in June. 

Fortunately, we have lots of opportunities to celebrate.

For instance, NC Trail Days in Elkin and Jonesville. This four-day event starts today and runs through Sunday. The event celebrates two trail communities, three NC State Trails (Mountains-to-Sea, Yadkin River, Overmountain Victory), two State Parks (Stone Mountain and Pilot Mountain), and miles and miles of great trail. Trail for hiking, trail for mountain biking, trail for paddling. There’s also rock climbing, trail maintenance, speakers, films, music, food — everything you need to successfully celebrate trails. Learn more here.

And there are more. Throughout North Carolina and Virginia you’ll find hundreds of National Trails Day events. Below are links you can tap on to find the NTD event nearest you, or the event that’s most appealing. If you can’t find one here, check your local parks department and land conservancy, most of which have events scheduled.

Start planning your Saturday trail celebration now!

• 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 Celebrate National Trails Day This Saturday appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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.

* * *

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!.

Imagine being able to hike or paddle through the heart of the Piedmont for 125 miles with occasional stops in small towns. That’s the goal of the Deep River State Trail.

One of 14 State Trails in North Carolina, the Deep River begins in the Greensboro area and ends five counties later where it empties into the Cape Fear River. It’s one of only two State Trails — the other is the Haw River State Trail — that has both a paddle trail and land trail component. 

On the water you’ll encounter Class I and II water early on, mostly mellow flat water as the Deep nears the coastal plain. There are several river access points as the Deep passes through five counties.

On the land trail side, your options are more limited. Currently, there are less than 5 miles of land trail completed, all in the vicinity of Randleman and the adjoining towns of Franklinville and Ramsuer. 

Saturday, there will be a guided hike on a 1.5-mile stretch of the Deep River State Trail headed downstream from Franklinville. Here, the trail follows an old rail bed paralleling the river. The trail is surrounded by a mature hardwood forest that offers ample shade on a hot summer’s day as well as protection from a light rain. Occasional side trails offer glimpses of the Deep as it makes its way southeast. Saturday’s hike turns around at a pedestrian bridge under construction that will link with existing trail into Ramsuer.

This portion of the hike is flat and largely stroller-friendly. There’s also an optional 1-mile hike to Faith Rock (pictured) which offers views of a rockier, more mountain-like stretch of the Deep. Both the hike and the paddle trip are sponsored by the entities making the Deep River State Trail possible: the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Piedmont Land Conservancy, Randolph County, Lee County, Deep River Park Association, and NC Great Trails State Coalition.

This is one of several hikes and paddles celebrating North Carolina’s State Trails in 2024. They’re a great way to get to know the emerging State Trails system, and to show support for their continued development. We’ll share a rundown of those events later this month.

In the meantime, make plans to join us this Saturday.

• Learn more about Saturday’s 9 a.m. paddle trip and sign up to join us here.
• Learn more about Saturday’s 2 p.m. guided hike and sign up to join us here.
• Learn more about North Carolina’s State Trails here.

The post This Saturday, go Deep and learn about N.C’s State Trails appeared first on GetGoing NC!.