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Statewide trail: One step at a time
Walking from Clingman’s Dome in western North Carolina to Jockey’s Ridge along the Mountain to the Sea Trail seems like a Herculean task. At least it is in my view, and I’m smart enough to know that I am so far from fit that I wouldn’t even consider it.
However, I found a happy alternative last weekend: I had the chance to spend the better part of Saturday helping carve out about a mile of the trail in the woodlands north of Durham. It was a long, hot, sweaty day - seasoned with a dash of guilt felt for not having worked in my own yard. But I felt far more satisfaction when I and the other volunteers hiked out of the woods following the path we had helped to clear.
First, a little about the trail: According to the Friends of the Mountain to the Sea Trail’s Web site, the plan is to carve a 900-plus mile route through more than 30 counties. Along the way, the trail will pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway and Cape Hatteras National Seashore; over or near Clingman’s Dome, Mount Mitchell and Pilot Mountain; and across the French Broad, Haw, Eno and Neuse rivers. Its temporary route follows the state’s bicycle trail through part of Nash County. The final route will have the closest approach through Wilson County.
From what I could see, creating the trail largely is a labor of love. Friends of the Mountain to the Sea Trail has exactly one paid employee and a lot of volunteers. All of the people helping Saturday were giving their time. The group’s Web site says that the project was started because of a decades-old bill passed by the General Assembly but doesn’t mention anything about the state opening its coffer to pay for the effort.
The work day itself was a good, old-fashioned elbow-grease affair. Volunteers hauled mattocks and industrial-strength rakes into the sites, cleared the ground with the latter then uprooted rocks, roots and anything else that would have been in a hiker’s way with the former. The effort was fueled by a breakfast donation from Great Outdoor Provision Co. (hot biscuits and coffee) and a gift from outdoor supply store REI (cool red T-shirts) and lots and lots - I’d say there were at least 75 - of eager volunteers.
If you’d like to help with the next trail work day, contact Bruce Wisely (bwisely@earthlink.net or 919-676-3750) or Jeff Brewer (jdbrewer@bellsouth.net or 919-868-6274). I’ll tell you the truth: It will be a day of hard work but there will be few civic contributions that are more satisfying.
Share your experiences enjoying outdoor life by commenting on this blog or e-mailing Ross at rchandler@coxnc.com.
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