North Carolina State Parks join National Trails Day celebration this Saturday

Since 1933, the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day has celebrated our most basic form of transportation. North Carolina’s state parks system joins this June 7th celebration with more than two dozen events to discover, enjoy and help build trails around the state.

Several state parks will dedicate new sections of trail. On June 6th, Grandfather Mountain State Park will inaugurate a new self-guided TRACK trail for children along the first mile of the Profile Trail in Avery County. Pilot Mountain State Park will host a hike and trail dedication on June 7th at the park river section’s Horne Creek Trailhead. Hikers in the Triangle can join a “volksmarch” along a new section of Raleigh greenway connecting the Prairie Ridge Ecostation to William B. Umstead State Park. Details on these events are at www.ncparks.gov.

Volunteers can also help create new trails at Elk Knob, New River and Crowders Mountain state parks on June 7th. Also, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail will have workdays at several locations along the 1,000-mile route from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Details about volunteering near Raleigh, Durham, Winston-Salem and Asheville are at www.ncmst.org.

National Trials Day evolved from a popular ethos among trail advocates wanting to unlock the potential of America’s trails, transforming them from a collection of local paths into a true network of interconnected trails. To that end, the Trails Program of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation is staging the North Carolina Trails Workshop June 4-5 in Raleigh. The seminar will bring together trail planners, volunteers, parks and recreation professionals and interested citizens in a forum where ideas, tools and trail visions can be shared.



Jeff
Hiking in the Smokies