A new 170+ mile point-to-point trail is slowly taking shape in the North Carolina foothills. This epic trail corridor will extend “from Catawba County, through the South Mountains, in Burke County, into McDowell County, and then Rutherford County, and connect at Lake Lure with the Hickory Nut Gorge State Trail,” according to Shane Prisby, Trails Program Director for the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina. The trail will follow the South Mountains chain, a sub-chain off the Blue Ridge escarpment.
Known as the “Wilderness Gateway State Trail,” this planned trail corridor will not only function as a stand-alone 170-mile-long trail, but it will also connect to extensive existing trail networks, providing epic trail connectivity across the North Carolina foothills. In addition to the Hickory Nut Gorge State Trail, this new route will also run through the South Mountains State Park and connect to the trails there. It will also “tie into Carolina Thread Trail’s planned corridor and more of a greenway network in Catawba County proper,” according to Prisby.
The Wilderness Gateway Trail was designated by the North Carolina State Parks Department as a state parks unit, but the Foothills Conservancy has been assigned the task of developing, designing, and constructing the trail by the state legislature. The process of routing, designing, and permitting a 170-mile trail is a monumental task. When the project was handed off to the Foothills Conservancy, a feasibility study had already been conducted and a general corridor had been defined, but the specifics had not yet been determined. “I spent some time literally wandering around in the woods, trying to get familiar with the properties,” said Prisby.
The hard part is already done
The Foothills Conservancy was assigned the Wilderness Gateway Trail project since the trail will utilize and connect many of the properties that the Conservancy has already protected. “We’ve done the hardest thing in all trail construction, which is right-of-way acquisition,” said Prisby. “Everything from there is substantially easier and faster. But the big limitation is always funding.”
The first two segments of the Wilderness Gateway Trail have already been permitted, with construction beginning this fall. These two projects will be constructed in the Henry Fork Preserve and the Bob’s Creek State Natural Area.
The Henry Fork Preserve project is a 6.1-mile one-way trail segment, but the Foothills Conservancy plans to add more loops and connectivity in the area. Construction is set to begin any day.
The project in Bob’s Creek is currently known as the “Wolf Den Loop,” a 10-mile loop that will be rideable on its own while also forming part of the Wilderness Gateway Trail. According to Prisby, the Foothills Conservancy hopes to break ground on this project before the end of the year.
A wide — but natural — path
The trail tread for the spine of the Wilderness Gateway Trail will be quite wide — about four feet. It will essentially be a very wide singletrack trail, though not quite as wide as a greenway path. The trail will still be built with a natural surface — not crushed gravel or pavement — to provide a wilderness feel.
The width of the trail was chosen in part “to accommodate hand cycles, quad cycles, recumbent bicycles, just different user groups trying to hit,” according to Prisby. “It’s really accessible to anybody who wants to get out there, really — they can decide if it’s for them.”
This fairly-wide path may be ideal for bikepacking, especially on a hardtail mountain bike. Whether or not the path will be too rough for gravel bikes remains to be seen, but it will probably vary from segment to segment, depending on the terrain.
While this new 170-mile epic won’t be completed overnight, it’s rare to hear of a point-to-point trail project this ambitious. The Wilderness Gateway Trail is sure to draw bikepackers from near and far!
1 Comments
0 minutes ago