Nov 29 Uwharrie Trail Update

Prickly Pear Cactus on Little Long Mountain

The Land Trust for Central North Carolina has been spearheading a effort to reconnect the original Uwharrie Trail as constructed back in the 1960's by Joe Moffitt and others. Today the Uwharrie Trail Committee met in the Ophir community to discuss and update our activities and plans.

Crystal Cockman chaired the meeting and brought everyone up to date on the the current situation. Some years back, the original Uwharrie Trail ran from Tot Hill Road by the now Tot Hill Golf Course to the trail head on Rts 24/27 west of Troy. During the 1980's the trail was shortened to just the section from Rts 24/27 to Dark Mountain (Jumpin Off Rock parking area) on Flint Hill Rd in Ophir. The north part of the trail through the Birkhead Wilderness was re-christened "Birkhead Trail". The section between the two, roughly from the southern boundary of the Birkhead Wilderness to Flint Hill Road was abandoned. Much of that route was on private property or along a road. Some of the land was timbered and the route was obliterated. 

Years later the land trust became involved, piecing together tracts. Actually purchasing land and re-routing trail on Forest Service property. Now, we are close to re-connecting everything with just a few obstacles. Much of the original route north from Flint Hill Road has been re-blazed to Little Long Mountain. From Little Long Mountain into Randolph County, two routes have been identified to King Mountain. From King Mountain, there is some route identified and some re-route necessary. From High Pine Church Road to the southern wilderness boundary is still one of the obstacles.

Although, this sounds like we have trail through this area, there is still much work to be done. Some of the route is not desirable and needs to re-routed. That is the focus of my attention. After several scouting forays here and there, I still have work to do. It seems all the easy stuff has been done to this point and now the work looks more daunting. 

In addition to the current status and future trail route ideas, Crystal covered a number of related topic at the meeting. The committee would like to document more of the effort Joe Moffitt put into this trail and honor him in some way. Some grant monies can be used for some trail enhancements. One idea is to use grant money for a series of trail posts with QR codes. QR codes are the bar code like patterns recognized by smart phones. When accessed, an application can tell a story, show pictures or play a recorded message on a handheld device. 

After the meeting a field trip was organized to Little Long Mountain. Crystal spoke of a possible controlled burn on the mountain. The top is the only 360 degree view along the trail. With sumac and salt bushes growing like weeds, that view is now limited. 

We also scouted a possible re-route. The existing trail is along old road which are terrible eroded. Walking along them in wet conditions is really undesirable. 

Salt Bush on Little Long Mountain