In a Covid world, ribbon cuttings are weird. That is Terry Savery with the US Forest Service out front. Behind her are members of the Uwharrie Trailblazers including Dave Gardener and Merritt Maness - tireless trail volunteers, Joey Moffitt whose father is the father of the Uwharrie Trail, lawrence Bachman, Eric Kalin, David Craft - the guy who makes things happen, Mary Joan Pugh who initiated the purchase of the property and Crystal Cockman who has spent her career protecting the Uwharries. I believe they are all smiling.
It was years in the making and many people had a hand in making it possible. Now everyone can enjoy it. The Uwharrie National Forest has officially opened the Walker Creek Trailhead to the public. Two and a half miles of new trail have been added to the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail, now 26.2 miles, a marathon.
Note the weathered sign and kiosk in the background. The QR code is part of a audio tour of the Uwharries.
The parking area, fencing, kiosk and trail and road signs were all paid using private funds. The trail was built by and is maintained by volunteers. The land the trailhead sits on, was sold to the Forest Service at a bargain price by a non profit organization. Dedicated and civic minded people made this happen.
The address is 6871 High Pine Church Road, Asheboro NC. The trailhead now appears on google maps. There is a short but steep drive to the parking area. Plenty of overflow parking too.
The property was once a home and a few of the buildings still exist.
If you stroll up the gravel drive beyond the gate, there is a nice north facing view of the Uwharrie River valley.
Lets Hike
Starting at the parking area, the trail enters a mixed hardwood forest along an old road.
At 0.1 mile there is a side trail signed "Slate Pile", leading to - you guessed it, a slate pile. And a rather small one at that.
In and out of new forest and old forest, the trail winds its way until you are on a well defined old road. pay attention here to the trail blazes (or "reassurance markers" in Forestservicespeak).
At 0.7 mile there is an abrupt left turn into mature forest.
At 0.9 mile you walk through a spot where several very large Red Oaks uprooted. The Uwharrie Trailblazers Saw Crew spend an entire workday sawing through this mess last year.
At 1.0 mile you'll see this rusted piece of equipment. If this were found in New England, it most likely would have been used to boil Sugar Maple sap into syrup. Here is was probably used to boil sorghum sap into sugar, one of the main ingredients for moonshine. Sorghum would have been harvested and squeezed by a horse operated cane mill to extract a gooey green liquid. The liquid would be boiled to sugar on this type of kiln.
At 1.3 miles the trail crosses Walker Creek. Just downstream from here is a lovely lunch spot among a number of boulders in the creek. These boulders are referred to often as "Biscuit Rocks".
A bit further at 1.7 miles is an upland pool on the right. Upland pools are important breeding spots for amphibians. There are no fish here to dine on them. I expect this pool will have its share of frog and salamander eggs soon.
At 2.0 miles, the trail crosses a private and gated road. The trail turns left on the road for about 100 feet before ducking into the woods right at a road gate.
Just beyond here, you'll see evidence of a Native American rhyolite quarry. Many of the rhyolite outcropping in this area were highly sought after due to the quality of the rock and how it fractured. A nearby spot was the site of a archeological dig conducted by Wake Forest a few decades ago.
At 2.3 miles a series of 10 switchbacks bring you up a steep hill to the crest of a ridge and at 2.5 miles the trail joins the old Uwharrie Trail route. From this point right, the trail goes 2.6 miles over King Mountain to Joe Moffitt Trailhead on Thayer Rd. And left, the trail is 0.5 mile to Luther Place Trailhead, a very small spot to park 2-3 vehicles. The cryptic directions to find this trailhead are best left unwritten.
For the past 7 years I have been exploring the area along Walker Creek. Here are some of my previous blog entries:
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