A group of visitors recently enjoyed a ‘canoe hike’ on the property’s 20-acre lake.

One of the most spectacular settings for future state park development is cautiously being opened for limited public use at South Mountains State Park. The Clear Creek Watershed area of the park, at more than 3,000 acres, offers visitors a panorama unparalleled in the foothills and inspiration about possibilities.

Watching for birds and wildlife is part of a ‘canoe hike’.

On a recent Sunday, 11 visitors joined Ranger Amanda Lasley for a brief canoe hike on the 20-acre lake that is a scenic entryway to the tract. This followed a workday in which volunteers cleared brush from potential trail and public areas and built new visitor benches along the shoreline. There are no official trails on the property, but local visitors are welcome to walk the lakeshore, fish, picnic or carry in canoes and kayaks. Parking is extremely limited, but the park staff hopes to gradually expand a gravel lot.

In 2000, the Department of Agriculture ceded 2,556 acres then known as the Broughton Watershed to the state parks system. The property lies at the western edge of the state park next to public gamelands and has relatively easy access from Interstate 40 and Morganton. The addition made South Mountains State Park the largest in North Carolina at more than 18,000 acres. In 2007, an adjoining 454-acre tract was accepted from the Division of Health and Human Services. The two tracts – now called the Clear Creek Watershed – have been protected since the early 1970s and sweep from a paved state road to the top of a commanding ridge that looks onto the Blue Ridge and the Black Mountains to the west. Recently, the lake’s dam was repaired allowing a 10-foot increase in the water level. Above the lake and gently rolling land, the watershed features rugged outcrops and rare species.

The state park’s master plan envisions this as the setting for the parks system’s western environmental education center – to augment

Fishing, hiking, picnicking and canoeing are possible on the Clear Creek watershed property.

existing ones at Haw River and Goose Creek state parks. A learning center and group overnight facilities would be built with special attention to design for populations with special needs (considering the site’s history serving these populations). Surrounding the center will be a network of trails, picnic areas, a play field, canoe launch, fishing pier, boathouse and primitive camping opportunities.

Even for inexperienced paddlers, the small lake offers just a mild challenge. But, the landscape revealing itself certainly challenges the imagination.

It’s a simple idea really.

If you’re looking for ideas to connect young people with the outdoors, you need to ask the young people. That’s the concept behind Outdoor Nation, which will hold one of three national summits this year at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area and UNC-Chapel Hill. North Carolina’s state parks system is helping to host the gathering of about 200 millennials (we’re told that’s humans ages 16-28). The summit is June 29-30.

It’s a great idea for the “delegates” – young people who attend either as individuals or in groups. All expenses are paid (excepting transportation); there are outdoor activities and opportunities for project grants; and, there’s time to network with outdoor professionals. Each year, Outdoor Nation sponsors three national summits and these are augmented with follow-up gatherings in

successive years. Outdoor Nation is an action program of the Outdoor Foundation, a nonprofit of the outdoor recreation industry – with members such as The North Face, REI, The Conservation Fund, Merrell, American’s State Parks, the National Park Service, and others.

A campout (equipment provided) and other outdoor activities are part of the summit.

Outdoor Nation Director Ivan Levin put it this way, “During the summits, we all get together, discuss the things that are important to Outdoor Nation, learn from each other and come up with ideas to overcome the challenges young people face getting outdoors. Then, the Outdoor Foundation supports us with grant money, training and really everything we need to get the job done.”

Roundtable sessions will be held at UNC-Chapel Hill, and outdoor activities and a campout will be at Jordan Lake. Levin said the informal activities are a great venue for young people to network with leaders in the outdoor industry. In the past, those have sometimes led to internships and new career directions.

The time to register for the Outdoor Nation summit is now, whether you’re an

individual or a group of outdoor-loving folks. Find how to become a delegate here.

Follow Outdoor Nation on Facebook here.

And, get some real inspiration on the movement from videos here.

The summit is a chance to network with like-minded folks and outdoor professionals.

On one of his more memorable hikes, Trevor Thomas, by his own count, fell more than 3,000 times, suffered four broken ribs and visited seven hospitals (and one veterinary clinic when a hospital couldn’t be found).

Trevor Thomas and his guide dog Tennille tackling a mountain section of the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail.

At the end of it all, Thomas became the first blind hiker to complete an unassisted, solo hike of the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail. Today or tomorrow, accompanied by his guide dog Tennille and a park ranger he’s expected to trek into Mount Mitchell State Park’s campground, well into another daunting journey —  roughly 1,000 miles on the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail.

This latest expedition, which began April 1, is special to Thomas, who lives in Charlotte and firmly believes the MST is a North Carolina gem that should get more attention and support that he hopes to attract with his effort. North Carolina’s state parks system is supporting Thomas’ hike, and we’ll follow his progress as he makes his way from Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey’s Ridge State Park. Thomas’ principal corporate sponsor is THORLO, a Statesville-based athletic wear company, and he’s getting support from Guide Dogs for the Blind, Ahnu, Big Agnes, ExOfficio and Marmot.

(Find out more about Thomas’ history here and follow him on Facebook here.)

In 2004, a rare degenerative eye disease started taking Thomas site. It was nearly four years before he began finding his way again, so to speak. In an interview with Blue Ridge Magazine, he recounted, “In my sighted life, I was always into extreme sports – from backcountry skiing and mountain biking to parachuting. When I was going blind, those things kept being taken away from me. It felt like my world was getting smaller, and that caused a good bit of depression. Then, one of my friends took me to see Erik Weihenmayer speak. He’s the first blind guy to climb Everest, and he had a similar eye disease. I decided that if he could do Everest, I could do something too.”

After the Appalachian Trail, Thomas summited Mount Mitchell in 2009 and then Mount Whitney in 2010. He completed the challenging

2,654-mile Pacific Crest Trail and the Tahoe Rim Trail as part of team efforts.

Thomas and Tennille share responsibility for one another.

The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail presents unique challenges, Thomas said. Just over half the route is on single-track hiking trail with the remainder – in parts of the piedmont and the eastern plain – charted along rural roads. This is his first significant hike accompanied by a guide dog. Tennille is trained to help Thomas find the track, but she also puts extra responsibility on the hiker, who must carry extra supplies for the animal and make sure she’s well tended.

Thomas said the first few weeks on the MST through mountainous terrain have been challenging, with few fellow hikers who might help with information (and company), many fallen trees and some very cold nights due to a late spring. In Sunday’s Facebook post from the trail he wrote, “Today we fought for every mile. Trail conditions were less than we expected after yesterday. The trail was hard to navigate for both Tennille and me and we had a lot of climbing, rock hopping and walking on cliffs. This made for slow going. As a result, we only made 10 miles in nine hours.”

The trail is paved with a 70-foot bridge over the Neuse River.

The speaker list was a tad long for Friday’s dedication of the River Walk on the Neuse trail in Clayton, but that was right and proper. Every level of government made a significant contribution to the trail project that has been formally accepted as a link in the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail.

The trail that Clayton began planning more than 10 years ago was created with a mix of town, state and federal expertise and funds, and involved the town’s recreation department, the state parks system and the state DOT.

“The example you are setting is statewide and national. Everybody that could and would, did,” U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre said minutes before a ribbon of natural vine was cut on four-miles of paved greenway alongside the river. At one point the trail crosses the Neuse on a 70-foot, steel-span bridge.

Clayton bought the land for the trailhead a few years ago, using a $300,000 grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund as seed money and built a parking area and other infrastructure on Old Covered Bridge Road. The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation secured a key, 329-acre tract four miles north at the Wake-Johnston county line with funding from the Parks and Recreation and Clean Water Management trust funds. That property, with its 1.6 miles of river frontage, will be managed by Clayton under a unique lease agreement. The state DOT arranged for engineering and much of the construction of the bridge and the trail itself, using federal funding.

Clayton’s trail segment will very soon connect with Raleigh’s contribution to the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail – a greenway stretching from the Wake-Johnston line north to the Falls Lake Dam. Within a few years, the greater trail will be complete from Clayton northwest to Hillsborough, a distance of about 100 miles.

Brad Ives, assistant secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said contributions from towns

Clayton official Stacy Beard, center, talks with (from left) Carol Tingley, deputy director of the Division of Parks and Recreation, Brad Ives, assistant secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Lewis Ledford, state parks director, and DOT Secretary Tony Tata.

such as Clayton become part of a much larger vision for North Carolina – the 1,000-mile cross-state trail launched in 1977 by Howard Lee, former head of the environmental agency.

Ives told the crowd, “Thank you for being here so we can see part of the realization of Howard Lee’s dream and vision, and thank you for being part of that.”

Slightly more than half of the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail has been built as dedicated walking/biking path, and much of that is on federal or state conservation lands including state parks. The remainder is routed along rural roads.

Lewis Ledford, state parks director, said, “These state parks and these trails, we find, are economic engines in the communities where they’re located. We can make this trail happen; let’s make sure we make this happen.”

Hikers were eager to experience the new Laurel Loop Trail despite dreary weather at the dedication.

A new trail segment now winds through the blackwater wetlands and laurel thickets of the Chalk Banks Access of Lumber River State Park in Scotland County, thanks to a local grant and the hard work of park employees.

The 1.5-mile Laurel Loop Trail was dedicated Saturday with the first hikers ignoring a cold rain to enjoy the view. The segment connects with an existing trail to complete a loop, and Chalk Banks now boasts five miles of single-track trail, offering an experience of both woodlands thick with mountain laurel as well as riverbank views.

Although the bulk of the 9,268-acre state park is in Robeson and Columbus counties, the residents of Scotland County were quick to adopt the Chalk Banks Access several miles upstream. The access was opened in 2005 with campsites, picnic grounds and paddling access, after the county helped acquire the land and the town of Wagram extended utility lines to the site.

Although park staff provided most of the labor for the trail project, funds were provided locally through a SPARKPLUG grant – supported in turn by the N.C. Recreation and Park Association, the N.C. Council of Churches, the N.C. PTA , the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Foundation of N.C. SPARKPLUG projects have focused on new recreation opportunities and healthy lifestyles, and have included a new farmer’s market, community gardens and development of exercise/dance programs.

(Contributed by Raven Rock State Park Supt. Jeff Davidson and staff at Lumber River State Park)

A pilot project brought fifth graders from Durham to Eno River State Park last spring.

(This post was prepared with the help of Jim Richardson and Friends of State Parks.)

Fewer and fewer youngsters are able to make a field trip to a state park during their early school years, even parks close by their schools. There are many educational pressures that contribute to this, but a survey of more than 800 teachers by the state Office of Environmental Education revealed that a lack of funds is the principle reason.

When invited, park rangers will eagerly take interpretive programs into classrooms, but there’s no good substitute for a walk with a ranger on the trail and the outdoor experience of a state park. Valuable lessons and often a life-long love of nature and conservation can begin that way.

Friends of State Parks (FSP) is tackling this issue at a basic level with its YIP-EE program (Youth in Parks-Environmental Education) that makes mini-grants to any park friends group willing to work with local public schools to get kids outdoors. The grants provide up to $400 to pay for transportation and healthy snacks (the ranger programs are always free). The funds come from a memorial fund in the name of John E. Graham, a beloved former FSP stalwart.

Last April, FSP began its effort with a pilot program involving Eno River State Park, the Eno River Association and Lakewood Elementary School, an inner-city school in Durham. The effort brought groups of fifth graders into the park for a day of exploration and discovery. Most recently, such a grant was awarded to Friends of Gorges and Brevard Middle School. As a result, 200 seventh graders will soon visit Gorges State Park for an exciting “Survival Day” program.

Read more about the innovative program and about how to contribute here.