Winter 2021

Campfire circle at Walkers Creek, Uwharrie Trail Fall 2021 Thru Hike. Photo by Joe White.

What an eventful fall it has been! As we move into the winter it is ever more apparent the old adage is true, “Never make predictions, especially about the future.” Only a few months ago, all signs pointed towards the pandemic being nearly over, and now we are facing a new variant, an uptick in cases, and the end no longer in sight. How fortunate we were to enjoy the fall thru hike during the lucky respite between surges. For me, the Fall 2021 Uwharrie Trail Thru Hike will always be remembered as “the wedding hike” where family and hiking family gathered on the mountaintop meadow at Walkers Creek and in a fittingly freak windstorm we celebrated the marriage between my sister and one of my best friends - a beautiful couple who fell in love on a thru hike just a few years before.

Krista Andersen Edwards and Marcus West, October 16, 2021. Photos by Lauren Andersen.

Here’s to Trail Magic and its power to make hard times good and good times great, and may we all enjoy a little boost of it as we navigate whatever it is this winter brings!

Kim Andersen, Editor

From the Chair

Winter is almost here. After a wet year we have entered a dry time. Just in time for beautiful fall color. Careful with the camp fires!

The Land Trust held it annual Fall Through HIke and Trail Celebration. We are grateful to be a part of that. We cannot expand our hiking opportunities with out the work of the Three Rivers Land Trust.

April 2022 marks our 5th annual meeting. We missed last year due to COVID. We hope things cooperate and we can gather again. Getting vaccinated is a great start. We'll have a hike in the morning with a surprise at the end! And Gary Freeze, retired professor at Catawba College, will join us again to talk about the history of the Uwharries.

We’ll have chili, sides, and dessert along with a little business. Look here for more details soon.

Our club is doing well and we appreciate your support. Consider renewing your membership here.

Onward!

Member Spotlight

Kathryn Sisler Waple*

Kathryn Waple fishing on the Cape fear River. Photo by Joe Waple.

I have always loved being out in the woods. I was barely more than a toddler when I started quail hunting in the woods of the New Jersey Pine Barrens with my Dad and Grandpa. I was introduced to backpacking while studying in New Zealand. Going with experienced friends made it really easy for me to tag along and learn. I hung onto all the gear I accumulated even though it would be years before I was able to rediscover camping. When my now seven year old daughter was two and a half we started car camping and were both hooked.

Kathryn Waple takes her daughter, Ruthie, hunting for the first time. Also pictured is dog Chester. Photo by Drew Sisler, Kathryn’s dad.

About a year ago a coworker and I decided to expand our adventures into backpacking with our children and we learned about this super welcoming patch of woods not too far from where we lived. I thus had my first experience in the Birkhead Mountains. Soon after, while on another Birkhead trip with my friend Denise, she told me about this crazy event — the UT Thru Hike! She said it rained the whole time, people gave out free food and she had a blast and learned a lot from some hammock campers she met on the hike. Sounded fabulous, I was in!

Above left photo - Denise Priest with Kathryn on the trail. Right photo - l-r: Kathryn Waple with veteran thru hikers Michael Kirkpatrick (also a hammock camping expert), Stanley Siceloff, and Don Childrey at Tot Hill at the end of the fall 2021 thru hike.

Through the Thru Hike community I was connected with the Trailblazers. It has been really inspiring to talk with long term members of the club, some of whom have helped build and create the trail. I want to do my part to help continue the legacy of the trail. I have really enjoyed giving back to the trail, learning more about trail maintenance, meeting new people and having an(other) excuse to go spend a weekend in the woods every month.

Kathryn Waple and Robin Buzzeo, volunteers on crosscut saw crew, during a recent Uwharrie Trailblazers trail work day. Photo by Steve Chase.

* When not hiking, backpacking, doing trail work, and being an amazing person, Kathryn Waple is Co-Director and Program Facilitator with Nature Connect NC.

UTB Trail Work Report 2021

The core mission of the Uwharrie Trailblazers is building and maintaining the various trail systems in the Uwharrie National Forest and surrounding wilderness areas. At the heart of this work are the volunteers who come out and give freely of their time and energy every second Saturday of the month nine months a year. The UTB Trail Bosses - Steve Chase, Gifford Del Grande, Dave Gardener, and Joe White - in addition to doing the hard physical labor of trail work, coordinate where the workdays will be and what work needs to be done based on information received from UTB Trail Adopters, heads-ups from helpful hikers, and their own extensive knowledge and experiences on the trails in real time.

Volunteers working on on the trail November 2021. Photo by Joe White.

2021 presented the usual challenges of trail work compounded by the difficulties of COVID. Despite that, the amount of work done this year is nothing short of awesome:

March 2021 - Meet-up was at Robbins Branch Trailhead, 5527 Lassiter Mill Rd, Asheboro, NC. This was the first workday since the Covid pandemic began. Cleared and built run outs along the Robbins Branch and Hannahs Creek Trails. Also cleared some blowdowns.

April 2021 - Meet-up was at Wood Run Trail Head, NC. Maintained run-outs.

May 2021 - Meet-up was at Yates Place 700 Dusty Level Road. Project was clearing run-outs on the UT between Dusty Level Rd and 109 and installing a new sign.

June 2021 - Special Project Workday - Meet-up was at 1045 Mt Shepherd Rd Ext, Asheboro, NC. Started building three miles of trail at Caraway Creek Preserve!

June 2021 - Regular Workday - Meet-up was at Robbins Branch Trailhead, 5527 Lassiter Mill Road, Asheboro, NC. Continued work along the Robbins Branch and Birkhead Trail building and maintaining run-outs. Group also split up and some went to Tot Hill to do trail work and clearing blowdowns.

September 2021 - Meet-up was at Robbins Branch Trailhead, 5527 Lassiter Mill Road, Asheboro, NC, and split up to Tot Hill, and Thorneburg. Continued work on the Robbins Branch, Hannah’s Creek and Birkhead sections of trail. This was when we discovered flood damage to the new bridge.

October 2021 - Meet-up was at Robbins Branch Trailhead, 5527 Lassiter Mill Road, Asheboro, NC. Continued trail maintenance along the Birkhead, Hannahs Creek and Robbins Branch Trails. We had teams split up as we did on prior workdays and also had some blowdown removal.

November 2021 - Meet-up was at Tot Hill, 3190 Tot Hill Farm Rd, Asheboro, NC. Built 11 run-outs to check erosion. We also had a saw team cutting blowdowns. At some point after the workday the plaque was installed to commemorate the donation of the Dassow property (see the final article in this issue of the UTB Newsletter for more on this commemoration).

December 2021 - Meet-up was at Tot Hill, 3190 Tot Hill Farm Rd, Asheboro, NC. Continued building run-outs on the Dassow Property along the road further up the hill as well as cut some old blowdowns that have settled enough to reach.

(Workday details provided by Trail Boss Joe White.)

Uwharrie Trailblazers volunteers building a new trail at the Caraway Creek Preserve, June 2021. Photo courtesy of the Piedmont Land Trust.

NEW VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY BE A CAMP HOST for TRAIL WORKDAYS!!!

We all enjoy hiking our trails and many of us enjoy camping out as well. Uwharrie Trail bosses and workday volunteers often travel from several hours away to do trail work on the second Saturday of each month. These trail workdays typically begin with a meet-up at a trail head around 8:30am, and it is hard getting up way before dawn to drive in for that early rendezvous. To avoid that, lots of times people drive in the Friday evening before a work day and camp out at or near the next morning’s meeting spot. This has always in the past been very informal and we've had volunteers camp out at the same camp site and not know others were even there! We get many questions from folks coming to do trail work about where and when to potentially camp out.

Camp at Dennis Mountain. Photos by Scott Blanchard.

The Uwharrie Trailblazers would like to gauge interest in having “Camp Hosts” to coordinate camping and maybe a little trail magic before (and/or after) workdays!!! The role of Camp Host can be as simple as picking a site near the workday and being a point of contact for questions.

Is this something in which you would be interested? If it is, let us know!!!

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News from Three Rivers Land Trust

Crystal Cockman, Director of Conservation, Three Rivers Land Trust

Three Rivers Land Trust will be having two Uwharrie Trail thru hikes again next year!!! The dates are set - the spring hike is April 28-May 1, 2022, and the fall hike is October 13-16, 2022. Registration will open sometime in late January.

Our upcoming club hikes for the year are also set:

1/1 - New Years Day hike on a tract we just acquired that connects Morrow Mountain State Park to the town of Badin
1/29 - annual Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge Birding Trip
2/19 -hike at our Point Property in Davie County
3/26 -hike at our Seaboard tract in Moore County to see two state champion trees, a Shumard oak and a Florida maple
5/14 - our annual Uwharrie Naturalist Day on our Low Water Bridge preserve in Montgomery County, where we will have a ornithologist from the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Brian O’Shea, help us lead a hike to look for spring migrants
9/17 - hike in Harnett County (Location TBA)
11/5 - hike in Randolph County on Poison Fork Creek on some new land we recently acquired.

Please remember you must be a member of Three Rivers Land Trust to join us for our hiking club trips and register for all events on our webpage at threeriverslandtrust.org.

Uwharrie Trail Land Acquisition News:

The Dark Mountain tract is about to transfer to the USFS; we expect it to happen sometime in December or January. And the Dassow tract is still on track to hopefully transfer sometime next fall. We expect to make another acquisition hopefully by year end that will be a future transfer to USFS that is within viewshed of the Uwharrie Trail south of Tower Road.

8.08 acre parcel completely surrounded by USFS property. Photo courtesy of TRLT.

Three Rivers Land Trust did recently acquire a 8.08 acre parcel that has a portion of the Wolf Den OHV trail on it in the Badin Recreational Area. We will also be working to transfer that to USFS as well. It is completely surrounded by USFS property.

Folks may also be interested that we purchased a 30 acre property that we are hoping to transfer to the City of Asheboro for a passive park, and there may be opportunity to help with building a trail out there sometime in the future.

My Uwharrie Thru Hike

Anthony Barbour*

Day 1 - 24/27 to Yates Place: "Karen!!!"

Day 1 was Thursday, October 14, 2021. I was joined by Brad Moore, who drove all the way from Alabama, and by Shane Dublin. Billy Hagee, our fourth, had a funeral that day for a family member but would join us at camp at the end of Day 1. The hike started at the 24/27 trail head, where we were joined by approximately 93 other hikers, and ended at Yates Place campground after 10 miles of hiking on Day 1. We will title this chapter of the story "KAREN!!!" At the start of the hike, one of the Trail helpers, Karen Auman, told us there would be a break station about 5 miles into the hike. Well after hiking in high 80 degree temperatures for a few hours, we were all looking forward to a cool drink and snack. Problem is when we hit the 5 Mile mark there were no trail angels to be found. Shane started yelling "KAREN!!!" at the top of his lungs, which may explain why we never saw any wildlife. We finally found the trail angels and snacks at mile 6, but Shane managed to jokingly give Karen grief that he had to suffer through that extra mile.

For the rest of the hike whenever we saw Karen we would shout her name. If we were climbing a steep mountain or stumbling on a rock, we would shout "KAREN." Truth be told, Karen Auman is a rock star who supported us the entire hike.

Camp at Yates Place at the end of Day 1.

Day 2 - Yates Place to Jumping Off Rock: "Someday"

We have all made the statement..."some day." Maybe it was a dream vacation we wanted to take, a dream house or car we wanted to buy, a career change we wanted to risk, or maybe pick up a new hobby. Problem is...many times "some day" never comes. We become too old or too disabled to chase those dreams and we can only look back with regret.

If Covid has taught me anything, it is time to realize our dreams in the here and now. I have always wanted to do an extended backpacking trip and the Uwharrie Thru Hike offered me that chance and best of all, the Uwharries are right in my backyard so to speak. I titled Day 2 of my hike "Some Day" mainly because it was our longest day of the hike as well as the toughest. I was so alive in the moment, the unseasonably high temperatures and elevation changes couldn't damper my resolve nor determined spirit. I was living my dream and realizing my "some day." I thank God for the opportunity to do this hike with amazing and supportive friends.

I encourage you to go and realize your "some day" before time and vitality passes you by....I'm sure glad I did!

Filtering water along the way on a hot day!

My good friend Billy Hagee, who joined us on Day 2.

Day 3 - Jumping Off Rock to Walkers Creek: "Promises"

This day on the trail would be our shortest day of hiking, but it featured the tallest peak we would climb at King Mountain and also the prettiest views in my opinion at Little Long Mountain.

Going into this hike, I had made myself a promise to hike the whole 40 miles without slack packing (where you carry only the essentials such as water and food, but the trail crew hauls your gear). Mentally I knew I was prepared to carry roughly 28 lbs on my back, but physically I was only partially confident. I knew I had prepared the best I could by exercising, walking regularly, and taking day hikes to various trails in the Uwharries...but I still wondered if I could do it. I was very determined to "hike my hike" and nothing short of the full experience of carrying my pack the whole way was acceptable.

Shane and Brad at a much needed Day 3 pit stop!

I promised myself that I would not quit nor compromise. At the end of Day 3, I was pretty confident, barring an unexpected injury, that I would be successful in completing my mission....I was now more determined than ever to finish....so I took a photo of my shoes with the words to a Robert Frost poem to remind me that I still had a full day of hiking left to keep the promise I made to myself. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I've Promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." (Frost)

Day 4 - Walker's Creek to Tot Hill: "The Final Countdown."

A cold front brought in fierce winds and chilly temperatures for the last night on the trail. Brad and I were up before light and got all packed up. We signed out of camp at 6:10am and started the 3.6 mile road walk to the Robin's Branch trailhead. The coolness in the air definitely put a bounce in our steps. It seemed that it took no time to reach the trailhead as the sun was starting to rise. Today's Hike was 10.1 miles and my pack still felt comfortable on my back and my legs felt strong. I had hiked this particular section of trail back last winter, so I knew there was one more steep mountain to climb leading to the Camp 3 trailhead.

Once that climb was over, I knew we would be successful in completing this Thru Hike. As I approached the base of this mountain, I began to feel emotional. I thanked God for my health and the strength I was feeling. I couldn't recall the last time I had this much resolve to complete something so challenging. I thought of those people in my community, my church, and my own family who had died of Covid. As I thought of these people, I realized the challenge of climbing this mountain was nothing compared to what they had went thru in their battle. As I ascended to top of this last steep climb, I thought to myself...."I hiked up this mountain for those people...because they will never get the opportunity to do so." Getting to the top of this mountain meant the rest of the Trail was flat with a slight descent. I purposely slowed my pace and took in the view and just appreciated the moment. Soon I could hear cars and voices and I knew that my journey was about to end. This thru hike was all that I hoped it would be and more. It was awesome sharing it with my three friends. I can't wait to do it again.

Anthony and Brad, happy UT Thru Hike FINISHERS!

*Anthony “River Jim” Barbour is Director of Purchasing at South Piedmont Community College and a member of 12 Stones Outdoor Adv3ntures.

A Tribute to the Dassow Family

Jim Plant

If you have hiked from Tot Hill Farm Road trailhead to Coolers Knob, you have walked across a stretch of privately owned property. You may have never had a clue you were on private property because the former owner, Duane Dassow and family have generously allowed access across their property since as long as there has been a trail there. Just recently, this property was acquired by Three Rivers Land Trust from the Dassow family. Now the property is queued up to transfer to the USFS sometime in the next couple years.

To honor and thank the Dassows for their generosity, a plaque has been installed in a rock alongside the Birkhead Mountain Trail near the junction with Old Forrester Road. That timber road was part of the historic Uwharrie Trail and documented in Joe Moffitt's book An Afternoon Hike into the Past. There are a myriad of old roads in the area and it is hard to know where the Old Forrester Road went, other than this one spot which for most of us is a shortcut on the Birkhead Mountain Trail.

Mid morning, three of us - Matt McArthur, David Craft, and me - set out, plaque in hand, with a plethora of tools and batteries. The plan was to chip out a section of rhyolite to place the plaque in.

Using a circular masonry blade to score the rock, then hammer and chisel it, was a slow but effective way to shape the footprint of the plaque on the rock.

The plaque had four 3" bolts which were to hold it in place. Thus, we needed to drill four 3" deep holes for those bolts. This proved to beyond the capability of the battery powered drill. After a huge effort to drill holes, including dripping water on the drill to cool it and keep it from overheating, we managed to drill only two 1/4" holes.

Plan B was hatched at this time. We'd have to get a generator and a rock hammer drill up there another day. We headed back to the trailhead and headed off. About 2 hours later, Matt posted a photo of himself with a generator and hammer drill attached to an old backpack frame, with the caption "I'll let you know how it goes." I was still in the area, so back I went to join him. Carrying a generator is tiring but he made it. And it was worth it.

Once connected to electric power, the four holes were drilled in a matter of minutes.

A little epoxy and some mortar were added and the plaque just slipped in the hole like it belonged there.

how to report an illegal trash dump

Many of us have had the disheartening experience of driving up to a beloved trail head to find a big pile of trash just sitting right there. Most of us try to pick up as much of it as possible and stuff it into our vehicle to take with us when we finish up our hike, but sometimes there is either too much or the items are simply too large and heavy for us to take to the dump ourselves.

Luckily the state of North Carolina has our backs on this! There are two ways to report illegal dumps and dumping.

NC Department of Transportation

You can report an illegal dump to the NCDOT Litter Coordinator in the county where the illegal trash is located using this website

https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/environmental/adoptahighway/Pages/coordinators.aspx

Simply go to the website and click on the name of the coordinator listed next to the name of the county in which the illegal dumping took place. That will take you to an online form you complete and submit. The NCDOT will then take it from there and have the trash removed. It is that easy!

NC Department of Environmental Quality

You can also report an illegal dump through NCDEQ to the Environmental Assistance and Customer Service contact in the area where the illegal dump is located using this “Directory of Local Government Waste Reduction Contacts” website:

http://p2pays.org/localgov/ncwaste.html

Or if all else fails, NCDEQ offers this 24/7 Environmental Hotline 1-877-623-6748!

editorial policy

The contents of this newsletter are authored collaboratively by the Uwharrie Trailblazers steering committee unless otherwise attributed and are intended to illuminate, educate, and inspire all who enjoy the trails of the Uwharries. The newsletter is edited by Uwharrie Trailblazers club secretary Kim Andersen. We welcome suggestions and questions from all readers.

Please send feedback and questions via email to uwharrietrailblazers@gmail.com and visit us on Facebook!

Uwharrie Trailblazers Newsletter