SUMMER 2024
Group of volunteers on the last workday before breaking for summer 2024. David Craft (front row center wearing yellow shirt) hosted a picnic at the Streiby base camp to celebrate a great season of hard work and many accomplishments improving and maintaining the trails!
We are deep into the hot weather of a Uwharrie summer, and although our work crews are taking a break until September, trail adopters are still out there keeping an eye on their sections of trail and doing what can be done individually to keep things nice. So if you see someone toiling in this heat clearing a blown down tree off the trail or cleaning up litter, stop and say thanks!!! Without organized work days, it is these good people - trail adopters and dedicated regular hikers with hearts of gold - who pick up the slack in the summer.
And speaking of summer slackness, this newsletter is not as robust as is typical, but what is in it is, I hope, engaging and relevant to your interests!
Stay Cool,
Kim Andersen
Danny Longuillo
I’m Danny Longuillo. I’ve always been heavily involved in outdoor activities, from hunting and fishing in my younger years, to mountain biking and rock climbing now. I love camping with my family, hiking and backpacking.
In 2016 I was asked to join friends entering a Spartan obstacle race. I fell in love with the Spartan races because it gave me the incentive to up my workouts. I entered the Spartan competitive class, which led me to running more seriously. I was trail running shorter distances until the Pandemic in 2020, but with everything shut down, running was one of the few things I could still do. So, I started running in the Birkheads, which are in my backyard.
Danny training in the Birkheads.
In the years to follow, I met Ciara Massengale and joined the Wilder Uwharrie running group, which has had a positive influence on my speed and distance. I started adding more distance while running with the group, and since then I have run my first trail marathon in the Uwharries. Unlike my other activities, running frees my mind.
Since I began running with the Wilder Uwharrie Trail Runners, I realized that I needed to give back to the trail community, not just use the trails. I joined the Uwharrie Trail Blazers a couple of years ago, which is a group that maintains the Uwharrie trails. When you see a tree cut out of a trail or drainage rerouted, this is probably the group that did it. Being a part of the Wilder Uwharrie Trail Runners and the Uwharrie Trailblazers has given me a new circle of friends, with the common interests of running, hiking and just being outdoors.
If you enjoy hiking and want to try trail running, you can begin by running short distances during your hike. Everyone is more than welcome to join our group, the Wilder Uwharrie Trail Runners. The Uwharrie trails are a great place begin, from Tot Hill to the trailhead at Highway 24/27 near Troy. It is very scenic and there are over 40 miles of trails at various skill levels.
Now’s the time!
sign up for the TRLT Uwharrie Trail Fall Thru Hike!
Photo by Joe White
4 days, 40 miles, AND fun all for a good cause furthering the work of Three Rivers Land Trust. Registration fee includes filtered water, snacks, clean camp amenities, a large cookout the last night, a commemorative tee shirt, and a one-year membership to Three Rivers Land Trust. Uwharrie Trailblazers will also be on hand every day with amazing trail magic!!!
Read more about it and register HERE.
An expressive and decoratively positioned Black Snake in the Uwharries, June 2024. Photo by Melissa Woller.
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.
The readers of this newsletter are more than likely all hikers or hiking enthusiasts at least. But are you also a writer or even a wannabe writer? Maybe you write poetry??? Or perhaps you’re a photographer?!?! Maybe you’ve never been published. Well - now’s your chance!!! If you would like to contribute news, photo essays, or content of any sort to this newsletter, please send an email to uwharrietrailblazers@gmail.com! All ideas are welcome and appreciated.
Please send feedback and questions via email to uwharrietrailblazers@gmail.com and visit us on Facebook!
