Alamance now has its own volunteer trail team to build and help maintain the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in the county. The Upper Haw River Task Force of the Friends of the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which has historically worked in Eastern Guilford and Alamance Counties, split in August 2021 in order to better address the increased trail work needed in both counties, as the amount of the trail building and trail maintenance has expanded in recent years.
The Alamance County MST Task Force works closely with the Alamance Parks, which is responsible for land acquisition for the Haw River Trail and Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which coincide where both trails follow the Haw River. The Haw River Land Trail is expected to run about 40 miles through Alamance County when it is eventually completed.
Andrew Sam is now the Alamance County Task Force Leader for the new team. Andrew is an experienced hiker, sawyer, and trail builder. His leadership will be helpful in the years ahead as new sections of trail will be built. Andrew also leads a subset of Task Force volunteers, which is building a new trail at the Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in the central part of Alamance County. This group typically works on Wednesday mornings.
In September the Alamance Task Force built a high-water route on the Glencoe to Carolina Mill section of trail, to be used when the existing trail along the river is flooded. In October the team cleared an access road and trimmed vegetation around the new Boyds Creek Bridge, in preparation for the dedication service held there on October 29th. In early December the team made additional improvements in the Glencoe to Carolina Mill trail, removing dead trees and improving drainage.
The Alamance County MST Task Force is an all-volunteer team, and anyone is welcome to join. No prior trail-building experience is needed and appropriate tools and training will be provided. The team typically works one Saturday a month, ten months of the year. For more information contact Andrew Sam via e-mail at: asam30035@gmail.com.
Written by Bob Ellis, December 2021