Get Ready for More Great Projects in 2017.

December 2016

Thank you for a great year!

Looking forward to much more in 2017...

The Elkin Valley Trails Association, as an all volunteer organization, in the last few years has successfully built 12 bridges including ones of 140 and 178 feet, been engaged in building approximately 16 miles of trail, established a mountain bike course, hosted six Eagle Scout projects and completed multiple other projects in partnership with over 65 organizations, businesses and generous landowners and supporters.

Look for some great projects in 2017...expanded trails going both east and west on the Mountains to Sea Trail, an event-filled gathering in Elkin of the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail members at their annual meeting, a North Carolina Trail Town Conference in Elkin, expansion of the Elkin Creek Mountain Bike Course, public restrooms on the in-town section of trail, more trail connecting downtown Elkin with local wineries and maintaining and improving facilities we have already created.

Please consider helping us make this happen by volunteering and supporting EVTA projects with your year-end charitable donation!

In the holiday spirit on the E & A Rail Trail/Mountains to Sea Trail bridge in Elkin.

A letter from one of our most enthusiastic supporters, Dr. Jim Harrell, Sr.

Please Consider A Donation to EVTA! Click Here.

Elkin Creek Mountain Bike Trail is Open...

Expansion Planned for 2017!

Phase one of Elkin's new mountain bike trail is complete, opening up almost 3 miles of professionally built single-track trail and three bridges for use by local and visiting mountain bikers, hikers, and trail runners. EVTA is currently raising funds to complete phase two of the trail system which will add an additional two miles of intermediate level trail through waterfalls and rolling terrain. The entrance to the mountain bike trail is well marked and is just above the first bridge on the main trail from the Elkin Recreation Center. Enjoy!

FMST Annual Meeting 2017 is in Elkin...

join us for some great events to show off our Trail Town!

Great things are happening in Elkin on March 24th, 25th, and 26th! The EVTA and the town of Elkin will host the annual Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail meeting, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary here. Approximately 300 members of the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail will be coming to the

"best small town in America" to attend the meeting and stay for the adventure. With the help of EVTA volunteers, town officials, businesses, and citizens, we have an opportunity to showcase our wonderful way of life and our many local attractions by providing "Trail and Town Excursions" for the attendees. We will offer a guided Downtown Stroll featuring historic landmarks and a chance to see a reenactment along the Overmountain Victory Trail, hikes on our local trails and guided hikes in Stone Mountain, tours to local wineries and breweries, antiquing and shopping opportunities, paddling on the Yadkin and Mitchell Rivers, mountain biking with REI providing bikes for participants, yoga classes, road biking, dining and music opportunities, and invitations to visit our local churches on Sunday.

Please consider joining the

Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail

so that you can celebrate our local MST and take part in this awesome event!

Mountains to Sea Trail Photos

Join the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail!

Brookfall Dairy Road to Carter Mill Road Trail...

Connecting Downtown Elkin to

Wineries and Stone Mountain!

Come out to our workday on December 10th on our newest trail section. Help us get this 1.1 mile section open by the end of the year!

Brookfall Dairy Road to Carter Mill Road is another piece of our trail system. Eventually this will allow you to connect to Stone Mountain and beyond. This new trail section is being finished up now. Once we have a few other trail connectors completed between this new location and the Elkin Municipal Park, you will be able to hike or mountain bike from the Elkin to Grassy Creek Vineyard/Byrd’s Branch Campground, and soon to Carter Falls. This hike or bike to and from Elkin will be an amazing milestone for our community, and give us a feel for what it’ll be like once we connect to Stone Mountain.

Keep in mind as we go further out from town, the trail will be more natural vs. a wide granite dust path. The trail will be like the majority of other hiking trails you may have experienced, such as in Stone Mountain State Park and the Appalachian Trail.

We are thrilled to see these connectors develop, and actually “connect” to our overall trail system! It is with much gratitude that we thank all past, current, and even future volunteers, donors (monetary and equipment), and land owners.

A special thanks will always be reserved to the landowners. Without the landowners, we would have no community trail. Whether through donating of easements and other resource considerations, our community owes a gratitude to them for allowing this community asset to be developed.

Trail Workday Details:

Trail work day: Saturday, December 10th

When: 8:30 am

Where: Meet at the old Elkin Walmart at the corner of Hwy 21

and Brookfall Dairy Rd.

What: Moving 1/3 mile of cattle fence and widening trail

Bring: Loppers, hand saws, fence pliers, hammer, string trimmer, gloves, water

We will be working until noon or so.

Trail from Byrd's Branch Campground on the MST, connecting to Grassy Creek Winery Trail and to Brookfall Dairy Road (heading south towards Elkin)

Trail from Brookfall Dairy Road to Carter Mill Road (soon to link to Elkin's in-town

E&A Rail Trail)

Help Keep Our Trails in Great Shape...

EVTA is a 100% volunteer organization. Although we have regular trail maintenance and clean up days, we encourage all trail users to help keep the trails clean. If you see trash on the trail, feel free to help us by hiking that out too.

We want to keep the entire Elkin Valley trail system as pristine as possible.

If you see a trail maintenance issue or concern or have a suggestion, you can report this to our Trails Maintenance Coordinator, Jason Taylor, via our website at www.elkinvalleytrails.org under the "Trails" or "Contact" headers.

You can also volunteer under the "Contact" or "Volunteer" header.

If you see an issue at the Elkin Municipal Park, feel free to report this to the Recreation Center.

Thanks for your help!

Visitors Love Our Trails...

On November 3, 2016, 18 energetic hikers from Bermuda Run West Hikers Club from Advance, NC visited Stone Mountain State Park and the

Elkin & Alleghany Rail Trail/Mountains to Sea Trail in Elkin. The club arranged for EVTA member Joe Mickey to lead the hikes to showcase the views and some old moonshine still sites at Stone Mountain State Park in the morning. Hikers then returned to Theo’s in Jonesville for a pizza lunch and then hiked the E&A Rail Trail/Mountains to Sea Trail where they learned about local history and legends along the trail while enjoying the scenery. As this was the clubs last hike of 2016, a toast to a great hiking year was enjoyed by all at the end of the day. Many thanks to the club hikers who gave a generous donation to the EVTA so we can built more trail. We hope they will be back soon to enjoy our trails!

New Hiking Group!

A new hiking group is being formed for hiking enthusiasts in Wilkes, Alleghany, Surry and Wilkes counties. If you are interested in hiking with others and exploring local trails, please contact Jim Peles.

Organized hikes will begin after the holiday season, and EVTA will include info in our newsletter.

Thank you, Jim, for taking the initiative to get folks together!

Field Guide to the Southern Piedmont

Free...just for you! A new field guide for anyone hiking regional trails. This field guide was put together by co-authors at USC Upstate to help the general public, particularly kids, easily identify and learn about common organisms they may encounter in their backyard or while hiking a trail in the Piedmont. The Field Guide to the Southern Piedmont is a picture-based identification guide to over 700 species in the Carolinas and Georgia and it includes common animals, plants, fungi, slime molds, animal tracks, skulls and bones, rocks, minerals, and nature sounds. It can be downloaded as an eBook for free to any electronic device and the picture for most species will hyperlink to a reputable website with natural history information. The co-authors hope that it will help people be active outdoors and learn about their natural environment.

Field Guide to the Southern Piedmont