A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on Tuesday, April 8th to celebrate the restoration and reconstruction of the Estatoe trail near the entrance of Pisgah National Forest.
Support for this project was provided by the Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority, the Glass Foundation, Vulcan Materials, the City of Brevard, and donors to The Pisgah Conservancy.
The Estatoe trail connects the Brevard Greenway to the Pisgah Ranger District’s 400+ mile trail system, providing access to the Art Loeb Trail, Davidson River Campground, Black Mountain Trail Complex, and other forest trails and recreation sites.
“For me, the Estatoe trail is my gateway to Pisgah. As an avid cyclist, I use the trail multiple times a week, so I really appreciate how it keeps me from having to ride up 276. As one of the few flat trails around, and being super scenic, I always see a wide variety of users. The new trail work has a double benefit as it is less maintenance intensive, but also more user friendly to a wider group of people.” – Allen McMurtry, member of The Pisgah Conservancy’s Board of Directors
The first major project completed by our in-house Trail Crew:
The project included construction of six fiberglass beam bridges, one lumber bridge, and 469 feet of elevated trail tread (known as turnpike).
Work began on the project at the 2024 Pisgah Project Day. Volunteers worked alongside our full-time, professional Trail Crew (launched in May 2023) to dismantle rotten boardwalks, move gravel, and construct turnpikes.
Over the next several months, our Trail Crew continued the project while simultaneously addressing other trail work needs throughout Pisgah. The completion of this project marks our Trail Crew’s largest-scale project to date.
The result – a heavily improved and much safer trail:
The improvements will provide a more sustainable, long-term solution to the trail’s consistently wet conditions, which created rot and safety issues on the lumber boardwalks originally constructed in 2008.
“The Estatoe is a vital and heavily used trail. Before we started the overhaul, it was starting to get hazardous for visitors due to the rotten boardwalks. This project was a bit daunting, due to the considerable linear footage of the boardwalk we were going to be overhauling. Upon successful completion of this project, we learned that our team is more than capable of taking on large scale projects. I am excited for us to take on even bigger projects in the future.” – Michael Bagwell, Trail Crew Leader for The Pisgah Conservancy
Visit the Success Stories page about this project to learn more!
