We contracted the team from Elevated Trail Design (based in WNC) to rehabilitate this .325-mile legacy trail to reestablish it as a sustainable system trail and connect these two popular areas in the heart of Pisgah. They completed the work over the course of a few weeks in April 2025, with the newly rehabilitated trail reopening for use in early May.
Their work included:
- Road-to-trail conversion
- Culvert removal
- Drainage improvements
- Rock armoring
- Stream crossing improvements
- Revegetation
- Erosion control
- Slide repair
They also constructed a large stone cribwall where the trail was previously eroding into a tributary of Cove Creek. Before this cribwall was constructed, the narrowest section of trail was less than twelve inches wide.
This project has resulted in:
- Restored drainage
- Remediation of several severely entrenched areas
- Stabilization of a slide through the construction of a stone retaining wall
- Improvement of a stream crossing to reduce sedimentation to the waterway
- A reliable and restored access trail between the Cove Creek and Daniel Ridge trail complexes
This project by the numbers:
- 35 reverse grade dips installed
- Four significant sections of rock armoring
- One 20’x10’ stone cribwall constructed
- 160-foot relocation to move the trail out of a ditch and put the trail on sidehill to allow for drainage
- Four sections of extremely entrenched trail restored, regraded, and revegetated
