DURHAM -- Saturday's crisp fall morning was perfect for hiking enthusiasts to forge their own trail.
Along the Eno River in the Falls Lake nature preserve, about 50 men and women hacked through roots and kicked aside rocks to lay down another mile of trail.
Inch by inch, year after year, volunteers have created hundreds of miles of foot paths as part of the state's Mountains-to-Sea Trail, an ambitious effort that will eventually allow hikers to cover 1,000 miles across the width of North Carolina.
On Saturday, volunteers created one of the last two miles needed to complete a 60-mile stretch weaving through property around Falls Lake. Volunteers were confident they'd conquer that final mile by year's end.
It's a significant moment after decades of toil. In 1977, nature enthusiasts envisioned a way to walk from the west's Great Smokey Mountains to the east's Outer Banks through a continuous series of nature trails. Across the state, volunteers have sliced through public and private lands to connect with existing greenways and trails, piecing together miles of walking path that one day will be a seamless route.
Volunteers have been adding to the trail at Falls Lake since 1997. The end is finally in sight.
"All of the sudden, we're talking about a multiday hiking experience in the Triangle," said Kate Dixon, executive director of the Friends of the Mountain-to-Sea Trail, which oversees the project.
Vigorous volunteers
The effort at Falls Lake was not only a milestone in a movement, but also a chance for hikers to give back to a trail system they tromp throughout the year.
"I walk it, so I thought it was about time I came and gave back," said Ann Sparrow of Chapel Hill. Sparrow hikes regularly, meeting up with other hikers in the Triangle through groups organized on the Internet.
She hiked less than a half-mile before she slapped down a fire rake near an orange flag and scraped back leaves and roots to reveal a smooth layer of dirt.
Not 20 feet away, Sparrow's friend John Ganzi did battle with a stubborn root, slamming a cutter mattock down again and again. Ganzi said he tries to volunteer once a month, paying back for his enjoyment of the state's network of public trails.
Up ahead, a team of volunteers cut down dead trees; another pair began spraying white dots on trees to help hikers keep the trail in sight. About 20 miles away, a separate group picked up litter along a stretch of the Falls Lake trail washed up by recent storms.
Volunteer work such as the Falls Lake mission fuels much of the Mountains-to-Sea effort. Last year alone, people donated 20,000 hours of time to blaze new paths. They built 16 miles of trail and maintained more than 400 miles, Dixon said.
The value of that free labor is more than $200,000.
"Trail systems across the country couldn't exist without volunteers," Dixon said.
Still, some projects cost money. North Carolina's trail system got a boost in recent years by collecting federal stimulus money directed to states to jump-start a stalled work force. Projects in the Triangle, such as the expansion of the Neuse River Greenway, were among those that benefited.
At Falls Lake, another federal grant and an award from the city of Durham will fund the final piece of that 60-mile trail. Volunteers hope that a 100-foot steel bridge over Lick Creek will be completed within the next two years. The engineering plans are awaiting approval from the Army Corp of Engineers.
Eleven-year-old DrewRegalski of Apex can now only imagine a completed route - perhaps it'll be done before he's grown.
He hunched over 15 feet of undisturbed forest, kicking at weeds and rocks and scraping stringy roots, and forged a little closer to that dream.
