Randolph County, North Carolina, is a great place to hike—from the 15-mile Birkhead Mountain Wilderness Trail to the quarter-mile Pisgah Covered Bridge Trail to the free-to-the-public trails at the North Carolina Zoo—and now those pathways and others have been included in the Randolph County Trail Guide.
“Having a trail guide with locations and descriptions for all the trails in Randolph County in one place is a dream come true,” says Mary Joan Pugh, Trails/Natural Heritage Coordinator for Randolph County. “During the COVID pandemic, trail use is at an all-time high as people look for safe places to get outdoors for their health, wellness, and enjoyment of the county’s rich natural, cultural and historic heritage.”
Piedmont Legacy Trails, a 12-county regional trails collective and partnership of the Piedmont Land Conservancy and the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, produced the guide with the assistance of the Randolph County Trails Advisory Committee. Piedmont Legacy Trails has developed a website (https://www.piedmonttrails.org/) featuring an online trail map covering 12 counties in the Piedmont Triad Region. Randolph County is the first to have a digital trail guide. Guides for other counties are in development.
The Randolph County Trail Guide provides each trail’s address, length, difficulty, surface, and highlights along the route. For instance, the two-mile Clay Presnell Park Trail in Seagrove is an “easy” gravel route that loops and weaves through the park’s athletic fields, disc golf course, and a small campground.
Piedmont Legacy Trails is partnering with the Heart of North Carolina Visitors Bureau to promote the Trail Guide on its website, social media platforms, the I-73/74 Visitors Center and local area travel partners. The digital guide also includes a printable, easy-to-reference two-page PDF overview with quick info on Randolph County trails.
