North Carolina's Parks and Recreation Division has issued a very nice 21 page booklet in PDF form which has pictures and descriptions of walking and paddle trails throughout the State.

We had another productive Eagle Spur workday on March 26th and got a lot accomplished. A little over a mile of the trail is now much wider and our future efforts will focus on the final 1.3 miles. However thanks to the recent high lake levels and the amount of time since we performed major maintenance we still have a lot to do. We could definitely use a LOT more "hands" to help out on May 14th. The Eagle Spur is the remnant of the original rail grade that was abandoned with the construction of Jordan Lake and runs from Stagecoach Road 2.3 miles to the lake. The land is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and managed by the Wildlife Resources Commission. Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has taken the responsibility for maintaining the trail. See map from our site Eagle Spur

If you have hiked the Eagle Spur recently you will have noticed several washed out drainage culverts that are blocking access to the end of the trail if the lake level is up even slightly from normal pool level, which has happened a lot lately. We have plans to replace these culverts. The replacement culverts are about 3 feet in diameter and 20 feet long and weigh about 350 pounds each. These will have to come in via Stagecoach Rd. on a trailer.

However, before we can think about moving the replacement culvert pipe we need to re-establish a suitable working width of the corridor to accommodate the trailer. In a lot of places the trail is only single-track thanks to the growth of a lot of "dog-hair" saplings. The current work efforts are focused on clearing these saplings and widening the trail. This is the same type of work that we did when we did the clearing of the American Tobacco Trail in Chatham and Durham Counties 10 to 15 years ago. Tasks for this workday will include cutting saplings, brush, and vines and removing them from the trail. The recent high lake levels also floated a fair amount of logs and similar debris that has to be cut up and removed from the trail. If you happen to hate seeing trash and litter in the woods, we'll have trash bags and you can have all of the job security you want! No experience or special skills are required. We provide on the job training! About all you need is regular hiking attire, water (it is likely to be warm) and full fingered work gloves. If you happen to have loppers, a bow saw or metal garden rake please bring them. If not we will probably have enough to share. Steve Lund, our Workday Coordinator, will be bringing a chain saw to cut up the larger pieces.

If you would like to come and join the party to help out please contact Steve Lund at slund348@pobox.com. This will give Steve an approximate headcount so he can plan tasks and work assignments. He will be sending an email out a few days prior to the workday to those responding that has further details and meeting location and start time, parking, etc. Thanks,

ENJOY!!

We've been active on some trail safety projects and continued our efforts to provide up to date ATT maps and amenities such as our fountain at Pittard Sears and Porta Jon at Scott King. We hope you appreciate these efforts. Give us a wave when you see our volunteers doing maintenance on the ATT. Please look at our 2015 End-of-Year Letter to see some of our more recent accomplishments.

On November 22, three members of our Board braved on and off rain to cut and clear over a dozen fallen trees and trim back numerous other trees near the trail. This popular 2.2 mile trail is south of Stage Coach Road in Durham and offers a very quiet experience ending at the edge of Jordan Lake. The Eagle Spur follows the original Durham to Duncan rail corridor that was in use until the mid-1960s when the corridor was re-routed to the east to allow the filling of Jordan Lake. TRTC has maintained this trail for over 15 years.UPDATE--February 14, 2016: Over the next few weeks TRTC will be doing trash clean-up and some work to remove small saplings that are making the trail less passable. After that has been done we will be installing replacements for 3 badly damaged culvert sections which cross the trail near its south end. Workdays on the Eagle Spur are tentatively planned for late February and in March to do these clean-ups and to bring the large culvert sections from Stagecoach Road to the lower part of the trail for installation during the Spring. We'll be letting folks know of these workday opportunities through emails via TRTC's Volunteer List. If you would like to be added to our Volunteers list email us at: info@triangletrails.org with a subject of "Subscribe Me to Volunteers List" .

UPDATE--February 23, 2016: We'll be doing a second workday at the Eagle Spur on Saturday February 27. Our tasks are to remove brush and small saplings to effectively widen the trail. Restoring this width will allow us to bring in three large drainage culverts by trailer later this year and to install them near the south end of the trail. Our plan is to meet at the Eagle Spur gate on Stagecoach Road in Durham at 9 am and to work until ~12:30 or 1 pm. If you are interested in helping us maintain and improve this very fine, rural trail please see the following file: Eagle Spur Email Those wishing to volunteer should contact Steve Lund at slund348@pobox.com by 6 pm Friday February 26th.

UPDATE--March 31, 2016: On March 26th we did a third workday. Because this midway section is especially overgrown our recent efforts only extended the widening/clearing about another .3 mile further south. We have ~ 1 more mile to clear and widen and will be holding another workday or two before the Summer heat sets in.

With sub-freezing nights coming very soon we shut off the water at Pittard Sears on 11/20 for the season. Re-opening should occur in late March after sub-freezing nights are out of the forecasts. Since we installed it in April 2013 water usage has increased each year and indicates that this has been a popular and well used service for trail users. From anecdotal reports we understand that a number of runners starting in Cary have structured their longer runs so as to use the fountain as a turn around point.