Friends of Morrow Mountain State Park

It was great seeing many of you today and over the weekend. I have had two great outings with the Friends of Morrow Mountain State Park this week. Today we received an overview of the Town of Badin's plans for development and gentrification, and then a wonderful tour of the Alcoa property, much of which may eventually end up in ownership of the citizens of North Carolina as part of Morrow Mountain State Park.

Saturday, we had a great volunteer trail work day with six volunteers, all from the Friends of Morrow Mountain State Park Trails Committee. Those six hard working volunteers were: Wendy Hillhouse, Jeff Hillhouse, Derrick Davis, Janet Davis, Jack McRae, and Jim Barfield. Park staff working on the trail included Superintendent Greg Schneider, Park Ranger Katherine Trotter, and seasonal Park Technician James Addison. The entire group performed much needed trail maintenance on the .6 mile long Quarry Trail. The work performed included: clearing debris from the trail tread, trimming limbs and saplings that were encroaching into the trail corridor, removal of deadfall trees and protruding roots, side sloping and compacting sections of trail tread, the installation of approximately 35 feet of cribbing to stabilize the trail tread, installation of trail markers, and the removal of standing dead trees that endangered the trail and trail users. Upon completion of the Quarry Trail, the Hillhouse's and the Davis', along with park staff moved to the entrance of the Hattaway Mountain Trail where they wheel-barrowed and spread 1.5 tons of gravel to stabilize an eroding section of trail. Work began at 9:00 am and was not complete until 2:30 pm. Everyone worked hard but seemed to have a great time. Highlights of the day included seeing a Southern Flying Squirrel, discussions of quarrying and the stone used for building the facilities at MOMO, tree identification, and good hard work toward a common goal on a cool but sunny Saturday.