Hiking to learn: Group explores idea of trail linking schools, Whitewater Center

Carolina Thread Trail marker hints at the future significance of this trail.

If we build it, will children hike – and learn?
Those were among the topics that several hiking and bicycling advocates discussed this morning while following a rough path from Whitewater Academy and Middle School to the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

School trail might run here.

The Catawba River District has begun talking to government and private groups about the feasibility of building a trail linking the schools to short segment of the Carolina Thread Trail and how that might benefit more than 1,200 students at the elementary and middle schools, as well as the general public.

Edna Chirico, executive director of the River District, organized today’s walk so that people involved with greenways, children’s health, local schools and trail construction could meet and see the potential for linking the schools to the trail and Whitewater Center.

The River District wants to link the schools to a planned county greenway along nearby Long Creek. Although construction of a paved greenway trail is likely to be several years off, a 2.2-mile dirt trail has been built along its future path. The trail starts near the Whitewater Center’s main building and winds through forests to Belmeade Drive – passing close to the Whitewater Schools as it skirts a major Duke Energy transmission line.

Today’s hike started at the end of a short paved road next to the middle school. The group of about 10 people carefully made their way along a heavily eroded dirt service road below the power lines for half a mile before meeting up with the new Thread Trail segment and heading into the forest.

Butterflies feed along the trail

Hikers spotted a swarm of yellow butterflies feeding on purple flowers, deer tracks in trail mud and the still waters of a wetland near Long Creek. How old is the woods, asked one hiker? Maybe 50 years, answered Kevin Brickman with Mecklenburg’s greenway division. The River District hopes that students will someday learn about their natural environment this way, too.

As the trail hugged a steep embankment above Long Creek, two mountain bikers rounded the bend and rolled on by the hikers. The River District and community health experts hope that connecting the schools to these trails may one day foster more physical fitness among students.

Among the hikers today were cycling advocates Dick Winters with Mecklenburg County Health Department and Scott Brown with the Tarheel Trailblazers, as well as Whitewater Middle’s new physical-education teacher, Evie Larrimore. Among her responsibilities will be fostering health and wellness among students.

Hikers rest at the Whitewater Center before heading back.

A major challenge for creating the school trail is finding money to pay for it. Brown’s group may be able to help. The Tarheel Trailblazers is a mountain biking club that has helped build many miles of trails throughout the region including in the county parkland around the Whitewater Center. The River District is talking with the Trailblazers club about helping build the link to the schools.

Learn more

Want to learn more about this plan and how you or your group can get involved? Contact Edna Chirico, executive director of the Catawba River District, at echirico@catawbariverdistrict.org.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Carolina Thread Trail and the Long Creek trail.

Proposed trail 

Red line shows planned Carolina Thread Trail. White line is proposed link to schools.