Two-Heel Drive, a Hiking Blog

So it’s back to real hiking this week: up-and-down slogs, feet slipping into creeks, sticks poking me in the face. The first three sections of the Sauratown Trail run west out of Hanging Rock State Park — notable for its 2,500-foot knobs and array of craggy rock faces — through timber, along streams, with nary a flat stretch. My GPS unit logged a generous 1,700 feet of elevation gain over 9.5 miles; I doubt it was that hilly, but this one does tiptoe into strenuous territory.

This weekend’s hike completes eight of the Sauratown Trail’s 16 sections. Sections 1-3 are clearly the best so far, with one caveat: a butt-ugly clear-cut in the middle of Section 3 (otherwise the nicest section of the eight I’ve seen). Otherwise, though, these sections have a smattering of small waterfalls and multiple chances to rock-hop across streams. Abundant forest canopy means the vistas are scant, but at least the terrain has enough variety for a decent workout.

I also found out over the weekend that the trail has a Facebook fan page, where trail volunteers have been posting updates of recent maintenance projects. Our winter from hell has been keeping them very busy. Storms wiped out a hanging bridge and left dead-falls all up and down the trail. Most have been cleared; I saw just one requiring complicated route-finding.

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Nobody asked me to document the Sauratown Trail, and I’m sure the last stragglers among my Bay Area readers wish I would move on to sexier terrain, but I feel like this stretch of dirt deserves bloggage. The trail itself is so-so, but the effort that went into getting it built is something else. As I mentioned last time, local hikers and horse riders just made up their mind to do it, then did it.

I doubt these posts will inspire any decisions to explore the Sauratown Trail or die trying. Then again, maybe a few will stop by and think “hey, they built their own trail, why can’t we?” That’d be cool with me.

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Good trail, great idea: Seems some local hikers and horse people decided there was no good reason not to have a trail connecting Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock state parks, which are, after all, a mere dozen miles apart as the crow flies. So they contacted a bunch of property owners and talked ‘em into allowing a trail cutting through their lands.

They created the Sauratown Trails Association in 1988 and started digging. Today there’s a 22-mile trail connecting the two state parks; total mileage is around 35, counting the various loop trails. They’ve done an impressive job from what I’ve seen — nice grading, good signage, enough blazes to keep you on your way, a trail map and guide for each of the trail’s 16 sections.

I’ll grant you that a trail crossing private landowners’ pastures and timber is not exactly wilderness, and there’s not exactly a surplus of scenic splendor in the lands between the two state parks. You cross a bunch of country roads, you hear a lot of traffic near the busier routes, you could forget your camera with no regrets. The remarkable thing is that they built it anyway, a clear example of not letting a shortage of greatness get in the way of doing some good.
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