Route: Uwharrie Trail (NC)

The Uwharrie Trail, as described on Wikipedia:

"The northern portion of Uwharrie Trail was started in the late 1960s by Joe Moffitt, who was at the time the Scoutmaster for a local Boy Scout troop in Asheboro, North Carolina. As a Scoutmaster, Mr. Moffitt sought a local 50-mile (80.5-km) hiking trail for his scouts to earn their 50 Miler award. At the time, the nearest such trail was located further west in the Appalachian Mountains. Moffitt cobbled together a trail from Tot Hill Road, through the Birkhead, to Flint Hill Road at Jumping Off Rock. There were numerous gaps in public ownership of the route. These included Tot Hill, Strieby community and church, High Pine Church Rd., King Mountain, Little Long and Long Mountains. Over the years land changed hands and access went away in many cases. Some sections of the route were not even on Forest Service maps making access difficult.

In 1972 under the direction of District Ranger Robert Carey, the Forest Service and conservation corps volunteers scouted and built the southern portion of the Uwharrie Trail and the Dutchmans Creek trail. The two make a figure 8 between Yates Place Camp and NC 24-27. The finished Uwharrie Trail was a culmination of efforts of Joe Moffitt working in the north and District Ranger Robert Carey working in the south. Together their efforts led to a connection at Jumpin Off Rock trailhead on Flint Hill Road and a completed 40 mile trail in 1975."

The start/end points of the route are the Tot Hill trailhead in Birkhead Mountains Wilderness (northern end) and the Hwy 24/27 trailhead at the end of the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail (southern end). Currently, the historic route of the Uwharrie Trail is mostly connected, except for a 3.4 mile section of road running between the Robbins Branch trailhead in the Birkhead Mountain Wilderness and the Walkers Creek trailhead off of High Pine Church Rd (previously, the road running section ended at the Luther Place trailhead on Pisgah Covered Bridge Rd). The end goal is to reconnect the historic route and eliminate all of the road running (https://www.ourstate.com/uwharrie-forest-trail-randolph-county/).

The road running section will consist of the following (from Robbins Branch trailhead to Walkers Creek trailhead):

• Left on Lassiter Mill Rd
• Left on High Pine Church Rd
• Right on dirt road to Walkers Creek trailhead

The Uwharrie Mountain Run uses parts of the trail.