I am heading out in a few days to hike the 40-mile Uwharrie National Recreational Trail (UNRT). I am thrilled to be exploring a new trail in a completely unfamiliar area! Investigating new places is such an exhilarating adventure because you just never know what you might find! I am packing up my gear and several days of food with no expectations and no attachments. I have enjoyed reading the trail guide for the area and cannot wait to see what magic this trail has to reveal.
Contained within the Uwharrie National Forest and the Birkhead Mountain Wilderness, the UNRT is a pristine, peaceful gem sitting smack in the middle between two chaotic urban expanses of North Carolina. I am sure I am not alone in appreciating this broad swath of nature so close. I look forward to sharing the details of my journey soon.
According to the National Forest website, “the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail offers a variety of scenery, streams and rocky terrain. Hikers can thank an old-time trapper’s son, Joe Moffit of Asheboro, for this trail. He blazed it over 25 years ago. Moffit grew up in the Uwharrie Mountains during the Great Depression and learned to live off the land at an early age. Moffit was a Scoutmaster when he started the Uwharrie Trail project in 1972 to help his Boy Scouts earn their Eagle rank. They completed the now well-known path in 1975 and founded the Uwharrie Trail Club.”
