There is dirt beneath the rock. Attempting to place pin flags in the soil at Rocky Knob while establishing the trail led us to believe Rocky Knob to be all rock. Everywhere, beneath the leaves: rock. Elsewhere, under the tangle of wild grape vines: rock. Once Bob walked the mini-excavator into the corridor and began pulling rocks from the tread he hit it: dirt. Good dirt. Bob, an expert in Piedmont trails (he’s one of the lead volunteers at Lake Norman State Park), says, “man, when we hit a rock in the Piedmont, we covet it. We save that thing to use for something special. We just need to find dirt here.”
The abundance of rock here will make for slow work but when the trail gets to the first boulderfield we will have plenty of material for crib walls and other structures.
As the tread moves forward, the Boone community will be able to get involved in the development at Rocky Knob:
Thursday, July 29th, 6:00 PM at the Broyhill Inn (ASU): Kick-off presentation by Trail Dynamics and Watauga TDA
Saturday, July 31st, 9:00 AM at the Best Western in Boone: Sustainable Trail Building Workshop led by Woody Keen of Trail Dynamics. 2:00 PM: public work day at Rocky Knob.