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Leaves look more fall-like after last week's first frost.
Colors haven't peaked yet, but the hues are getting deeper.
In a few weeks, you won't have to drive to Western North Carolina for full-blown autumn foliage. From the banks of the Catawba and South Fork rivers to the slopes of Crowders Mountain, the stunning views will be closer by.
My friend Shirley Brutko, over in the city of Kings Mountain, recently told me about a new place to take in the glories of fall: a 21/2-mile trail built on recycled mining property.
The grand opening of the Kings Mountain Gateway Trails Inc. project will be Nov. 7. You can come for a walk, bike ride, food and music. There will be bottled water, T-shirts and a raffle for a $500 mountain bike. A trail shuttle will be available for folks who need a ride.
From parts of the trail, looking south, you can see the Kings Mountain range running along Interstate 85.
The new trail is the first phase of a larger project that will connect the city with the Crowders Mountain State Park's new Boulders Access Visitors Center, at the southern end of the ridgeline trail.
When that happens, hikers can step into a great interstate system that will eventually tie in with the Appalachian Trail.
Getting the first 21/2 miles of the Kings Mountain project in place may not seem like such a big accomplishment, until you consider all its challenges.
Brutko, who is director of the Kings Mountain Office of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and president of the nonprofit gateway organization, came up with the visionary idea about nine years ago.
At the time, a ridgeline trail across Crowders Mountain State Park was in the making - a project that would link Crowders with two parks in South Carolina: Kings Mountain State Park and Kings Mountain National Military Park.
Brutko saw a tie-in with this major trail system as an economic development plus for a city with a historic name that had lost downtown businesses and much of its textile industry.
In 2000, Brutko pitched her park connection idea to Erin Broadbent, who was the new superintendent of Kings Mountain National Military Park. Broadbent had worked her way up through the National Park Service, landing jobs at the White House and National Mall, helping coordinate events such as July Fourth celebrations and Bill Clinton's inaugurations.
Brutko explained her vision for a 9-mile trail from the city to near the S.C. line.
"Erin loved the idea," Brutko said. "She thought it was very doable."
Broadbent applied for federal grants that allowed Bill Lane, a trails specialist with the National Park Service, to work as a project consultant for four years. The gateway group was formed and included the city and Cleveland County. Consultants from Charlotte were hired to help with the project.
One thing was clear from the start: The trail had to pass through mining property owned by Martin Marietta and Chemetall Foote. Mining of one sort or another - gold, tin, mica, gravel, lithium - started in the Kings Mountain long before the 1849 California gold rush. In the 16th century, Spanish explorers probed the hills for precious metals. Mining is a part of the local heritage.
Brutko said the two mining companies took the lead in donating land for the trail project. Hikers can see the huge quarry in the distance, but the area is fenced off, she said.
For six years, Brutko said, the gateway group worked to get state grants, land easements and private donations and finally put together the first phase.
Two loops of trail have some asphalt and some crushed gravel surfaces. Visitors will see a towering mound made of dirt from the mining operation. Trail bikers who zip up and down have already named it: Cardio Mountain.
A quarter-mile of trail is on a former railroad track used in the mining.
Phase 1 cost $330,000, Brutko said. The entire project will be about $3 million.
Land easements are already being acquired for the next phase, a four-mile trail to the other side of I-85 scheduled to open in fall 2010. Funding for the final three-mile leg is about five years in the future, Brutko said.
Her passion for the project showed through when she described the first segment: "There's nothing like it in the state of North Carolina," Bruko said. "It's awesome."
