Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020 - 28

JEANETTE RUNYON

ABOVE: While parts of the Yadkin River Greenway make their way through the streets of North
Wilkesboro, much of it meanders through preserved green spaces.

North Carolina

The Yadkin River Greenway was a complete
surprise. The greenway's website shows
the North Wilkesboro segments of the trail
to be located close to city streets. Yet, we
found the pathways to be, for the most part,
passing through wonderfully preserved
green spaces.
The unpaved 1.3-mile Jefferson
Turnpike section begins off Northwest
Reservoir Road to follow narrow Reddies
River downstream. We were here in
mid-spring and the nearly-grown leaves
of sycamore and poplar trees essentially
blocked out any traffic noise, giving the
illusion we were in a deep forest.
We stopped for a break beside
something I had never seen before, a
tree with eight trunks-which we dubbed
the "octotree." Multitudes of butterflies
gathered around small puddles, a muskrat
startled us when it slid into the river and a
pair of wood ducks floated by.
Our walk, in fact, soon became a birding
excursion. A black and white warbler
walked up and down a tree trunk foraging
for insects, while an unseen ovenbird called
out its distinctive teacher! teacher! teacher!
The Jefferson Turnpike section is
connected to the Mulberry Fields portion of
the greenway via a few city blocks. It's still

BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

beside the Reddies River, but the nature of
the outing changed. Now paved, the 1.9mile pathway was bordered by open fields
of tall corn stalks. No longer walking among
trees, we were exposed to a great expanse
of sky, enabling us to keep birdwatching.
Turkey vultures circled overhead, a redtailed hawk soared high above them and
a couple of eastern meadowlarks were
perched on top of the stalks.
A footbridge across the river enticed
us to take a detour of less than a mile
roundtrip to Brushy Mountain Smokehouse
and Creamery. True to its name, the
restaurant served a tasty pork barbeque
and house-made ice cream. (Mine
was chocolate cherry and Laurie's was
Butterfinger extreme.)
Back on the trail, the pathway began
paralleling the slightly larger Yadkin River.
Birding was replaced by people watching
as we encountered increasing numbers
of joggers, walkers and families of bicycle
riders.
The greenway came to an end next
to the WRMC Wellness Center with more
than a dozen pieces of outside exercise
equipment. Despite having just walked
several miles, Laurie couldn't resist working
out on the rowing and elliptical machines.

Georgia

The Chattooga River on the border of
Georgia and South Carolina was declared a
Wild and Scenic River in 1974. There are no
roads that parallel the river within a quartermile as it passes through a portion of
Chattahoochee National Forest. This means
that the Chattooga River Trail has an almost
wilderness-like setting as it runs beside the
river on a moderately easy 6-mile out-andback hike that Laurie and I did early one
September morning.
Running concurrently with the Bartram
Trail, a 114-mile pathway through Georgia
and North Carolina, the Chattooga River
Trail headed southward from the Russell
Bridge on GA 28 in Rabun County. It swung
away from the stream to cross the West
Fork of the Chattooga River on a metal and
wooden bridge. We also quickly learned
not to expect Appalachian Trail-level
maintenance. However, yellow blazes made
it easy to follow the route slowly winding
back toward the waterway.
The gently flowing river sounds blended
with those of crows, cardinals, warblers
and woodpeckers as the pathway passed
through a forest of towering deciduous and
evergreen trees. Partridgeberry, galax and
running cedar covered the forest floor.
This is not an old growth forest, but tree
sizes give the impression of being decades
old. That's why we were so surprised to
come across old farm machinery in an
overgrowing meadow. These were not just
small implements like a wheel barrow or
shovel. No, these were remnants of large
pieces of equipment with gears, pulleys

LEONARD & LAURIE ADKINS

http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country March/April 2020