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10-9 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 10 - Goals, Objectives, and Recommendations 10 Portfons of the MST have already been built on publicly-owned lands around the state, and through the use of other trails and connectfng greenways. Other segments have not been built, and this has led to the identfficatfon and promotfon of alternate routes over the last 25 years - to allow hikers to traverse the state using roadways and other temporary corridors untfl the actual trail could be built. Many of these uncompleted segments are in the eastern Piedmont region, including Orange County. Orange County’s segment of the trail includes a planned sectfon through Eno River State Park and the Town of Hillsborough’s Riverwalk along the Eno River. This includes sectfons of trail through Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area (part of Eno River State Park) and through private historic propertfes along the Eno River. Orange County’s Upper Eno Nature Preserve is in close proximity to Occoneechee Mountain and would also host a portfon of the trail. (Figure 8-2 in Chapter 8 on page 8-6 shows the planned MST corridor through Orange County.) As shown in Figure 8-2, the remainder of the MST in Orange County is proposed for a corridor that connects the Upper Eno Preserve southwest to OWASA-owned lands at Cane Creek Reservoir before following Cane Creek to its confluence with the Haw River at the County line, connectfng with Alamance County’s Haw River Trail (which is also the MST). This segment may be one of the more-challenging in the state, in that it requires a way to cross from the Neuse River basin (Eno River and tributaries) into the Cape Fear River basin (Cane Creek, Haw River). As such, this sectfon of the trail must travel “cross coun- try,” up and over the ridgeline separatfng these two basins, which does not have a natural feature to distfnguish it. At present, this southwestern segment of the planned trail is only a one-mile-wide “swath” on a map, an uncharted sectfon that will need clarificatfon and refinement. The possibility of finaliz- ing plans for this segment has generated considera- ble concern by some property owners in the vicinity and strong support for completfng the trail by some of the trail proponents. Orange County is scheduled to undertake a master plan to identffy and refine the proposed trail segment later in 2014. The County should facilitate the creatfon of this seg- ment and work diligently to undertake a thorough review of the possible routes through the corridor between the Haw River and OWASA Cane Creek lands, and between the OWASA Cane Creek lands and the Upper Eno Preserve. The master plan pro- cess should include public meetfngs and discussions with landowners about the realitfes of a natural sur- face path through this area, and address security and other concerns raised. The County may wish to as- sume trail oversight in these areas if amenable to landowners for consistency. Long-distance trails such as the MST require “way statfons” or nodes along the route where some very basic level services are avail- able (parking, signage, campsite, potable water). The County and OWASA should look at the possibility of creatfng such a way statfon at the Cane Creek and Seven Mile Creek access areas (on land owned by the two entftfes) and developing parking and trailheads’ on a select few public roads. Since primitfve camping, water and sanitatfon facilitfes are critfcal for hikers, the County should identffy locatfons within County parks along the route where overnight camping is allowed. Orange County should find a solutfon to the MST cor- ridor, whether on private lands, public roads or some combinatfon of the two – so that this important statewide recreatfonal facility is planned and eventually constructed in harmony with nature. Or- ange County should not become the “gap” in the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail. 117