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August 2012 Attachments for IPWG Meeting Notes 10 / 10 / 2012 NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail through Orange County Frequently Asked Questions What is the Mountains-to-Sea Trail ? The Mountains-to -Sea Trail ( MST) is a 1, 000- mile trail that will traverse the state from the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina to Jockey' s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks . Partners across the state are helping to plan and build the trail that will link communities and serve as the backbone of a growing system of land and water trails in North Carolina . In 2000 the NC General Assembly authorized the MST as unit of the North Carolina Parks System . A map showing the Mountains-to -Sea State Trail across North Carolina is available at : http : //orangecountync . gov/deapr/ nat cul resources/mst . asp How many miles of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail are finished ? About 530 miles of dedicated trail — roughly half the planned length — has been completed to date and is open for hiking . A series of interim roadway connectors ( bicycle routes and back roads ) have been identified by the Friends of the Mountains-to -Sea Trail organization that knit together the completed sections of the MST across the state . Some examples of completed trail in this area include the following : • In Durham and Wake counties there are 60 miles of completed trail around Falls Lake • In Alamance County there are 10 miles of the trail open or under construction , including Swepsonville River Park and a new trail segment at Glencoe • Raleigh recently opened the first 6 . 5 miles of what will soon be a 28 - mile Neuse River greenway trail and part of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail Where will the trail go through Orange County? The MST planning corridor through Orange County ( from west to east) begins at the Haw River in the far southwest corner of the county, then parallels Cane Creek to the northeast through OWASA' s Cane Creek Reservoir lands, then further northeast through the Seven Mile Creek Preserve and Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area . From Occoneechee Mountain the trail will follow the Eno River along Hillsborough ' s Riverwalk and through land owned by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust and Eno River State Park into Durham County . A map of the MST planning corridor across Orange County is available at : http : //orangecountync . gov/deapr/ nat cul resources/ mst . asp How was the route chosen ? From 2005 -2007, the NC Division of Parks and Recreation held stakeholder meetings to identify a suitable MST planning corridor through Alamance, Orange and Durham counties . Trail planners began by identifying existing trails on public lands and connected them to key natural features across the region . The result of that effort was a MST Trail Planning Corridor for consideration by local governments . The Orange County Board of Commissioners endorsed the MST Planning Corridor in April 2010 following review by advisory boards ( Intergovernmental Parks Work Group, Parks and Recreation Council, Commission for the Environment ) and town boards of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro . 1