New trails coming to Little White Oak Mountain
The Polk County Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Authority Board has received a grant of $336,000 for land purchase, new trails at Little White Oak Mountain and several improvements to the Polk County Recreation Complex.
Governor Roy Cooper recently announced that the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) would award more than $5 million in grants to fund 14 local parks and recreation projects across the state. The North Carolina Parks and Recreation Authority (Authority) approved the grants at its meeting held on Sept. 24 via conference call.
The Polk County PARTF grant that was chosen for funding is deemed Phase 1 of the Little White Oak Mountain Project and will provide the means to build several miles of mountain biking trails, an outdoor classroom, a bike repair station, trailside picnic area, cornhole/horseshoe pits and install new playground equipment.
The project was described as follows in the grant application:
The application for the first phase of the Little White Oak Mountain Trail Network will fund the construction of the first 5.41 miles of the trails. The first phase of the trails will be built on land that connects the existing Polk County Recreation Complex and Polk County Middle School. With these two user groups in mind, the proposed project will include two picnic areas and an outdoor classroom that will be available for anyone to use to brush up on their outdoor education.
Polk County would also install a bike repair station, renovate the nearby playground to better accommodate users of all abilities, refinish the restrooms, and install a new cornhole and horseshoe station. In addition to these amenities and the trail construction, this funding will allow Polk County to purchase 140 acres of land from Conserving Carolina that connects the Little White Oak Mountain property to the new workforce housing complex.
Future phases of the Little White Oak Mountain Trail Network will expand the project to its full 10-mile length and build a greenway to connect with the housing complex.
The Holler, October 2021, Carolina Conservancy
