Bike Trail Workdays

July 11, 2010 - First trail workday

Emerald Outback Trails, Beech Mountain, NC

The Beech Mountain Bike Club has announced a collaborative trail workday on Sunday, July 11^th. Over the past 6 months many area residents have banded together to create what will soon be the Beech Mountain Adventure Trail Park, a comprehensive public trail park totaling 20+ miles of trail for hiking, biking, running, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing use.

The first phase of the project is the “Emerald Outback” micro-park/trail network. This area consists of 7 to 8 miles of single track, double track, and fire/gravel road trail. The entire Emerald Outback trail is nestled above 5,000ft. in elevation and has varying terrain and geographic features that make the trail system truly unique to the area. The trail system has been designed by bikers, hikers and trail runners in order to better meet the recreational demands of such outdoor enthusiasts. The best part is this is a public project, so the trails are open for your enjoyment. Beech Mountain citizens, Town employees, Beech Mountain Club employees, Banner Elk and Boone residents, and visitors to the area have all played a hand in the creation of this amazing trail network.

On Sunday, July 11^th, 2010 the Beech Mountain Bike Club will host a collaborative trail day of massive scale in order to escalate phase one of the project to its true opening before the XTERRA – Beech Mountain – 10K trail race event is held on Sunday, July 18^th 2010. The group will be erecting the official trail head at the Beech Mountain Town Hall/Chamber of Commerce/Visitors Center, placing directional and informational trail signage on all trails, and doing final trail clean-up before the XTERRA trail race takes place. The BMBC is requesting your help on this momentous day in order to make these trails more accessible, discernable, and clean for your recreational enjoyment.

The trail workday will begin at the Beech Mountain Town Hall at 8:30 AM on Sunday, July 11^th. Although some trail equipment will be provided, it is recommended that you bring along metal rakes, loppers, shears, gloves, weed-eaters, chainsaws, and leaf blowers of your own if you have them available. Also be sure to pack water and snacks. The group will set out on foot to groom every inch of the Emerald Outback trail system while placing brand new directional markers throughout the network. As this is a public project, help from the public is needed in order to better the trails for your enjoyment. Please encourage anyone you know interested in trail building, biking, hiking, etc to come lend a hand in kicking off the next big thing on Beech Mountain! Your help is greatly needed and greatly appreciated!

For more information regarding the Beech Mountain Adventure Trail Park, the trail workday scheduled for Sunday, July 11^th, 2010, or general information about hiking and biking on Beech Mountain, please call 828.387.3003. You can also follow trail development, get group ride and workday updates, view park photos and maps, etc at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=129374807082146&ref=ts

Beech Mountain Yard Sale

June 19, 2010
Beech Mountain Yard Sale

This Saturday, June 19th, is the annual

Beech Mountain Yard Sale

Come as a buyer or seller...Lots of great buys

8:00 am to 12:00 noon

Spaces available at $10 ea.; rain or shine

For more information, call Peggy or John at

Beech Mountain Chamber of Commerce

(828) 387-9283

All items not sold or reclaimed by vendors will be donated to

Avery Family Impact

Fund Raiser for Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary

Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 31, 2010

We all know what a worthwhile cause Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary is and the great asset it is for Beech Mountain. Now you can show your interest, appreciation and have fun with this organization by coming out to the Hoot'Nanny fund raiser to be held on Saturday, July 31st at the Buckeye Recreation Center. Come out and support this amazing group of people who have dedicated their time, energy and money to give a safe haven to orphaned and injured animals in our area.

The Babies are Here!

June 5, 2010

Sherry Garris and I were in the parking lot in front of her office and That Pizza Place when we saw a doe come running down Beech Mountain Parkway, then suddenly stop and just stare at us like she was trying to tell us something. We talked to her and she just stood there so Sherry took a couple of steps toward her to get her to move off the Parkway. She jumped across the road but stayed close.

About that time, a visitor walked up and said there was a fawn lying in the ditch alongside the Parkway so we investigated and found her/him lying very still (just as their moms teach them to do) but dangerously close to the road. Having had very recent experience of another situation similar to this and calling Leslie Hayhurst at Genesis, I told the visitor we needed to get the fawn to a safer location close to the area. We found a grassy, flat area across the road within 20' of where the fawn was found and the visitor gently picked the fawn up and moved him/her to that area. Within 20 minutes of the move, Sherry was on the phone to me letting me know mom had come back and taken the fawn to a new destination. Great stuff!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote: I called Leslie back to get some information from her on these situations that we could post here. Note that not all situations are critical to relocating or assisting a fawn. The following are Leslie's comments:

"It's wildlife baby season! The cute factor is high! But beware of doing the wrong thing when you are trying to 'help' and orphan.

Fawns are born and retain the protective camouflage of blending in with the environment not only with their color, but the lack of scent for a predator to detect. It will take a couple of weeks for this tiny baby, born the size of a Chihuahua, to be able to run with the herd. Nature has the perfect answer, though. Mom will visit the baby only every 6-8 hours. She is very close by, watching her precious baby. But, if she lingers too long, her scent also lingers, alerting the predators of easy prey. She will feed her fawn and clean her and leave. The same is true with bunnies. Move or touch an orphan only if you are CERTAIN that it is in iminent danger or injured. In the case of the former, often moving a fawn 15 feet or so to keep it from on coming traffic or out of a creek is all that is required for the mom to safely retrieve it. NEVER FEED AN ORPHAN. You won't have the proper formula, the tools or the experience to do it properly. If there is a question, call your wildlife rehabilitator. They can be located by calling your local wildlife officer, animal control, police, humane society or vet. Let those who are experienced and permitted to do their job."

Leslie Hayhurst is a registered nurse and director of Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary. The phone number for the sanctuary is 828-387-2979. Please visit their location on Beech Mountain next to Buckeye Recreation Center and their website at http://www.genesis-wildlife.org/ and contribute to this worthy cause. This is the only rehab facility on Beech Mountain and Leslie and her staff are dedicated to the health and safety of injured and orphaned animals. They also depend heavily on individual contributions. Thanks from all of us, Leslie!

Sharks in the Mountains

June 5, 2010

The Porsche 928 Land Sharks are in our area for the weekend. Over 100 of these coveted sports cars are on display in the parking lots of town hall, Beech Mountain Realty and Brick Oven.

The cars will be travelling Beech Mountain Parkway from town hall to Ski Beech and back at around 5pm today

A look under the hood of any of these cars show the attention to detail that the owners have for the maintenance and upkeep.


The variety of colors in the cars was amazing.

Lots of visitors, residents and passers-by stopped by to see the Sharks and visit with their owners.

Well over 100 cars were involved in this rally.

Cars came from as far away as Ontario, Canada. License plates show participants from Virginia, New Jersey, Tennessee, South Carolina, New York, Canada, North Carolina and more.

The rain threatened, backed off, then opened up briefly but the crowds continued to come to look.

We look forward to seeing this club, based out of Spruce Pine, NC, back next year. Thanks for coming to Beech Mountain!

Don't Forget to See the Sharks on the Mountain

June 5, 2010: Sharks in the Mountains: Porsche 928 Rally with over 100 cars participating. View the cars at 10:00 a.m. in the parking lot at Beech Mountain Town Hall.

See the full article in the May articles; click on 'May' in the column to the right.