TAKE THE TRAIL CHALLENGE

Footpaths at Yates Lake in the CRATA trail system are included in the new Lake Martin Tourism hiking challenge

STORY BY BETSY ILER PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE & CLIFF WILLIAMS

CComplete the Lake Martin Hiking Challenge this fall and winter to earn a patch for your jacket or backpack. Upon completing the challenge – hiking at least part of each of 10 designated lake area trails – each hiker will receive a certificate of completion and a 3-inch by 3-inch embroidered patch depicting two hikers clipping along a trail by the lake.

The patch could be sewn onto a shirt, jacket, backpack, duffle bag or other hiking-related item. The challenge promotes 10 of the area’s most popular trail systems and rewards hikers for doing something they love, said Lake

Martin Tourism Director Brandy Hastings, who already has completed her own version of the challenge. “When I moved to the area, I was pleasantly surprised at all of our great trails here. I’m not going to send anyone out on a trail that

I haven’t done myself, so I walked my first trail last September and hiked the last of the 10 trails early summer of this year,” Hastings said. Featured trails include the John B. Scott

Forever Wild Trail, Wind Creek State Park trails, the Nature’s Way Preserve Trail, trails in Russell Forest and the Smith Mountain Fire

Tower trails. Alexander City’s 3-mile trail at the Charles E. Bailey Sportplex also is included, as are the Overlook trails and Cherokee

Bluffs Dam Railroad trail at Yates Lake, the

Horseshoe Bend National Military Park trail and the James M. Scott Deadening Trail.

The Overlook area offers several trail options, all of which qualify for the hiking challenge

Highlights of area trails include spectacular vistas, as well as wildlife

Starting the challenge is easy. Just pick up a brochure at the Lake Martin Tourism office in the Lake Martin Innovation Center or download a copy of the brochure at explorelakemartin.com. Then, start walking. A hiker will mark the dates each trail was hiked on the log in the brochure and send it to Hastings, who will send out the patch and certificate.

Each of the 10 featured trails is described on the brochure, and additional trail information is provided, such as links to trail maps. The brochure also offers information about the flora and fauna a hiker might happen upon when hiking particular trails, a brief history of a footpath or variation options that might be available for a particular trail. “For example, the CRATA trails have options. On the Overlook trails, there are three conjoined paths, but you can hike any portion of them for it to qualify for the patch,” Hastings explained. “There is more than one trail at Smith Mountain, too.” She hopes the challenge will bring repeat visitors to the lake area outside of the traditional summer season, as the challenge is too extensive to complete in one day. “We have this awesome lake and river, but there’s so much to do on land, too, and fall and winter are the best times to be out there,” she said.

Hastings added that the challenge connects hikers to other opportunities to explore the lake area, as eight of the designated challenge trails are part of the Piedmont Plateau Birding Trail system.

“There also are opportunities for guided hikes with

the Russell Lands Naturalist or CRATA volunteers,” she said.

All of the trails included in the challenge are open and free to the public; however, Wind Creek State Park charges a nominal day-use fee to hikers and picnickers entering the park.

The project launches early this month with the release of a new video in the Lakin’ Like a Local series. The video will feature Jimmy Lanier, a founder of the CRATA footpath system that includes the Cherokee Bluffs, Overlook, Deadening, Smith Mountain and Forever Wild trails.

The number of hours it might take to complete the challenge will vary greatly, Hastings said, depending on a hiker’s speed and physical condition, as well as individual trail choices.

“Russell Forest has more than 100 miles of trails, and a hiker could explore any combination of them,” she explained.

The challenge also encourages lake area residents and visitors alike to look at lake area recreation through new eyes.

“We get caught up and have our favorite trails, and we do those over and over, but if we get out and explore, we can see different terrain, trees, scenery, birds and other wildlife,” Hastings added. “So get out there. Go early and stay hydrated. And complete the challenge.”

Post your hiking challenge photos to #lakemartinhikingchallenge @ lakemag or email them to editor @lakemartinmagazine.com.

Smith Mountain challenges hikers with a variety of trails

The trail at Horseshoe Bend winds through the woods and along the battlefield