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All three of Rockbridge County’s new TRACK Trails are officially open to the public following dedication ceremonies and ribbon cuttings held at each trail on Friday.
The morning began with the dedication of the Marl Creek TRACK Trail at the Cyrus McCormick Farm in Raphine, where, in keeping with a farming tradition, the ribbon was cut using an old reaping scythe, the kind that were replaced with McCormick’s mechanical reaper.
“Our mission is to perform research and disseminate information that improves the viability of our community by improving our agricultural practices and how we relate to the environment, so this trail is a special place to achieve that mission in a unique way for us,” said Dr. Gabe Pent, the superintendent of the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Raphine, during the dedication ceremony.
“Unlike today, children of the time were very connected to the farm and to their outdoor and natural communities,” he said. “This trail serves as a special way to connect kids and our communities to the natural world and the life that sustains all of us.”
Pent noted that the Marl Creek Trail has been serving the community for nearly 20 years since it opened in 2004.
“The trail continues to serve and educate [the community] 20 years later. It’s always been a popular place,” Pent concluded. “During the pandemic, many people came out. It was a great place to be outside and outdoors and learn. Now the brochures and the programs from the TRACK Trail are really going to enhance the beauty and the opportunity that the trail presents, for kids and for adults.”
The other two trails – the Foxtrot TRACK Trail in Glen Maury Park and the Woods Creek TRACK Trail in Lexington – are also preexisting trails that have been incorporated into the TRACK Trail system. The main difference on the trails now is the inclusion of an information kiosk with brochures containing activities and information about the types of plants and animals that can be found on each trail. The three trails join more than 200 other trails in 16 states and Washington, D.C., in the TRACK Trail program, including the Skyline Trail in Natural Bridge State Park, which became a TRACK Trail in 2020.
While the Foxtrot Trail and the Marl Creek Trail are loops that have only have one kiosk, the Woods Creek TRACK Trail has two – one at Jordans Point Park (where the dedication was held) and the other at Ross Road near Waddell Elementary School. The city of Lexington, Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute each oversee a portion of the trail and all three agreed to participate in the project, allowing the entire trail to be used.
“The Woods Creek TRACK Trail is the longest of our four TRACK Trails in Rockbridge County,” said Anne Ritter, the project manager who oversaw the installation of the TRACK Trails. “The ease in how this collaboration happened, the willingness and enthusiasm between all three parties is simply indicative of what an important, beneficial and fun program we have here.”
The ‘ribbon’ that was cut in both Lexington and Buena Vista was actually a grapevine, which Jim Jones, a member of Rockbridge Outdoors and a park ranger at Natural Bridge State Park, felt was a good metaphor for the project of completing the TRACK Trails.
“If you’ve ever seen how a grapevine grows, it twists and turns and grows in so many directions and branches off, and to me that represents what it took to make this TRACK Trail a possibility, because all of the branches, all of the partners and people who have been involved with it have made this happen and it all comes back to one root,” he said at the Foxtrot TRACK Trial dedication. “If you’ve ever tried to pull a grapevine down out of a tree, it doesn’t want to give up, and that’s our community, and that’s one of the things that I’m actually quite proud of.”
The funding for the project for all three trails came through a grant from the Rockbridge Community Health Foundation. Representatives from the foundation spoke at all three dedications highlighting the benefits of the trails and their ability to meet some of the health needs of the community, including enhancing a culture of healthy behaviors, helping lower obesity rates, and reducing a lack of health literacy and knowledge of healthy behaviors.
“TRACK Trails are addressing so many of those needs and we’re thrilled to be part of it today,” said Tracy Lyons, who chairs the foundation’s greens committee which helped secure the grant money for the trails. “We’re excited to make this investment and help fill these needs. This is something that’s going to be used in our community for many years to come, and that’s the goal of the foundation – to make sure we’re investing in the community and the long-term success of these projects.”
“It’s not just exercise when you come out – you’re on a scavenger hunt,” Kevin Brandt, development director for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, said during the dedication of the Foxtrot TRACK Trail. “You’re looking for a bird or a squirrel or the bark on a tree. It’s really engaging your mind and your body and it is a holistic experience … It helps our soul. It really is enriching.”
In addition to providing a new way to improve community health, another goal of the trails is to encourage community engagement with the area’s natural resources.
“Not only does it create the next generation of stewards for our local, state and national parks, but it’s good for us as adults,” Brandt noted. “I’ve taken my kids on these trails … It’s good for all of us to get outdoors.
“When it’s in your neighborhood like this, you’re more apt to use it,” he added. “Yellowstone is a destination park. You go there once in your lifetime. But here in Glen Maury Park, you can come every weekend. You can come on a Tuesday afternoon after school. That’s what makes it so special.”
