Saturday, June 1, 2019 was the annual American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day and Carolina Thread Trail hosted a celebration on the Goat Island Greenway in Cramerton, NC.
The event was presented by CaroMont Health and included free use of bikes, kayaks and stand-up paddle boards, if reserved in advance. Bands played, booths displayed healthy products and the day was beautiful.
The dog that dropped the deuce on the bridge to Goat Island looked mighty pleased with himself. The small, black dog and the people dodging the doo-doo were not as amused.
A nice selection of kayaks and paddle boards were available.
Karen and I have never warmed up to the red-clay runoff that turns the lakes and rivers into chocolate milk after heavy rains, so we did not get in the water. That did not keep more-daring locals from enjoying the South Fork River.
The town of Cramerton and Gaston County did a nice job of making the Goat Island Greeway a cool place to play outside, even for big kids like Karen.
The Carolina Thread Trails map shows over 1,600 miles of planned hiking and biking trails that will cross the state in all directions when connections and construction are completed.
For our hike we chose the well-groomed and shaded Disc Golf Course that flanks both sides of the South Fork Catawba River, which splits to create Goat Island. With a cold porter from Rivermen Brewing Company in hand, it was a genteel and leisurely stroll.
The David Childers Band, out of Mount Holly, NC, blended Rock, Country, Jazz and Folk into songs about scalawags, lovers and even skeletons. The former lawyer is also a poet and painter. David knows his stuff!
The boys at the Rivermen booth sent us to their Brewery in nearby Belmont, NC. This sign on the road out of town made our decision on where to eat lunch an easy one.
Rivermen Brewery in Historic Downtown Belmont occupies a refurbished mill. Karen and I shared a pulled-pork sandwich and another porter that made lunch as good as it can get.
It was not an average day of hiking for us. We mixed a festival with a nice stroll in the woods. It made the first day in a week that topped out well below the 90s for heat a great outing. We also discovered some small towns that will be fun to revisit and are only 30-minutes from home.