The Carolina Thread Trail is a regional trail network that will ultimately weave 15 counties in both North and

South Carolina and more than 2.3 million people together. I chose to volunteer with the Carolina Thread Trail for several reasons. First, I bike and walk on the trails that are within their network on a daily basis so desire to see their network expanded. One of the easiest ways to push for what you want to see happen is to spread the word and get others motivated to see it happen as well. I do this on a daily basis through my advocacy work as President of the Cyclists Club and a member of the Charlotte Area Bicycle Alliance. By working for the Carolina Thread Trail, I was able to directly represent the organization that I constantly promote. Second, I am majoring in geography and have experience with using a GPS and ArcGIS. As a planning intern for the Charlotte Department of Transportation, I mapped the locations of all the bike racks in uptown Charlotte using a GPS and ArcGIS. I also mapped the locations of all the bike racks on campus. Since I noticed the Carolina Thread Trail was creating an online interactive map of their regional trail network, I knew I could apply these skills to help them achieve their goal faster. Third, few people know that the Charlotte region has so many trails to explore and use. This is especially true on campus. I often ask cyclists riding through campus whether they have ridden on the greenway that goes through campus. It is rare to hear a "yes." If they have time, I proceed to direct them down to the Toby Creek Greenway and show them how it connects to the Mallard and Clark's Creek Greenways, which are the longest greenways in Mecklenburg County. While I enjoy creating a relationship with those I ride into, I saw the online interactive map that the Carolina Thread Trail was working to develop as an easier method to inform more people about the trails.

Forth, as an aspiring sustainable transportation planner, I see too often how political lines literally divide communities. An example of this can be seen in how the City of Charlotte's sidewalk layer in ArcGIS does not include UNC Charlotte's sidewalk layer. Even though UNC Charlotte is within the City of Charlotte, they do not always work together. I noticed this issue while working on my senior thesis. Through more collaboration and open communication between the City of Charlotte and UNC Charlotte, this issue could have been resolved. Even though no one is perfect, I enjoyed seeing how the Carolina Thread Trail tried their best to constantly collaborate and communicate with all the communities that their trail network travels through. The Carolina Thread Trail is truly weaving communities together. Once the Carolina Thread Trail agreed to take me on, I was able to put my passion into action. I started by meeting with Vanessa Gorr and Sean Bloom at the Carolina Thread Trail. Vanessa, who is the Outreach Coordinator, assigned me the trails, provided me with the materials I need (GPS, trail user survey forms, trail description forms, and business cards to hand out to curious people), and guided me through how to create new trails on the online interactive map. Sean Bloom, who is the Geographic Information System (GIS) Director, informed me how to reach the trailhead and provided me with a satellite map of the trail so I knew where the trail went and how long it was. While most of the trails were around a mile long each way (not a loop), some were longer. With all the information I needed to map the trail in hand, I made my way to the trailhead. The first thing I looked for at the trailhead was an information kiosk or signage to inform me that the trail is part of the Carolina Thread Trail. Surprisingly, even though the trails are part of the Carolina Thread Trails GIS database, some of the trails that I mapped do not have any signage informing trail users that they are on the Carolina Thread Trail. Whether or not there

was signage at the trailhead, I recorded the GPS coordinates of the trailhead and took a photo. As I walked or rode my bicycle (to my surprise, the Cowpens National Battlefields Green River Road doesnt allow bicycles) down the trail, I kept an eye out for trail attributes like other trail entrances, bridges, scenic overlooks, and road crossings. When I found these attributes, I recorded their GPS coordinates and took photos. Along the way, I sometimes ran into other trail users so asked them if they could take a moment to fill out the trail user survey form. In addition, I asked them if I may have permission to take a photo of them using the trail. When I am finished mapping the trail, I set up another meeting with Vanessa and Sean to discuss my findings and upload the trail data onto the online interactive map. In order to make the map more interesting and user friendly, I was required to write up a trail description. Even though it would be nice to not have any issues to report, I have encountered some issues. The main issue was the trails not being well maintained. While the Carolina Thread Trail hosts some trail maintenance days, which I have participated in, it cannot maintain all of the trails without some help from the local municipalities and other entities that the trails run through. I experienced unmaintained trails along the Overmountain Victory Trail at Lake Whelchel and along a trail at Limestone College. What I mean by unmaintained is that I had difficulty walking the trails and could not locate the trails. The boat dock operator at Lake Whelchel actually called me out of the woods because he was nervous about my safety due to a mountain biker being seriously injured while using the trail in the past. Even though the Overmountain Victory Trail is listed as a National Historic Trail by the National Park Service, it has not been maintained. I literally could not figure out where the trail was so had to make my own route through the woods. The worst part about this is that I couldnt figure out exactly where the other trailhead was. The trail did not loop back to where I started so I ended up being

caught in a field of thorn bushes. By the time I made it through the thorn bushes, I had a flat bicycle tire (I needed fast transportation to get back to my truck) and a few cuts. While I encountered some brush along the trail at Limestone College, the biggest issue was not finding any signage to inform me there was a trail. I ended up not being able to map out the trail at Limestone College. The Carolina Thread Trail is all about weaving communities together. Its regional trail network is working to weave 15 counties in both North and South Carolina and more than 2.3 million people together. My work has helped to make this possible through connecting with people who use the trails and contributing to an online interactive map that will inform people where trails are located in their community. Since the online interactive map is not complete and I have some free time this summer, I plan to continue working for the Carolina Thread Trail. I look forward to seeing the Carolina Thread Trail's goal of creating a regional network of trails come to life and being able to refer people to a completed online interactive map of the trail network. We are truly weaving communities together.