No reopening date in sight for South Mountains State Park

Newly appointed South Mountains State Park Superintendent Lance Huss is asked the same question dozens of times each week:

When will the park, which has been closed since Hurricane Helene moved across the region on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, reopen to hikers, mountain bikers, fishermen, picknickers, and nature enthusiasts from around the region?

And each time the question is asked, Huss has to give the same response:

“We simply don’t know.”

With nearly 21,000 acres of rugged, forested terrain, crisscrossed by a trail system totaling more than 50 miles, South Mountains is the largest park in the state system.

That size, which is so loved by hikers and bikers seeking solitude in the wilderness, means the recovery process will be a slow one.

“We are working on a project list and attempting to develop a timeline for what we have to accomplish before we can safely open the park to visitors once again,” Huss said in a conversation with a reporter from The Paper on Feb. 12.

Forestry experts estimate that more than 5,000 trees within the park boundaries were felled by the high winds and driving rains of Hurricane Helene, Huss said, with many of them falling squarely across trails.

Luckily, Huss said, the park’s beautiful visitors center was not damaged during the storm but plenty of other things were.

The footbridge that crosses the Jacob Fork River above High Shoals Falls — the park’s primary attraction — and which makes possible the High Shoals Falls Loop Trail, is “simply gone,” Huss said.

Another footbridge, which links the River Trail to the park’s primary parking area as well as to other, longer trails, is severely damaged and unsafe for use.

On the Headquarters Trail, which basically bisects the Jacob Fork section of the park and provides access for emergency vehicles to the park’s backcountry, two bridges are severely damaged.

In addition, several landslides have occurred on the steep sections of Headquarters Trail as it climbs from the Shinny Creek area up to the higher elevations of the park.

“We are very hesitant to consider reopening with Headquarters Trail basically out of commission,” Huss said. “Response times to emergencies would be far longer as long as Headquarters is not usable.”

In the Clear Creek section of the park, located off Hwy. 64 south of Morganton, the footbridge on the Lake View Trail has been destroyed.

“One of the things we have to remember is that the destruction is spotty,” Huss said. “You’ll have one section of trail that is basically untouched, and you go a hundred yards and it seems like every tree is down.”

In response, Huss said, “We are still cutting and clearing storm debris. It is a long and slow process, but the work is ongoing.”

Folks who want to keep up with progress at the park may go to the park website, cparks.gov/state-parks/south-mountains-state-park, or call the park office at 828-433-4772.

But, Huss cautions, it remains impossible to predict when the park will reopen.

“Our primary concern is safety,” he said. “We urge people not to try to come into the park now, even on foot, because it is simply unsafe. Let us do the job we need to do in the manner we need to do it.”