by Marcus Wohlsen

It was the summer of 1999 when trail running first hit it big in New York City. Well, at least the shoes. Everyone from dotcom CEOs to super models could be seen strutting through SoHo in their New Balance 802s.

Did any of those shoes ever actually see singletrack? We’ll leave it to the crack journalists at Access Hollywood to figure that out. What we do know is that across America, trail running shoes aren’t just a fashion statement anymore. From 1998 to 2002, according to one outdoor industry report, the number of trail running enthusiasts in America grew an astonishing 63 percent to 6.7 million people.

“It’s among the fastest growing outdoor sports for sure,” says Michael Benge, editor of Trail Runner magazine. The Southeast is no exception. New races and clubs spring up every year. And you don’t have to live deep in the boonies to join the trend. Even the biggest cities in the Southeast boast dozens of miles of trails within easy reach, often right downtown. For city dwellers tired of pounding the pavement, look no further than BRO’s guide to the best urban trail running escapes around-runs that will nourish your spirit and your knees.

CHARLOTTE

The Classics:
Renaissance Park
Catawba Riverfront Park

Unlike their counterparts in most other Southeastern cities, trail runners in Charlotte can just head downtown to find miles of wild singletrack. Way back in the 1990s, a committed group of mountain bikers spearheaded the effort to establish race-worthy trail networks in the Queen City. Runners have reaped the benefits.

John Teed, a Charlotte-based off-road racer, trains for some of the Blue Ridge’s toughest competitions in Renaissance Park. Its six miles of trail may come within shouting distance of the heart of the city, but Teed says you’d hardly know it.

“The little hardwood forest is dense enough that you don’t even see the Colliseum,” he says.

But Teed’s favorite place to put in the miles is Catawba Riverfront Park, where rolling, wooded terrain meets water’s edge. Not too steep and not too flat, the trails here can hold water for several days after it rains; weak-ankled runners should watch for mud.

All runners should also keep a sharp eye out for their two-wheeled trail comrades, though Teed says that Catawba is so lightly traveled that runner-biker conflict is almost never a problem. For an eight-mile trail system in the heart of a major metropolis, you can’t ask for better dirt under your feet.

Hidden gem: Crowders Mountain

Okay, so you’re willing to drive a few more miles for a true taste of the mountains. You won’t find better closer than Crowders Mountain outside Gastonia. Granted, Crowders’ proximity to Charlotte makes its claim to hidden gem status doubtful. In fact, some climbers have dubbed it “Crowded Mountain” on summer weekends. But like so many other parks, the further you get from parking lots, the fewer people you’ll see.

For hardcore training, tackle the footpaths to the top of Crowders or its sister summit, Kings’ Pinnacle. A run along the ridgeline at sunset will remind you why you don’t bother to pound the pavement anymore.

Knoxville

The Classics:
I.C. King Park
Concord Park
Haw Ridge

Along the banks of the Tennessee, in the city of the Sun Sphere, an emerald chain of greenways and parks give runners plenty of options for getting away from car-choked roads. Nine miles of dirt trails in I.C. King Park wind through woods near the Little River, a scant four miles from the heart of downtown.

“You’re pretty much looking at trees the whole time,” says Michael deLisle, owner of the Runner’s Market in Knoxville. “Actually I’m looking at my feet and the next step.”

I.C. King is more open and hilly on its south side-you’re hopping, turning, and jumping as much as running-while an easy mile-and-a-half stretch along the water lets you open up and turn on the juice.

For more advanced terrain close to town, Concord Park has fewer miles of trails but more verticality. With tight turns and narrow trails, says deLisle, Concord is less suited to beginners.

A little further out, Haw Ridge Park near Oak Ridge is known as a mountain biker’s paradise. Now runners have discovered it, too. Bounded on two sides by the Clinch River, a vast twenty-mile trail network leads adventure-hungry runners from well-marked main trails to unnamed spur trails and power-line cuts.

Hidden gem: North Boundary Greenway

Near Oak Ridge off highway 95, a ten-mile overgrown jeep road follows the banks of Poplar Creek, a notorious drainage for the atom-splitters at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. But don’t let a few three-eyed fish keep you off of one of the few routes where the trails are wide enough to accommodate groups.

“It looks really nice when you don’t think about what that water is,” deLisle says.

Among locals, the North Boundary is also known as the Guard Shack Trail for the series of sentry boxes once manned to keep hippies and Communists away from Oak Ridge. “It’s an eight or nine percent grade up to the ridge,” deLisle says. “Once you’re up there, it’s kind of like you’re on the spine of a dinosaur-up and down and up and down.”

Asheville

The Classics:
Mountains-to-Sea Trail
Bent Creek
Mills River

Asheville trail running in a word: access. Few cities in the East can boast such sweet proximity to so many trails worth running.

“From downtown Asheville you can get to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in six minutes,” says BRO running columnist Randy Ashley, owner of Tortoise & Hare Running Outfitters in Asheville. Starting at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway, this postcard-perfect run to Craggy Gardens was named the Best Trail Run of 2003 by BRO readers.

At perennially popular Bent Creek on the west side of town, runners favor Rice Pinnacle, a wide double-track route into the north end of the preserve that connects up with a variety of other trails and roads. The less-used South Ridge Trail winds further back into Pisgah National Forest; combine it with Hard Times Trail for a scenic 13-mile loop around the North Carolina Arboretum.

Across the Blue Ridge Parkway from Bent Creek, Ashley likes to head down into the Mills River area for some longer runs. Trace Ridge and Turkey Pen gap are the stuff of legend among Asheville trail runners for their plentiful stream crossings, rustic bridges, and all-purpose forested beauty.

Hidden gem: DuPont State Forest, Biltmore Farm

Just a little further from Asheville, DuPont State Forest near Brevard can’t exactly qualify as hidden, what with the DuPont Forest Trail Marathon being named the Mountain Ultra Trail Running Council’s national championship race for 2004. Still, the drive puts it out of range for some.

“It’s crazy, because that place is great,” Ashley says. “But I probably wouldn’t go to DuPont because I’d stop at Turkey Pen on the way.”

If you do make it out to explore the 90 miles of trails at DuPont, just start at Hooker Falls or Buck Springs trailhead and get yourself lost.

But, if like Ashley, you have a rule that your run must last longer than the drive there and back, you can always join him for what certainly is one of the closest trail runs of all. Through a special arrangement with Biltmore Estate, Ashley leads group runs three times a week on the trails at Biltmore Farm right behind his store.

Atlanta

The Classics:
Kennesaw Mtn. National Battlefield
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area at Cochran Shoals
Like a little history with your run? On Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield’s 16-mile dirt loop, you’ll be enveloped by a solemn silence as monuments to fallen Civil War soldiers from nearly every state bear witness to the chaos that once raged at this tranquil preserve.

“It’s quiet and peaceful,” says Bob Chaapel, a longtime member of the Gwinnett County Road Runners and the acknowledged guru of Georgia trail running. “There’s no bikes and no horses. When you’re running, you get a sense of what took place.”

Chaapel’s other favorite Atlanta-area trail running destination is the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. Actually a network of several separate units, the Chattahoochee NRA forms the backbone of what will one day hopefully become a protected corridor that extends for 90 miles along the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Of all the currently protected areas, the Cochran Shoals unit has the best reputation among local runners. “You can run eight miles round-trip along the river, just as flat as a pool table,” Chaapel says. “Or you can take side trails that take you up the banks and can get in a serious workout-a very serious workout.”

Hidden gem: Blankets Creek Trail System

About 20 miles north of Atlanta near Woodstock, Georgia, the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA) has constructed a singletrack mecca at Blankets Creek. Some 20 miles of trails run through the woods and along the shores of Lake Alatoona. Runners are welcomed so long as they run in the opposite direction of bikers. Check posted signs to find out if you’re there on a clockwise or counterclockwise day.

Greenville
Spartanburg

The Classics:
Southside Park
Croft State Park
Paris Mountain

Situated just beyond the mountains at the foot of the Blue Ridge, South Carolina’s upstate sister cities haven’t seen the surge in interest in trail running that’s taken hold elsewhere in the Southeast. But it’s not for lack of top-notch trails throughout the area.

When he’s not behind the counter at Fleet Feet running store, Greenville Track Club at-large director and avid trail runner Michael McCauley heads for Southside Park in Spartanburg, where a ten-mile singletrack loop beckons. “It’s pretty rolling,” he says. “You start downhill and head down into a valley. You run along a creek-it’s pretty flat for a while-then you climb back out. If it rains a lot, it can be a little tough.”

Also in Spartanburg County, the 7000-acre Croft State Natural Area boasts a 10.5-mile mountain-biking trail that doubles as an ideal loop for long training runs. The climbs and descents will put your aerobic threshold to the test, while the technically challenging Idaho Pass demands dexterity and concentration. An easy 1.5-mile nature trail offers a less punishing option for beginners.

Hidden gem: Jones Gap
Table Rock

When they head for the mountains, many Upstate runners head for the border: DuPont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina, are just an hour away. Even closer to home, Jones Gap State Park, just a half-hour’s drive from Greenville-Spartanburg, is nestled amid one of South Carolina’s least disturbed wilderness areas. Its truly mountainous trail network can prove daunting to less experienced runners and challenge hardcore rock-and-root aficionados to push past their plateau. A similar trial by fire awaits those bold souls who brave the steeps of Table Rock, one of the Palmetto State’s most recognizable natural landmarks. The National Recreation Trail that runs to the top of this massive granite monolith will put your quads to the test. But the view of the Blue Ridge from the summit will make you forget you ever felt the pain. Take the Ridge Trail across to Pinnacle Mountain for the complete scenic tour.