There is good news about the Ecusta Trail.  The construction company has begun paving the first 6 miles of Ecusta East from Horse Shoe to downtown Hendersonville. 

Previous Ecusta Trail reports included pictures of the old railroad grade that had been stripped of all crossties and rails, as well as pictures of some of the new bridges.  The trail is being built to standards that allow vehicles, such as ambulances and maintenance equipment, to use the trail when needed.

The paving started at the point where the trail crosses U. S. 64 in Horse Shoe.  Going east, the first section of paving is 1.1 miles long (measured twice on my Garmin). 

Then, there is about a half mile of gravel.  This is not paved yet because the construction company is still installing a bridge on this section and shoring up a section of the old railroad grade adjacent to the veterans’ garden/farm. 

Starting after the gravel/unpaved area, the next paved section, again going east, is 1.4 miles, ending at the Gem and Crystal Mine.  There is one short section of gravel in this section, but it is negligible.

Along these paved sections landscape crews have been installing erosion control mats on the shoulders of the trail.  The mats, which are made with straw woven into nylon netting, are stretched over the ground, and held in place by large staples that the crew hammers into the ground. I watched them work when I was out jogging and thought that they were doing a great job.  It looks nice, and will look nicer when the grass starts growing.

The pavement that is on the ground now is only the sub-base. Another 2 inches of asphalt will be laid on top of the base. This trail surface will be substantial.

In my opinion, the Ecusta Trail will be ranked among the best in the state, and maybe beyond.  I have jogged “rails-to-trails” in many states, and I particularly like the fact that this trail meanders through the countryside with big sweeping curves, as opposed to some trails that are straight for boring mile after boring mile. The Ecusta Trail has the feel of a mountain trail not a highway.  Also, this trail has a lot of overhanging trees providing shade. For much of the trail there is a mountain stream flowing on one or both sides of the trail.  And when Ecusta West is completed, trail users can jog alongside and across the French Broad River. There is true wilderness here where I have seen a lot of wildlife, including does with their fawns.

Now for a little fun information: If you read the Ecusta Trail newsletter, it is highly likely that you will be adding the name Horse Shoe to your vocabulary and using it in such things as conversation and in your logbooks. I suspect you may say things like, “I am going out to Horse Shoe and walk a few miles on the trail,” or “I think I will bike from Kanuga to Horse Shoe today,” or log “Today, ran to Horse Shoe and back.”

If so, here is some trivia about Horse Shoe. First of all, it is two words. Has been since early 1800s. It is not one word as in “horseshoe,” referring to the metal shoes used for horse hooves.

Second, the name Horse Shoe refers to a certain geographical phenomenon. The French Broad River loops around a spit of land in the mountains. The loop is a perfect horseshoe shape, as pictured below. I doubt that there is a more perfectly shaped horseshoe river bend in North Carolina. The area around Horse Shoe also had a nickname, the Bend, but the name Horse Shoe became the official name for the community.

Third, Horse Shoe almost became the county seat for Henderson County.  In 1841, when it became time to decide on a location for a county seat, the residents of Horse Shoe thought that it should be in Horse Shoe because the community was the oldest in the county, formed in the late 1700s.  But the residents of Hendersonville, founded shortly thereafter, wanted the county seat to be located there because they had the Buncombe Turnpike nearby, which was the major road in the area, going from South Carolina to Asheville.  A vote was taken and Hendersonville, being the larger community, won the election, 463 to 354.

Now that you have learned this trivia, you may be the smartest one in the room should anyone bring up the subject of Horse Shoe.  Enjoy the Ecusta Trail.