Steve Pierce, President of McDowell Trails Association

Steve and I discuss his hikes from the Joseph McDowell greenway to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  A look at the past accomplishments of the MTA and future projects and their impact on Marion.  We'll take a look at some current trail conditions and how anyone can join MTA and take part in helping the community.  Also, a brief look at upcoming podcasts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Coming in, uh tourists coming in and you know spending dollars. You know, they're they're eating at restaurants. Yes. You know, they're they're spending the night and and so on. So there is there's a lot of potential there.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Well, one question I ask every guest, and I do this on purpose. Um what do you think of Marion?

SPEAKER_00 0:21

I really like Marion. Like I said, I moved here in 1973. It was it was uh just another small town when I first moved here, you know, and and I had its little quirks and idiosyncrasies that you know it wasn't like that when, you know, where I was from or you know, when I was in college or anything like that. But I've just grown to really appreciate the the small town feel of it, but then also the entrepreneurial spirit and the businesses that have come in. I have to say that uh from the standpoint of the McDowell Trails Association, couldn't ask for a better partner than the City of Marion. You all started working with the City of Marion from the very beginning with the with the Greenway and and P-Vine and and that still continues. And Public Works does a great job on maintaining that. Uh we're also seeing that McDowell County is is a good partner as well, and and we'll be going to the county uh very soon with a proposal for Universal Park. And so if we get an approval, we don't need any money right now, but just an approval to yes, plan out what you what your vision is for this this park, and you know, then go after the dollars and start putting some trail on the ground and you know improve the disc golf course there and build in some infrastructure that needs to be there so families can come and enjoy a day at the park.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

McDowellTrails.org. That's the website.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

McDowellTrails.org.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Yes.org. Uh 25 bucks. Anyone is and everyone is uh welcome to join. And by joining, they can uh stop in on a board meeting if they want to. And and maybe one of these days get a shovel in their hand. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

There's volunteer opportunities. We schedule some trail cleanup sometimes. We're just cleaning up you know trash and things like that. Others uh getting getting down in the dirt a little bit more with uh trail building or uh things like that, maintaining trails. Uh so there's there's that. There are just opportunities to help out with events. Uh we're usually at uh the uh you know Mountain Glory Festival. We'll be at trails and trains. Uh you don't want to spend an hour or two with us at our booth, you know, giving out information. There, there's those opportunities you might find that you're interested enough to serve on the board and uh you know help us out with uh with with our future plans.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Well, uh one of these days I'm gonna tell the story about what we did to the Rotary Club. It was nasty. Uh but I'll I'll hold off on that. I'll hold off on that. Yes, yes. Steve, I appreciate you coming up.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Jim, this has been this has been just so much fun. Always good talking with you. I have to say, you mentioned the articles that you you wrote for the McDowell News on all those trails. I have to tell you, every time I read that article, I could hear your voice. Because you write exactly the same way that you it's like your storytelling. And it was so much fun because I could just I could just hear that, hear your voice in as I read those those words.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Well, thank you. That was an enjoyable period of time.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

And uh And you found some trails that I did not know existed.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

We hunted for out of the way. Now, some of the trails were so obscure that I bet they don't even exist now after the hurricane.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So do you have a compendium of all those articles? I do. Is that something you'd want to share? Oh, absolutely. I could see us, you know, putting together a little publication on that because people are always asking, you know, where can I hike? And you know, we could vet through it and say, well, okay, that trail's not there anymore.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

But you know, well, that's what it would take as somebody to go through and somebody like you and and say, yeah, this is a good trail, and that's not a viable trail. But uh and I'd be more than happy to turn that over to you, Steve. So uh maybe we'll we'll look into that in the near future if we want to. Absolutely. Uh because summer's coming up. And well, thanks again. Um I appreciate it. Uh I and this was uh kind of a short notice call because I've gotten all backed up and and now I'm I'm booked up for in fact I'll just tell you folks that uh next week we have uh Steve Little. Uh we're gonna talk about uh building railroads up to Asheville and the pitfalls of that sort of thing. And then the following week, uh Freddie Killow is coming, and we're gonna talk about entrepreneurs here in Marion uh following that. And I know you know uh Molly Sanfoss. Yes. Uh I'm sure you do. She's coming up to tell us what to do because spring is here.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

That's very good.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

And uh in the near future, of course, here's another thing that Steve and I did. Uh Steve was there were five or six of us that found the B-24. B-24. Yeah. Uh and Steve was one of the ones. Uh I I have to tell you this, and I'll tell you again during that session, but we're climbing mountain. There's there's five or six of us, and I don't know where we're going, and we're trying to find this crash site. We're hiking up and down these hills, and they're steep hills, and we're bushwhacking. And I look over, and Steve hasn't even broken a sweat. Uh he's just he's just kind of uh those of you that are old enough to remember Pepe Le Pew and the cartoons, that's what he reminded me of. He's just hopping along, having a good time, and the rest of us are literally dying.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

And so uh Now you said Pepe Le Pew, I hope you're not saying I smelled that bad. No. I certainly don't mean that in the in a derogatory way.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

But but that's the way it was.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

That was a that was one of those meaningful that was. That was a meaningful it just yes. Uh and I I look forward to hearing uh that that podcast.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Well I've talked to uh uh Scott Hollifield about it. He's going to provide us all with uh an article of the newspaper so we can read it and refresh our memory. But I remember uh what you were saying, and that was when you and I found the the site when we knew we were on the dig site, and you you said and we'll repeat this again, but y you said to me, We're now on hollow hallowed ground. Do you remember that? I remember that. And I do. It it just our our and I don't want to get in it too much because it's in the future, we're gonna do the broadcast, but our the attitude of our hike changed. It did. We were just a bunch of guys out having a good time.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

And then we suddenly realized really where we were and what happened there. Right. And it was it it Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

It was uh it became a serious thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Yes, very moving. Yes, it it was so that was an adventure.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

It it was an adventure and and a worthwhile one. Yes, absolutely. So that's coming up, and uh I just learned that there was a a gunfight here in Marion many, many years ago. Uh some prisoners escaped and uh came escaped from Tennessee, I think. Came to Marion. There was a gunfight here. Um we're gonna be talking about that. Also, uh stay tuned because we're gonna be talking about the Brown Mountain Lights. Have you ever seen the Brown Mountain Lights? I have not. Have you hiked in that area? I know you've hiked.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I've hiked in that area, but daylight.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know. I think it's a publicity stunt anyway, but we'll see. We'll we'll let we'll let people talk. That's coming up. Uh Brown Mountain Lights. Of course, we're gonna touch on Bigfoot. Uh before we go, let me uh give some thanks to uh Annette Bryant for the artwork, our new artwork on our uh podcast site. Uh thanks uh Annette for that. We had a little trouble this week, actually, it was major trouble with our computer. Uh-huh. And I contacted uh high tech Sam, uh Sam Hollifield, and I want to thank him. He he responded quickly. Uh this is not a paid commercial, this is just one neighbor to another. It's high tech Sam, and uh you can call him if you have computer troubles and he'll come and uh take a look at it. Uh-huh. Maybe save you some money. His prices are reasonable. I'm going to give you his phone number. It's 828-460-4529. 460-4529. High tech Sam. Sam, thank you very much for helping us out and getting us back online. And again, Steve, thank you for being my guest. Uh it that's this is just one more thing we've done together.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

That's right, that's right. And this this podcast, the whole thing, is just really neat. It just brings a lot of people that, you know, I like I I know Annette, but I learned some things that I didn't know about Annette. I'm sure it is with all all the others. Um, I haven't had a chance to listen to Chuck Abernappy's. Oh, you'll like it. Yeah, I know I'll enjoy that. So yeah, this is just a really neat concept you've come up with, and uh, and you're a natural for this too.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Well, I appreciate it. I don't know about that, but I I appreciate you saying that. And it doesn't surprise me that you and I have sat down here and killed an hour and a half already. So um so that's what's all coming up, and I appreciate uh everybody that's helped us. It's been kind of a community project, and of course, Janet's sitting here trying to operate the controls, and uh as usual, I appreciate that. So uh stuff to come and see us here on the board.