Volunteers reroute bike trail at the Noxubee Hills Trail System
Charlotte Fuquay has helped design and build biking trails for the Noxubee Hills Trail System for over 20 years.
TOMBIGBEE NATIONAL FOREST, Miss. (WCBI) – The Tombigbee National Forest hosts 32 miles of hiking and biking trails.
While the forest service takes on bigger projects such as bridge building, many of the trails have been designed, built, and maintained through volunteer efforts.
Retired Mississippi State Professor, Charlotte Fuquay is one of those volunteers.
For the past 20 years, she has helped to design and build the Noxubee Hills Trail System.
“I think that volunteerism and involvement in your community is really important,” Fuquay said. “And that’s what I wanted to do, but I sort of found my niche doing volunteer and contributing to my trail community by working down here.”
This was the first volunteer workday that had been organized for this project.
The workers are rerouting the Splashing Dog trail after a bridge along it was washed out 2 years ago.
Before this workday, Fuquay had been working alone.
That’s why the Starkville Cycling Club is a welcome addition to the workforce.
The club’s president, Landon Voller, said people volunteering their time is great.
“Having this many people out here come out here and help us is just fantastic,” Voller said. “And, you know, we can’t get these projects done without having a lot of volunteers come out.”
Voller shared what the trial system means to him.
“Having a place we can get outside and breathe some fresh air, get some exercise,” Voller said. “Just escape from the day-to-day drudgery of all the rest of our lives, it means a lot.”
Fuquay said communing with nature is a more interesting way to exercise than going to the gym.
“Well, fresh air and sunshine are nice,” Fuquay said. “Communing with nature, at least to me, is nice. And it’s just a whole different aspect of physical fitness than the gym.”
Voller said spending time in the woods with friends is a unique bonding experience.
“When you go in the woods and you either hike or mountain bike or whatever,” Voller said. “You’re with one or two other people for three hours at a time. And you’re away from the concerns of your life. And, you know, you just chat and get to know those people. And like I said, it’s usually a wide gamut of people that you’re meeting, you know, from all walks of life. And it’s good to meet and see all these people.”
Fuquay invites the community to enjoy the fruits of their labor year-round.
“It’s a great trail system and people ought to come out and give it a try,” Fuquay said.
The Tombigbee National Forest covers about 66,000 acres of Mississippi.
