The Catawba Falls trail in the Grandfather District of Pisgah National Forest near Old Fort, NC will be temporarily closed next week, from March 29 through April 2, 2021. The trail closure is necessary to ensure public safety while engineering work is being performed along sections of the trail.
Contractors will be performing geotechnical investigations, drilling holes within the trail and areas of recent landslides using heavy equipment. These geotechnical investigations are used to determine the stability of the underlying rock in order to design retaining structures to stabilize the trail. Heavy equipment will be blocking the trail to the point where it will be impassible.
This work is one of the initial steps as the Grandfather Ranger District works to improve public access from lower Catawba Falls to Upper Catawba Falls. Engineers are working to design structures that will allow the public to safely travel along the steep slopes to the upper falls. This work is supported by funding from the Great American Outdoors Act, the NC State Recreation Trails Program, and McDowell County. It is part of the larger Old Fort Trails Project that will bring a wide range of trail improvements and additions this area of Pisgah National Forest.
For more information about the closure, contact the Grandfather Ranger District at 828-652-2144.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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