A month after Hurricane Helene tore through the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA), which includes Augusta, Georgia, in 2024, Singletracks reported that SORBA CSRA volunteers had cleared 501 trees just to reopen a single 3-mile trail, the Augusta Canal singletrack. At the time, the club was looking at more than 100 miles of closed singletrack in the region, and then-president Jake Veriato warned of “thousands upon thousands of trees” still to go.
He wasn’t exaggerating. Two years later, SORBA CSRA volunteers have cut roughly 14,000 trees and fixed about 2,000 root balls, all by hand, according to current chapter president Ed Farnell.
“Admittedly, we were all like, you know what? We’re kind of tired, like Forrest Gump,” Farnell told me.
The Forks Area Trail System (FATS) and several other trails are open again. However, four of the region’s more remote trails — the Bartram Trail, located along the edge of Clarks Hill Lake, and the Stevens Creek, Turkey Creek, and Wine Creek trails in Sumter National Forest — remain closed. The good news is, progress is being made to reopen them.
What’s open in the CSRA now
FATS, the Augusta Canal singletrack, Horn Creek (the 5-mile loop longtime locals still call Lick Fork), and Keg Creek are all open, according to Farnell and the SORBA CSRA trails page. Some of the singletrack trails at Mistletoe State Park are open too; Farnell says about 200 yards of trees and debris remain, and once that’s cut, riders can access the park from Keg Creek. However, trails in the southern section of Mistletoe remain closed, with clearing work still to be done.
“By the end of the year, everything but Bartram, Turkey, Wine, and Modoc should be open,” Farnell said.
Bartram Trail: trees have been cleared, but the trail needs to be rebuilt
The Bartram Trail runs about 18.5 miles along the Georgia shore of Thurmond Lake (aka Clarks Hill Lake) on land managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is currently closed to biking. Work to remove downed timber has been completed, according to Farnell, but the trail tread hasn’t been touched. A second work phase, using a contracted trail crew, will smooth and restore the tread.
“I would say there is a good chance that Bartram will be fully rebuilt by fall 2027,” he said. When complete, riders will once again be able to link the Bartram Trail to Keg Creek and beyond.
Modoc, Turkey Creek, and Wine Creek Trails: a slow restart
The outlook for Stevens Creek (aka Modoc), Turkey Creek, and Wine Creek trails in the Sumter National Forest, South Carolina, is murkier. On top of the wind damage, all three flooded during Helene. Farnell says floating trees came to rest on top of downed trees, and when trail champions tried to walk the routes, they found trees stacked as much as 20 feet high on the trail. Waters crested an estimated 35+ feet above flood level.
I’d heard rumors that some of these trails might be abandoned, but Farnell says that’s not the plan. SORBA CSRA volunteers cleared roughly the first two miles before hitting “a big wall.” Now, the Forest Service has funding to clear them, and a contracted crew is working on the Turkey Creek Trail right now. The crew has cleared roughly 3 miles there, but the trail remains closed until completion.
Two years of forest regrowth adds another complication. Farnell says even the trail champions who know these trails best can barely find the tread, so the end result could be closer to a full reconstruction. That would give the formerly hand-built trails “a different flavor.”
Pisgah National Forest is also working to recover from Hurricane Helene damage
To the north, the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina was hard-hit by Hurricane Helene as well. In April, The Pisgah Conservancy announced a 4.5-year, nearly $8 million National Forest Foundation (NFF) grant, awarded on behalf of the USDA Forest Service, to rebuild trails, bridges, and other infrastructure across the district’s 400-plus-mile trail network. In June, 828newsNOW reported that Pisgah Area SORBA received $5.6 million in NFF disaster relief funding, distributed over four and a half years, which the club is using in part to hire a trails program director and a disaster recovery coordinator.
Most, if not all, of the bike-legal trails in Pisgah are open now. However, ongoing work to restore and reroute damaged trail sections continues.
What’s next for trails in the Augusta area
Farnell expects the trails at Mistletoe State Park to be the next to fully reopen, followed by the Bartram / West Dam trail.
And the club’s annual fundraiser, the FATS Flow Master cross-country race, is coming up on October 17. Farnell says the race, which runs about 21 miles on FATS’ Brown Way, Skinny, and Great Wall loops, has raised close to $75,000 for local trails over its eight years.
SORBA CSRA updates its trail status pages regularly, so be sure to check before you ride. To volunteer or donate, visit sorbacsra.org.
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