Hurricane Helene (Trail Damage and Recover)

Hurricane Helene (Trail Damage and Recover)

Trail Work | 2025-01-17| Written By: Bruce Humphries

"Hurricane Helene made landfall on Sept. 26, 2025 bringing destructive winds, flooding, tornadoes, and extensive damage to utility infrastructure and homes in South Carolina that evening into the following day."

I remember the day vividly. I was standing in my kitchen looking out he window, hoping that my camper park next to the house wouldn't end up in my neighbors yard. The winds came thru hard and heavy, uprooting the last two trees we had in the yard, while also pulling the backyard fencing out of the ground.

We were lucky...considering what our neighbors in Western North Carolina have had to endure, we had minimal damage.

After cleaning up around the house, the thoughts drifted toward our trail systems. What did they look like? Had anyone been out? I had to find out, so off I went to hike the trails at Southside to see what needed to be fixed. I really didn't know what to expect, but I really was not prepared for what I saw. Trees everywhere, no rhyme or reason to how they were down. Some trees had been uprooted leaving large root balls, while others had just been snapped about halfway up. There were so many locations, I started taking pics and dropping locations pins on the OnX app. A couple of other SAMBA members had the program, so we could share what we are finding.

We organized group work and had many volunteers show up to clear trees and debris. It was really something to see in action. 

We still have work to do, some areas just could not be cleared safely, so re-routes have been laid out and have started to be worked in. 

Below are some pictures taken from the organized work days. The work continues with some dedicated trail crew work. 

We hope everyone can get back out now and enjoy the trails, and we hope that we don't see a storm of this magnitude again.