Spartanburg County Approves $110,000 for New Trail Connecting Glendale Shoals to Goldmine Road

Spartanburg County’s Trail Expansion

Get ready, Spartanburg! You’re about to have a fresh, new trail to hike, run, or bike around! The County Council has just approved a whopping $110,000 to help fund this outdoor adventure game-changer: a trail that will stretch from Glendale Shoals all the way to Goldmine Road.

This new trail is a welcome addition to the growing Daniel Morgan Trail Network that’s taking shape around Spartanburg County. The trail is just a small part of a rather ambitious project. The grand plan envisions a 55-mile DAN trail network that, once completed, will prove a bounty for outdoor enthusiasts.

DAN’s Progress

If you’re wondering about the DAN, let me fill you in. The trail network, currently measuring about 22 miles, is a community effort led by none other than Spartanburg’s Play. Advocate. Live Well (we call them PAL around here).

PAL is working in tandem with South Carolina’s Department of Transportation to create a trail between the Mary Black Rail Trail and Glendale Shoals. The aim? To beautify and add some recreational spice to the current Country Club Road widening project.

Connections and Extensions

Once this trail is complete, the next step is to stretch it from Glendale Shoals to Clifton Beach, thus making it a true hub of outdoor activities. On December 9th, the County Council allocated the funds for the initial surveying and engineering work on this segment, marking the start of something exciting.

The most impressive part is that the trail will expand through Spartanburg’s brand-new 1,000-acre park, land owned by the county’s School District 3, and the community’s lush green Glendale Cemetery.

Leigh MacDonald, PAL’s newly appointed trails development director, promises this is just the beginning of a multitude of connections between Glendale and Clifton Beach. You can’t help but admire the ambition.

Perhaps even more exciting, there are plans to connect The Dan to Pacolet too. As MacDonald puts succinctly, “Really this is the first piece of a really important stretch of connections for us to get out to the east side of the county.”

Timeline and Expectations

Sweating in anticipation already? Well, you might need to cool your heels for a bit longer.

First, the Country Club Road trail is set to wrap up by the summer of 2025. If that goes as planned, you can expect to start lacing up your hiking boots for the Glendale to Goldmine trail by around this time next year!

All things considered, it’s great to see Spartanburg County investing in its outdoor spaces, connecting its communities, and fostering a love for the great outdoors. Stay tuned for more updates!