SHARC Ramping Up For New Season on the Trails

On March 12^th, the Snowshoe Highlands Area Recreation Collaborative (SHARC) held an on-line meeting as it prepares for the upcoming summer season. Charles Evans, SHARC’s Backcountry Coordinator; C.J. Peterson, Digital Media and Marketing Director; and Zen Clements, Races and Events Director, as well as partners of SHARC, including representatives from the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB;) International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA;) Pocahontas Trails the US Government and others, discussed plans for the upcoming trail season.

For anyone not familiar with SHARC, they operate an integrated back-country management model that combines trail stewardship, wildland fire operations, and back-country rapid emergency response. This approach strengthens public safety, supports rural economies, and builds a year-round skilled workforce. To learn more about SHARC, visit their website at https://www.sharctrails.com/.

At the meeting, it was mentioned that IMBA is currently reviewing and considering The Snowshoe Highland Ride Center’s application to upgrade the ride center from Silver status to Gold status. Evans said we can expect an announcement about their decision as early as March 31^st.

It was announced that SHARC will be assisting the Yew Mountain Center in developing trails on their property in Hillsboro, and SHARC is also developing a trail maintenance and construction pocket guide which will be similar to their fire incident response pocket guide.

Evans also said they are accepting applications to hire seasonal Trails Technicians, with applications being accepted until April 1^st. For details on this job opportunity, you can visit the employment section on the SHARC website.

He also announced the following SHARC upcoming events as they prepare for the coming year:

• The Rapid Extraction Module Team has a check-in from April 26 through the 30^th.
• There will be Community Chainsaw Training with the US Forest Service at Seneca Rocks on March 14 and 15.
• There will be Wilderness First Aid training at the end of March.
• The 2026 season orientation and new hire training for volunteers and crew leads will be from April 22^nd through May 3^rd at Snowshoe.

Pocahontas Trails announced they will be holding a workday at the Mower Tract from April 10^th to the 12^th at Second Fork. There will be a member meeting on March 30^th at the Cass Community Center at 6 pm; Mountain Bike races will be held in May, June and August in Pocahontas County; and they will be holding a membership drive and bike raffle. More info can be found at Pocahontastrails.com.

The US Forest Service will have a meeting on March 19^th and will be hiring up to 9 seasonal part-time hires, of which 7 will be trail maintenance and recreational workers, and they are focused on hiring people from the local areas. The final 3 miles of the Stillhouse Trail construction will be done in May or early June.

The CVB will hold their annual Tourism Summit on May 7^th, RSVP invitations for this will be going out soon, and the gravel trails bike-packing summit will be held at the end of May.

Snowshoe Resort has announced they will be closing the skiing season on March 22^nd, and two to three weeks after that the Bike Park and trails will open. Evans said that both SHARC and Pocahontas Trails will be doing trail work in the back-country trails at Snowshoe this summer.

It is exciting to see so many dedicated, enthusiastic and skilled people working hard to make Pocahontas County a mecca for back-country events such as hiking and biking and developing perhaps the premier mountain trail system in the country. All of their efforts will result in enormous benefits to the reputation and economy in our county.