Brushy’s Face Lift

Written By: Emily Crowell | Issue: 2018/10 - October

As a runner and a trail lover, I’m always thrilled beyond belief to find a trail to run on around here that doesn’t immediately enfeeble me – physically, mentally, and spiritually.

The relatively new Brushy Face Trail off Highway 28 is just such a trail, and a loop at that!

Built by volunteers with the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, the Brushy Face Loop was officially opened in June of this year.  The trail is about 1.4 miles round-trip on 74 acres, encompassing most of the headwaters of the western fork of Clear Creek.

“We purposely designed the trails to keep a relatively easy grade to allow more people to be able to use them,” says Kyle Pursel of the HCLT.  Good news for those of us who sometimes like to run trails without busting a lung.

The brevity of the trail is also an invitation to hikers to slow down and take in the serenity of the mostly old-growth forest around Clear Creek.  These woods are home to some of the largest old-growth white pines in the area as well as some living hemlocks that the HCLT is working to save.

I visited the trail on a sunny (with a threat of storms) afternoon.  Over the past several months I’d been seeing chatter about the new loop trail in local media and figured I needed to finally check it out while getting a run in.  No one else was there except various and sundry forest critters, and I quickly shed some mental baggage cruising through the woods alone.  The trees and the creek and the act of running seem to be a buffer against all the little anxieties that pile up in my brain if I’m not careful.  This stretch of trail is so quiet and quieting that it’s hard to believe the Walhalla Road is just over yonder.

Rest assured I will be back to walk the trail, too.  I tend to miss a lot while I’m running between zoning out and trying not to fall (at the same time, somehow).  One of my hiking buds who’s been on the trail told me that the biggest white pine he’s ever seen is near one of the creek crossings, and I managed to pass by a few times without ever seeing it.  There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

One of the reasons I love Highlands is the pervasive enthusiasm around here for conservation and spending time outdoors.  Aren’t we lucky to have so many little trails like the Brushy Face Trail that we can get out and enjoy at a moment’s notice?

To reach the trail, take U.S. Highway 28 South (4th Street) for 1.3 miles to a right turn onto Brushy Face Road.  Take the first left onto Old Pine Drive, and the next left onto Pineland. The trail is at the apex of the loop.