2023 Year of the Trail Photo Contest with Haywood County
Celebrate North Carolina’s Year of the Trail with Haywood County by submitting your best nature photo for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime trail experience.
What is the Year of the Trail?
2023 has been designated as the Year of the Trail in the state of North Carolina and we’re celebrating right here in Haywood County all year long! It celebrates the state’s vast and diverse collection of trails and encourages us to recognize our role as champions of these special resources.
Trails lead us to all kinds of places: mountaintops, meadows, overlooks, forests, and waterfalls. Trails can be rugged, winding, steep, and exposed, but they can also be easy, in-town, and freshly paved. Regardless of their physical characteristics, or final destination, the best trails are the ones that lead us to our best selves. And that self-discovery, in and of itself, is the journey. Trails provide the pathway for us to perform a moving meditation because time spent in nature soothes our souls, centers us, and shelters us from the absurdities of the modern world. Trails give us a chance to escape our daily grinds and gain perspective on the only things that truly matter–our health and our happiness.
To learn more about Year of the Trail and how to get involved, visit greattrailsnc.com.
How We're Celebrating
To celebrate our diversity of trails in Haywood County, we’ve teamed up with The Appalachian Adventure Company to give away a once-in-a-lifetime trail experience. Share your best trail story below for a chance to win a guided overnight backpacking trip on the infamous Mountains to Sea Trail! You’ll walk by waterfalls, explore evergreen forests, and bed down under the stars in a mountaintop meadow. They'll provide all the necessary camping equipment and meals on the trip and some stylish swag from #TheAAC! Participants will walk away fully immersed in the culture and topography of the east coast’s highest elevation county because no one knows and loves the peaks and people of Haywood County more than us.
