If you've walked the Catawba River Greenway lately, you know the River Village detour. Behind the shopping center, the path stops at a closed boardwalk. Walkers head up into the River Village parking lot, cross the asphalt and pick up the greenway again on the far side. The City of Morganton's own greenway page describes it the same way. The boardwalk is still being renovated, and you can walk through the parking lot to reach the other side of the trail.
That detour is one of only two gaps left on the 3.8-mile paved route from Greenlee Ford to Rocky Ford. Hurricane Helene hit Morganton in September 2024, and two years later the parts of the parks system people use on a regular Tuesday evening are almost all back. Those parts are the paved trail, the new mountain bike trails, the playgrounds and the dog park. The big tournament fields are what's left, and as of September 2026 nobody can say when they'll come back.
The Trail Map, Stretch by Stretch
Here's how the greenway looks this fall, from the city's current access-point list and park pages, plus The Paper's coverage of the reopenings.
| Access point or stretch | Status this fall | Getting through |
|---|---|---|
| Greenlee Ford, Greenlee Ford Road | Greenway parking lot open | Park and walk as usual |
| Dog park near the soccer complex | Open | Next to the closed Catawba River Soccer Complex |
| Freedom Park, Liberty Drive | Parking lot and bathrooms open | Route from the basketball courts across the Freedom pedestrian bridge is open |
| Silver Creek Bridge to River Village | Open | Continue toward the shopping center |
| Boardwalk behind River Village, 300 Sanford Drive | Closed, under construction | Walk through the River Village parking lot |
| River Village to Catawba Meadows, under Highway 181 | Open since July 21, 2025 | Runs to the wooden overlook near Rocky Ford |
| Rockyford access to the overlook near Joara | Closed | No through route, with a July 2027 target |
Taken together, you can walk from Greenlee Ford to the wooden overlook approaching Rocky Ford again, with one stop in a parking lot along the way. The one stretch with no workaround is at the far upstream end.
Two Gaps, Two Different Timelines
The two closures sit at different points in the repair process. The Paper ran a city recovery report on September 20, 2026. It listed the boardwalk as under construction, alongside the Silver Creek Lift Station and the Recreation Maintenance Building. The Rocky Ford Greenway near Grace Ridge was still in final engineering. So crews are already working on the boardwalk, while Rockyford is still being designed.
Rockyford is the harder job. The access area has been closed since Helene, and parts of the greenway there fell into the river, Parks and Recreation Director Bryan Fish told The Paper. City council gave Wildlands Engineering of Charlotte a $384,652 contract for design, bidding and construction management, with completion expected by July 2027. The site has little room for equipment, so engineers still have to decide whether crews will work from the river or from higher ground on the bank. The Paper called it the last Helene recovery project for the recreation department.
The city plans to seek FEMA reimbursement for Rockyford. The plan also calls for flood-resiliency improvements like the ones Wildlands already designed for Bethel Park. So you can see the kind of work coming to Rockyford by visiting a park that's already open.
What Came Back New
Some of the recovery work went beyond patching storm damage. Two places came back better than before Helene.
The Foothills Mountain Bike Trail System at Catawba Meadows. The system has more than five miles of trail in beginner, intermediate and advanced sections. It was open on a soft-opening basis for about a month before its ribbon cutting on May 5, 2026. The Burke River Trail Association's account of that event says the ribbon cutting marked the completion of the full system. You can ride in from Catawba Meadows Park or from the Rockyford access point at 541 Lenoir Road. Riders can use the Rockyford parking area even though the greenway there stays closed. The city has asked people to keep the trail for mountain bikes only, so walkers and dog walkers should stay on the greenway.
Bethel Park. Bethel reopened in spring 2026 after a $2.4 million upgrade. The work included rebuilt streams designed to handle a 25-year flood event. Stream work started in February 2024 with Baker Grading and Wildlands Engineering. The city reported all stream and floodplain work done by September 13, 2024, about two weeks before Helene. After the storm, Wildlands documented debris, a washed-out seeded floodplain and built-up sediment, and a contractor was set to remove 5,030 cubic yards of silt. In April, the city said the existing bathrooms and west parking lot were open. Part of the east lot was closed while a new restroom was built.
Catawba Meadows Park also has most of its everyday features back. The Beanstalk playground, beach volleyball court, disc golf course, picnic shelters and bathrooms are all listed as open on the city's park page.
The Part of Catawba Meadows Still Waiting
The same city page still lists the softball and baseball fields at Catawba Meadows as closed. The soccer fields, bathrooms and parking lot at the Catawba River Soccer Complex are closed too.
The money explains why. The city puts its total Helene recovery estimate at $54.5 million, and engineers estimate nearly $33 million of that for rebuilding the Catawba Meadows and soccer complex facilities. FEMA hasn't told the city how much of that it considers eligible. "We ask the question every week," a city official told The Paper. "Every week we're told it's still in review."
For comparison, the Rockyford contract is about $385,000. The fields project costs roughly 85 times that, and nobody has said how it will be paid for. City officials estimate Morganton loses about $350,000 a year in direct recreation revenue from events it can no longer host. That figure leaves out money visiting teams used to spend at hotels and restaurants. Mayor Pro-Tem Wendy Cato pointed out that the fields drew regional athletes as well as local ones.
The city has decided not to wait for FEMA on everything. It is splitting about $5 million in buildings off from the larger fields project: bathrooms, concessions, maintenance and storage buildings, and offices. It hopes to seek bids in the next several months and award a contract this winter. It has also applied for the maximum $15 million from North Carolina's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program. One catch is that the program prefers applicants who can show a FEMA funding gap, and FEMA hasn't said what it will pay. City officials also said FEMA told them the average time before rebuilding starts on projects like this is six years. They called that unacceptable and said they will keep pushing.
This explains the split between the paved path and the fields. Small, inexpensive projects reopened first. The one big, expensive project is stuck waiting on paperwork.
One Open Question at Catawba Meadows
On the Beanstalk Ziplines, the sources disagree. The city's Catawba Meadows page still lists the zip lines and their parking lot as closed. The operator's website says it's open Thursday through Sunday and is taking bookings. FOX Carolina also ran a Beanstalk Ziplines feature on September 15, 2026. If you're planning a fall visit with out-of-town guests, check with Beanstalk directly before you go.
Putting the Open Miles to Use This Month
Here's a fall route that skips both closures and connects with what's on the calendar:
- Park at the Greenlee Ford Road lot, or at Freedom Park if you want bathrooms at the start.
- Walk upstream past the soccer complex. The dog park there is open.
- At River Village, cut through the parking lot around the boardwalk work.
- Continue under Highway 181 to Catawba Meadows for the playground, the disc golf course or a picnic shelter.
- Turn around at the wooden overlook near Rocky Ford. The trail beyond it is closed.
If you want your miles to count toward something, Great Trails State Day on October 17 runs a mile challenge at Valdese Lakeside Park. Hiking, biking and paddling all count, and there are free refreshments and family activities while supplies last. Back downtown, the Morganton Rotary Zombie Run starts at Historic Courthouse Square on October 10. The one-mile family run starts at 10 a.m. and the 5K at 11 a.m. Downtown's Halloween Spooktacular runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday, October 30.
The next dates to watch are the bid for the fields buildings this winter and Rockyford's July 2027 target. Once Rockyford is done, the full 3.8 miles will be open with no gaps for the first time since September 2024.
I walk these same trails, and I'll keep an eye on the boardwalk and Rockyford as the work moves along. If you're wondering how a stretch of greenway or a reopened park near a property affects your plans, give me a call or send an email. Let's Connect with Mark Causby.
