Thanksgiving at the Eno

Thanksgiving morning, we took Alex for hike at Eno River State Park.  Although he's been here many times, this is the first time we remembered his passport, so stopped by the visitor center first to get it stamped.

Then we parked at the trailhead for Cox Mountain and started hiking down the trail.  Alex isn't a fan of the suspension bridge over the river, but he made it across.

At the trail split, we went left to begin climbing the small mountain.  The trail has now been almost completely re-routed.  The climb is much less steep as it takes a longer, switchbacking route up Cox Mountain.  Down the other side, the trail follows Eno downstream.

We could see Holden Mill across the river; the trail to it is currently closed due to damage from Hurricane Florence.  Continuing on, another trail reroute runs closer to the river until it reaches Fanny's Ford Trail.  We turned left here to follow the river around and then back to the suspension bridge.  Across, we followed the river upstream to Buckquarter Creek Trail and then Ridge Trail to a crossing of Buckquarter Creek.

The water level was high, but enough rock was exposed to get across with dry feet.  Turning on Shakori Trail, we followed Buckquarter Creek Trail further upstream.  The upper reaches of the creek were rather interesting.

Then we looped back around and got back on Buckquarter Creek Trail.  Following along the river, we saw a lot more people along this stretch of trail.

The cascades on the river were really raging.  From here, it was a short hike back to the car and then to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Sandhills Hikes

I took the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off so Sandy and I could take Alex for some hikes.  We headed south towards Fayetteville for our first hike at Carvers Creek State Park.  Our first order of business was to get Alex's passport stamped.

Then we set off on Rockefeller Loop Trail heading down the old gravel road.  I was surprised to see a fair amount of fall color down here in the Sandhills.

We didn't have much up in the Triangle and most of the trees down here are pines.  As we got towards the former millpond, there were a few old buildings.

The most impressive was the Rockefeller House.  It's not open to the public currently, but may in the future following restoration.

Next to here was the Spring House where water was stored and items could be refrigerated.

The millpond was no longer - flooding in 2016 had destroyed the dam and the millpond drained.  We hiked around to where the floating overlook had been.  It was completely destroyed.  There were still some cypress trees in the creek that fed the millpond.

A creek flowed through the middle of the former millpond but most of it had dried out.

There are plans to replace the dam in the future, so one day it will hopefully be restored.  Heading back, we went right on Rockefeller Loop.

Last time we were here, it was an out-and-back, but now it was a loop that ran along the property's edge right behind some private homes.  Near the visitor center, the trail cut back across, leading across the entrance road and back to the park office.

From here, we headed to Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve.  Parking at the visitor center, we got Alex's passport stamped.

Then we hit the trails, taking Bower's Bog Trail to Lighter Stump Trail and heading north through the preserve.  At Pine Island Trail, we went right and got on the Equestrian Trail to hike around the perimeter of the preserve.  Like Carver's Creek, there was a lot of fall color along the trail, despite being a pine forest.

Water levels were higher than normal for autumn and it was noticeable along the creek and at Moccasin Crossing.

Past the crossing we took Gum Swamp Trail past some shrubs with pretty red foliage.

Then finished up our hike on Pine Barrens Trail.  But we had one more hike for the day.  We made the short drive over to the Paint Hill section of the park as we had never visited here before.  Starting out on the Pyxie Moss Trail, it was too late in the year to see the trail's namesake, which bloom in spring.  But we did see some other pretty pine barrens gentians blooming in a couple places.

At the far end of the loop, we followed service roads to an old cemetery.  Two grave markers were readable - a couple born in the late 19th century.

We followed the service roads back to the main trail and followed to the end at Fox Squirrel Loop.

This short loop led back to Pyxie Moss Trail near the trailhead.

Leaving the park, we headed into Pinehurst and had dinner at Hickory Tavern.  They had a nice outdoor seating area so Alex could join us.  After dinner, we made the drive home.

National Take a Hike Day

Saturday was National Take a Hike Day so we took Alex to William B. Umstead State Park for a Hike.  It was a little chilly but had dried out after a very wet week and it was very pleasant hiking weather.  Hiking on Sycamore Trail, we descended to Pott's Branch, which had a lot more water than usual.

Most of the leaves were down, but the creek was really pretty on an autumn morning.  Where the trail split, we went straight and switchbacked down to Sycamore Creek.  A short detour led to the dam below Sycamore Lake.

In the high water, there was a nice waterfall flowing down.  We took a little break here so Alex could enjoy the views.

Back on the trail, we continued following Sycamore Creek downstream then back up the ridge.  At the Graylyn Trail crossing, we made a quick stop to see the chainsaw art.

The loop ended just past here and we finished the trail back to the car.