Uwharrie Trail North

Monday morning, I checked out of the hotel and headed to Tower Road to pick back up on the Uwharrie Trail heading north.  This hike would more or less finish up the trail that is complete.  It was cold this morning so I bundled up.  Hiking northbound, the trail headed up the flank of Dark Mountain.  There was a rocky outcrop with decent morning views.

I then descended to the saddle below the summit of Dark Mountain.  Two guys were camping here and I chatted with them for a few minutes.  In about 2 miles, the trail crossed Flint Hill Road at the Jumping Off Rock Trailhead.  The Forest Service map of the trail currently shows it ending here.  But across the bridge on the road, the trail picked back up going north.  The trail gradually headed up then descended down to Poison Fork.

It was a rather scenic little creek with rocky banks.

It was about 2 miles from the last trailhead to the summit of Little Long Mountain.  This one is somewhat unique for the Uwharries in that it's a grassy bald.

The early morning views from here were great.  A great panoramic view from up here.

There's a shelter up here, the Eagle's Nest Shelter, and it would make a great place to camp and catch the sunset.

Continuing on, the trail headed down the mountain and crossed Thayer Road at the Jim Moffitt Trailhead.  It was about 1 mile further to the summit of King Mountain.  At over 1000 feet above sea level, it's the highest point on the Uwharrie Trail.

But it's not a bald so the views aren't the best.  At least in winter there's some view.  A little past King Mountain, I saw some beautiful ice formations along the trail.

I continued on a little further, but not sure where the trail goes from here, it ends soon I think.  Eventually, it will connect to Birkhead Mountains Wilderness.  I turned back and hiked to the car to finish up my long weekend in the Uwharries.

Uwharrie Trail Morris Mountain

Sunday morning, I had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to continue my hike on the Uwharrie Trail.  I parked at Yates Place Campground and took the trail north of Dusty Level Road.

In about a mile, the trail crossed Watery Branch and the rocks to hop were completely under water.  I had to bushwhack and find some logs to cross on.  It looked like the logs I crossed on were damming the creek and keeping the actual crossing underwater.  The trail followed Watery Branch downstream past some scenic cascades.

The trail climbed up from the creek for a while then went down to a crossing of Cedar Creek.

Just past here was the NC-109 Trailhead.  There was a good amount of up and down from here, eventually descending to Spencer Creek.

More people were camping down here.  After crossing the creek on a footbridge, there was a particularly steep climb.  The trail continued on and there were some nice winter views.

Eventually, the trail passes by Horse Mountain and I bushwhacked up to the top, though the view was no better than from the trail.

I went as far as Tower Road and turned back.  The sun was out for the hike back.  Near the end, the Watery Branch had gone down and I could cross on the rocks.

When I made it back to the car, I drove back to Albemarle and had fajitas for dinner at El Ranchito and then went to bed at the hotel.

Uwharrie-Dutchmans Creek Loop

Saturday, I headed to Uwharrie National Forest for some hiking over the long weekend.  Sandy had to work so I headed out solo.  I left around 630 and got to the trailhead along NC 24/27 for the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail.  After getting my stuff together, I headed off on the white-blazed Uwharrie Trail.  Although it's in the Piedmont, there was a lot of up and down along the trail.

The trail dipped down to cross Wood Run then started climbing again.

After circling a knob, the trail descended to cross Upper Wood Run, then climbed up the summit of Dennis Mountain.

The top was forested but there were pretty nice winter views.  Then another steep descent to Big Island Creek.

After about 6 miles, the trail intersected Dutchman's Creek Trail.  There was a gradual descent to the upper portion of Dutchmans Creek where a large group of scouts were camping.  From the intersection, it was about 3 miles to Yates Place Campground, my turnaround point.  On the way back, I took Dutchman's Creek Trail to make a loop.  The trail descended towards its namesake.  There was a small cascade on a tributary.

The trail followed the creek for a while.

After crossing Dutchman's Creek a couple times, the trail ascended up Lick Mountain.

Again, it was forested but there were good winter views.

At one point along the trail, I could see Lake Tillery and Morrow Mountain across the lake.

After about 5 miles, Dutchman's Creek intersected Uwharrie Trail.  It was still a long hike back and it started to rain slightly, but nothing heavy.  When I finally got back to the car, the rain had stopped.

I drove to Albemarle and checked into the Sleep Inn and had pizza for dinner at PizzAntic.  With over 20 miles hiked, I certainly did sleep well.

First Day Hike at Congaree

Wednesday morning, we had one last breakfast in Savannah and started heading home.  Along the way, we stopped at Congaree National Park for a New Year's Day hike.  Congaree is one of the few national parks that allows dogs on the trails.  There was some flooding impacting the trails so we'd go as far as we could.  We got on the Boardwalk Trail and went right on the elevated boardwalk.  But once we looped around to the low boardwalk, it soon went underwater and we had to turn around.

We also took Sims Trail down as far as we could but it was flooded too.

Then we got back on the Elevated Boardwalk going in the other direction.

There were nice views from up here and we were high enough to not have to worry about flooding.

We went all the way down the Elevated Boardwalk to the end at Weston Lake.

I talked to a volunteer here who said that in the spring, they have synchronized fireflies in the park.  Weston Lake Loop Trail was complete under water from this point.  The low boardwalk was just above water for maybe a half mile and we followed it until it became flooded.

It was right at the point where Sims Trail intersects.  We enjoyed some views of the flooded area and had a snack here.

On the way back, since our hike had been cut short, we took the Bluff Trail out to the campsites and then back.

Then we made our way home.