Lake Townsend Hike

Sunday, I went for a hike along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Lake Townsend in Greensboro.  Part of the Watershed Lakes, the city has a number of trails around the lakes and the MST piggybacks on several of these.  I parked at the eastern trailhead at the Bryan Soccer Complex and got on Townsend Trail following MST westbound.  The trail passed a small pond right away and I could hear a train passing.

The trail led through the parking area for soccer fields and then headed back into the woods.  Passing through a powerline clearing, there were some rosepink blooming.

The trail then approached Lake Townsend and followed the shoreline closely.  There were some nice morning views of the lake from the trail.

It was almost 4 miles to where the trail crossed Yanceyville Road.  After crossing, it became Osprey Trail.

It wasn't until I got to this trail that I saw anyone else on the trail, very different from hiking in the Triangle.  Osprey Trail continued to follow Lake Townsend for about 2.5 miles to Church Street.  Crossing the lake on the causeway, I picked up West House Trail the approached where Lake Jeannette feeds into Lake Townsend.  At the end of the trail, I went left and down to the spillway.

It had gotten really hot at this point so I started hiking back from here.