Wildlife Refuge Hikes

Sunday morning, we woke up early and broke camp before daybreak.  Then we crossed the dunes and went for a hike on the beach at Cape Hatteras before the storms came in.  The Mountains-to-Sea Trail runs along the beach here.  Although cloudy, it was a beautiful sunrise.

The sky really lit up in between breaks in the clouds and generated some beautiful colors.  And it lasted for a while too.

We walked about 2 miles down the beach, turning around at Coquina Beach.

On the walk back, there was a little wintry precipitation, but just a few drops here and there.  Back at the car, we took and started making our way home.

After crossing to the mainland, we made a stop at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge at the trailhead for Creef Cut Wildlife Trail right along US-64.  It's a half-mile paved trail along the wetlands.

At the end was a boardwalk loop through a freshwater marsh.

To the south, we could view the Creef Moist Soil Management area, though visitors are prohibited from entering to protect wildlife.

After some pictures, we headed back.

Our next stop was at the end of Buffalo City Road, a little further into the refuge.  Sandy Ridge Wildlife Trail started across a bridge over a canal into Milltail Creek.

Most of the short trail was a boardwalk and still had a decent amount of snow remaining.

The trail ended after about 0.5 miles at Sandy Ridge Gut, a little channel connecting Sawyer Lake and Milltail Creek.

We turned around here and headed back.

Continuing west on US-64, we made one more stop in Columbia at the visitor center for Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.  The Scuppernong River Interpretive Boardwalk started from behind the visitor center.  The bridge on US-64 across the river was visible from here.

The boardwalk made a short loop along the river.

It looped back along a little tributary.

It started to rain a bit, but was fortunately a very short trail.

This was our last hike so we started making our way home.