Panther Branch Natural Area

For Mother's Day, Alex and I took Sandy for a hike at Panther Branch Natural Area, a newly-opened nature preserve owned by the Eno River Association located in western Orange County near Efland.  After parking, we set off on the Red trail to make a loop, passing some scenic unnamed tributaries.

We saw two box turtles at different points along the trail.

About half way through the loop, we took Yellow Trail and crossed Panther Branch on stepping stones.  In high water, the crossing would be difficult.

The Yellow Trail made a short loop here and we saw a bunch of jacks in the pulpit flowering.

The trail came out at powerline clearing high above Eno River.

The views of the river were really nice here and a lot of mountain laurel was blooming.

Many wildflowers were blooming in the open clearing.

Spoonshape Barbara's buttons are an interesting white flower.

Venus' pride was another little one flowering.

Back in the woods, we went down to the picnic area at a bend in the Eno then went back up.

After crossing back over Panther Branch, we finished up the loop to complete our hike.

From here, we drove a short ways to the Hillsboro Division of Duke Forest and parked along the US-70 connector.  We hiked into the forest and along Snake Fire Trail.  The first part was very overgrown with tall grass and we got pretty wet hiking through.  Once in the woods, the trail was more reasonable and we saw another little box turtle.

At the end of the trail, we turned right on Old Quarry Road and went out to the old abandoned quarry.  There was lots of lichen growing on the rocks.

Then we hiked back and took Cates Road to make a loop.

After our hike, we went to lunch to celebrate Mother's Day.