Cliffs of the Neuse on National Trails Day

Saturday, for National Trails Day, we took Harper for a hike to Cliffs of the Neuse State Park near Goldsboro.

Arriving around 830, we parked at the visitor center and set off on the Lake Trail.

Here, we took Galax Trail and Bird Trail and went out to the river.

350 Yard Trail climbed up to the overlook and other parking.

There was a nice view of Neuse River from here.

We then took Spanish Moss Trail and Longleaf Trail to finish up the loop.

A toad was hopping just off the trail.

And we saw a variegated fritillary along the gravel road.

Finish up our hike, we were getting hungry so stopped at Wilber's BBQ in Goldsboro for lunch.  Before leaving the area, we made another stop at Old Waynesborough Park for a short hike around the park before heading home.

We saw some interesting wildlife on our hike.

There was a clearwing hummingbird moth on the verbena.

I also spotted a couple beautiful passionflowers.

There was a little passionflower flea beetle on one of them. 

Most of the wildflowers were blooming in the open areas as the canopy had grown in.

After finishing our hike, we made the drive back to Raleigh.

Linville Falls in High Water

Sunday, we checked out and headed back towards Linville Gorge.  Our plan was to hike to Babel Tower, another of Alex's favorite hikes.  We drove a ways down Kistler Memorial Highway, but about a mile before the trailhead, it was totally washed out.  A 4WD with high clearance is needed until the road is fixed.  So we turned around and stopped at Linville Falls.  After putting Harper in the carrier, we hiked around Duggers Creek Trail.

The water level was high and the Duggers Creek Falls looked nice in the morning light.

I took off my shoes and waded under the bridge for a nice picture.

We finished the short loop back at the parking lot and put Harper in the stroller to head down the main trail to Linville Falls, which was mostly stroller friendly except for some steps near the overlooks.

There were some nice wildflowers blooming along the trail.

The first overlook we came to was for the Upper Falls View, but I didn't have much luck with clouds to block out the bright sun.

We had a little more luck with some cloud cover at Chimney View.

Then we headed out to the end with a quick stop at Linville Gorge View as more clouds rolled in.

The waterfall was looking nice from Erwins View, the furthest overlook from the waterfall.

After some pictures, we headed back.

From here, we headed north on the parkway and made a stop at Beacon Heights, but it was too cloudy for a view.  So we continued to Boone and had Greek for lunch at Booneshine and then headed home.

Linville Gorge Memorial Hike

Saturday was our first hike since we had to say good-bye to Alex and wanted to do his favorite hike.  Leaving early, we headed up to the Wolf Pit Trailhead at Linville Gorge.  I heard rumors the road was going to close to the public, but didn't see any indication.  We headed up along the Shortoff Mountain Trail.

The mountain laurel were really popping all along the trail.

Other pretty wildflowers like goat rue were flowering as well.

Some fly agaric mushrooms were popping out of the ground.

It was humid heading up, especially carrying Harper, but after a mile or soon, we made it up to the top.

It was much cooler up here and the clouds were clearing, so we started getting some great views of the gorge.

We took a short break at a rocky overlook and Sandy spotted an orange-patched smoky moth.

We also spotted a eastern turkeybeard flowering.

At high elevation, there was a lot of sandmyrtle flowering around the open areas at the top of Shortoff.

We also saw some interesting bristly locust.

It had small pink flowers and seed pods covered in red bristles.

There were also a few rhododendron blooming up here.

We stopped at the campsite along the trail before it turns east.

I think this spot has some of the very best views in all of Linville Gorge and Alex really loved the hike up here.

We hung out up here for a while then made the hike back.

We were pretty hungry by the time we got back down so stopped at Fonta Flora Brewing Whippoorwill Farm for pizza from the food truck and drinks.  Then we headed over to Lake James State Park to get in a quick hike before the rain.

More mountain laurel was blooming along Paddy's Creek Trail.  At the end, we got on Overmountain Victory Trail, but it soon looked like it was going to rain.

Fortunately, it didn't really start until we got back to the car.

From here, we headed to Spruce Pine and checked into Pine Valley Motel.  I noted a trailhead right across the street so I went on a short exploration.  A small trailhead for Overmountain Victory Trail was just off Carters Ridge Road.  The trail led about a quarter-mile along Grassy Creek.  At the end, stairs led down to the creek at the base of a small waterfall.

It wasn't big and there was a tree fallen down the middle, but it made a nice spot to turn around.

It started raining lightly, so I didn't stay long.

Back at the hotel, we took showers and went to bed.

Duke Gardens on Easter Weekend

Saturday, we took Harper for her first visit to Duke Gardens over the Easter weekend.  We arrived a little after 8 to mostly beat the crowds and headed down to the rose gardens where lots of roses and other flowers were blooming around the fountain.

Since we didn't have Alex, we hiked through the Blomquist Native Plants Garden.

There were lots of beautiful plants that are native to the area, including many we see on our hikes.

Jack in the pulpit, flame azalea and trilliums are some of the flowers we often see in the woods.

Witch alder had cool white flowers.

There was even a Trillium Walk, with many species of beautiful trillium. 

After finishing up the garden, we hiked around the south lawn and to the terraces where the tulips were in peak bloom.

There were also lots of daffodils and irises flowering here as well.

It was getting later in the morning and starting to get really crowded so we took after this.