Johnston Mill & Brumley Forest

Saturday, Sandy and I took Alex to Orange County for a couple hikes on Triangle Land Conservancy preserves.  We first went to Johnston Mill Nature Preserve and parked at the main entrance on Mt. Sinai Road.  Surprisingly, there were quite a few cars here and the small parking area was almost full.  After getting our stuff together, we set out on the red-blazed Robin's Trail.  The trail followed New Hope Creek downstream and there were some nice rocky sections.

There were even some small cascades along the creek.

Where the trail crosses Old Field Creek on a bridge, there was a very interesting tree here.

We continued on Robin's Trail following the creek to the other parking area and then turned back.  Going left on Beech Loop, we then got on Old Field Bluff Trail.  As the name suggests, the trail runs along high bluffs over Old Field Creek.

At the end, we turned back on Robin's Trail to head back towards the car.  On the way back, I spotted some beautiful dwarf crested irises.

Then we finished the hike up back at the car.

It was still pretty early so we continued a little further to the north entrance of Brumley Nature Preserve, parking the old NC-10 parking area.  From here, we hiked the red-blazed Stony Creek Bluff Trail.  Near the start was an old cemetery.

It didn't look maintained and was very overgrown.  The trail soon led to bluffs high above Stony Creek.

At the end, we got on the green-blazed Dairy Farm Trail to make a loop.  The trail passed by a couple of old farm ponds.

At one spot, I spotted some beautiful orange flowers, I think they are poppies.

It was getting a little hot for Alex, so we finished up the loop and then headed back.

For Cinco de Mayo, we went to Leesville Tap Room for fajitas lunch and ate outside so Alex could join us.  He got a little fajita chicken and chips with queso to celebrate.

Brumley Forest Grand Opening

For Earth Day, Amanda and I took Alex to the grand opening of Brumley Nature Preserve, Triangle Land Conservancy's newest preserve.  So many people came out, they had parking in the powerline right-of-way as the parking lots could not handle so many visitors.  A number of sponsors had booths set up, but Alex was anxious to go hiking so we first did a loop around Wood Duck Way.  Near the actual parking lot, we saw an old car that had been completely filled with rocks.

I don't think anyone's going to get away in this car!  After that we got on Springhouse Loop and did a short loop around Grand Oak Loop.  We continued on Springhouse Loop towards the pond and took Flat Tail Trail.  A beaver dam was visible along the creek here.

As we got to the pond, I spotted a beaver lodge, but no beavers.  We did see a family of Canada geese with goslings swimming in the pond.

There was a nice picnic area where we stopped for a snack and to let Alex have a drink and the pond is quite scenic.

Then we followed the powerline clearing and took Running Cedar Trail.  At the end, we did a loop around the manor, but the path to the ruins was closed.  So we took Buckeye Loop for a short ways, but Alex was getting hot so we didn't finish the loop.  Back at the main area, we got some tacos from the Bandidos food truck and some beer from Fullsteam and ate lunch in a shady spot.  We even got Alex a small cup of ice cream to cool off.

It was a really nice opening and we're looking forward to exploring this great new park again soon.