Cane Creek Mountains Hikes

Sunday, we took Harper and Amaroq to Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in Alamance County for a hike.  The Oak Hill section of the park is new so we first parked here.  There was a big orbweaver spider at the restrooms.

At the split, Lookout Trail was closed so we had to stay on Pioneer Camp Trail.

There were a lot of mushrooms along the forest floor.  One downed log was completely covered in puffballs.

Soon we came to the observation deck.  A spur led to Lookout Trail but it was closed.  An old pond was here from when this area was a camp but it looked like the dam was failing.

Continuing on the trail, we saw many more mushrooms.

I spotted a little snake on the trail.  At first, I thought he was dead because his head and neck were flattened, but this was a hog-nose snake.  He stuck out his tongue, so I knew he was alive.

Near the end of the loop, there was a picnic area at the ruins of the camp dining hall.

After finishing the hike, we headed to the Pine Hill Trailhead just up the road and hiked Northern Approach Trail.

Near the top, we could see the observation tower was about half constructed.  I think it will have real nice views when complete.  Completing the loop, we stopped at the pollinator meadow near the parking area.

There were a lot of bees, some were really big.

The cosmos were really pretty in this area.

After our hike, we headed to Saxapahaw for lunch at the Eddy.  Amaroq was very well behaved for his first time at a restaurant.

Cane Creek Mountains

Sandy had Saturday off and it was looking to be a beautiful day so we took Alex for a day hike at Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in Alamance County, just an hour drive.  Arriving a little after 8, it was still quite chilly this early in the morning.  We started off on Northern Approach Trail, which was gradual at first then got steep as it headed up the mountain.  There were some cool rocks to climb around on near the summit and we took a break here.

The trail passed by some rocky areas and then started heading down.

At one point, we saw two trees that were growing out of a rock and appeared to have split the rock open.

We finished the trail back at the parking lot and got on Longleaf Loop.  This trail made a 1-mile loop through an area where longleaf pine was being planted.

This was the last trail in the park, at least for phase 1.  There are plans to expand the park further in the future, but so far, it's really nice.

Since we were close by, we made a stop at Cedarock Park, another Alamance County Park.  Parking next to the visitor center, we got on Rock Creek Trail and headed over to the dam and waterfall.  The water level was pretty low so didn't seem much like a waterfall.

We continued on the loop and took Connector Trail to make a loop with Spoon Branch Trail then headed back to the car.

We were getting hungry at this point, so went to Cancun Mexican in Burlington that has nice outdoor seating.  We split the mixed fajitas for two and then headed home.