Ledge Creek and Impoundments

Sunday, I headed to Granville County for a couple hikes along tributaries of Falls Lake.  I first stopped at Trailhead 1 in Ledge Creek Forest Conservation Area along Brogden Road.  From here, I started hiking down the Ledge Creek Trail through an area being replanted with shortleaf pine.  The trail looped around and ran along the creek.  With steep bluffs along the creek, it was very scenic.

Continuing on, I got on the Pond Trail.

As the name suggests, it passes by several scenic old farm ponds.

The trail ended back up at the parking after passing through another area being replanted with pine trees.  From here, I made the short drive to Trailhead 2.  Hiking down the Waterfall Loop, I turned left at the split and soon came to the trail's namesake.

It's probably a stretch to call it a waterfall, but it was a scenic little drop along a tributary of Ledge Creek.

At the far end of the loop, I got on Ledge Creek Loop which passed by another part of the creek.

Where this loop finished, I then hiked the short Turtle Pond Loop around another scenic pond.

After finishing, I hiked back along the last segment of Waterfall Loop back to the parking area.

Since both hikes were short, I made another stop at the Knap of Reeds Creek Waterfowl Impoundment in Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land.  A gated road led just under a mile along the impoundment.

Then I made one more stop along Brickhouse Road and hiked the gated roads around the Brickhouse Road, Bluff and Beaver Dam impoundments.

It was a scenic area and I didn't see another soul.

Mother's Day at Ledge Creek Forest

For Mother's Day, I took my mom for a short hike at Ledge Creek Forest Conservation Area, a recently-opened preserve owned by the Tar River Land Conservancy.  It's located between Butner and Creedmoor near the community of Stem.  After parking, we went left and followed the blue-blazed Ledge Creek Trail.  It started out through an open meadow where a few little flowers were growing and it looks like the conservancy is planting pine trees.  The trail then looped around through the woods, eventually heading down towards Ledge Creek.

It's a beautiful little creek and the steep bluffs along it are unexpected way out here in rural Granville County.  I climbed around on the rocks a bit while my mom and Alex waited up on the trail.

Then the trail climbed steeply up the bluffs and leveled off before intersecting the yellow-blazed Pond Trail.  We followed this trail passing by some pretty little farm ponds with a lot of algae growing on the surface.

Where the water was visible, it looked very dark and tannic.

On a little bridge, I got a picture of my mom with Alex, enjoying her Mother's Day hike.  We finished up the loop through another open area where it appears they are planting pine trees.  After our hike, we dropped Alex off and went to lunch.