Dix Park Sunflowers 2024

Saturday, we took Harper to the sunflowers at Dorothea Dix Park for her first time.  It's been so hot this summer, we got there right around sunrise to beat the heat and crowds.

And it was still pretty warm and muggy at 6 in the morning, but the sunflowers were beautiful in the early morning light.

The sunflowers seemed shorter this year than when visiting the past, maybe because of the very dry June we had.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the sunflowers first thing in the morning.  Bees, butterflies and other pollinators were busy at work in the field.

We got some pictures of Harper with the flowers and made a loop around the field, but it was warming up quickly.

Sandy and Harper took off and I continued hiking for a while on the Capital Area Greenway.  I took Rocky Branch Trail to Walnut Creek Trail and made a partial loop with Centennial Campus Connector.  By 10, it was really hot and I was glad to get back to air conditioning.

Crabtree Creek West

The final segment of Crabtree Creek Trail was recently finished, completing the 17-mile trail in the Capital Area Greenway.  Saturday was going to be really hot, so I got an early start at the trailhead for Crabtree Creek West along Ebenezer Church Road before 7.  The trail starts where Crabtree Creek leaves Umstead State Park, where the multi-use trail bridge has been removed.

Following the trail, it crosses Richland Creek on a footbridge just above the confluence.

Past here, it heads away from the creek and climbs up a ridge via an elaborate switchback structure.

In about a mile, the greenway comes out on Duraleigh Road and follows the sidewalk back to the creek.  Where the road crosses, the trail goes down and under the bridge.

Shortly past here was a large suspension bridge over the river.

I believe this was the last piece of the trail to be constructed.

In about 2 miles, the trail reaches Lindsey Drive, the former western terminus of the trail.  They made another bridge over the river that connects to Picardy Drive.

Past here, it was existing trail.  I went a few more miles, past the mall and beltline and then turned around as it was really warming up.

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.

Spring Tulips at Duke Gardens

Sunday morning, we took Alex to see the blooms at Duke Gardens as dogs are allowed before 10.

We walked down the main pathway to the rose garden.  It was still too early for rose blooms but the fountain was nice.

We then walked over towards the Azalea Court.

A lot of beautiful azaleas were in bloom here.

The various species and cultivars had beautiful pink and white flowers.

Then we continued around the south lawn to the Terrace Gardens.

Here, row upon row of beautiful tulips were flowering.

After enjoying the tulips, we continued on to the Asiatic Arboretum and the red arched Meyer Bridge.

The iconic bridge was visible throughout the gardens.

Although a little chilly, it was a beautiful day to walk through the gardens.

We finished back up just before 10 and time for Alex to depart.

Neuse River MST Hike

Saturday, we took Alex to get another hike for #mst40hikes, this one local in Raleigh along the Neuse River Trail.

We parked at the Buffaloe Road Canoe Launch and started hiking south along the trail.  Soon we passed by Buffaloe Road Athletic Park.

The trail then crossed over to the other side of the river.  Since Milburnie Dam was removed, the river has restored to its natural state and many of the artificial wetlands upstream of the dam have dried out and grown over.

After about 2 miles, we crossed back over to the other side on the largest pedestrian suspension bridge in North Carolina.

It was about another 2 miles to Milburnie Park, the terminus of this hike.  I went a little further to see what became of the dam.  There was an overlook to the rapids on the river, now called Milburnie Falls.

From here, we made the hike back to the car as it was getting quite warm.

Lady's Slippers at Williamson Preserve

Saturday I headed to check out a new trail off the Neuse River.  I parked at the Mial Plantation Trailhead for Neuse River Trail and took that towards Johnston County.  After crossing the line, the trail became Claytons River Walk and I turned onto Bootleggers' Loop to enter Williamson Preserve.

The trail crossed a small creek on a footbridge and then came to some old barrels right off the trail, presumably from moonshine production.

There were some atamasco lilies blooming around here.

The trail soon came to a split and I went right to hike the loop portion.  After finishing up the trail, I went back in the preserve on Neuse River Connector and hiked the Salamander Loop.  In about a mile, I spotted a pink lady's slipper.

I've never seen one in the Piedmont, just a couple times in the mountains.  Continuing on, I spotted another patch a little further.

There were a lot of these beautiful orchids all along the northern half of Salamander.  I was really excited to see so many.

After finishing up the loop, I hiked back to Neuse River Trail to head back to the car.

New Hope Creek Wildflowers

Saturday, we took Alex for a hike along New Hope Creek to see some wildflowers.  We parked at Hollow Rock Nature Park and took Hanging Rock Trail down to the creek and started following it upstream.  There were some painted buckeye growing along the trail.

Soon, we crossed under Erwin Road and entered Duke Forest on New Hope Creek North Trail.

Shortly past here, there was a large patch of striped cream violets blooming.

New Hope Creek is very scenic - rocky with steep cliffs, unusual for the Piedmont.

We stopped at a few places to enjoy the views of the creek.

And soon we started seeing more and more wildflowers.

There were a lot of irises, but at first most had already bloomed.  I spotted a couple wild geraniums flowering.

Eastern bluestar was another wildflower we saw.

There were a number of Pinxter azaleas blooming along the creek.

Green-and-gold added a splash of yellow.

And there were some azure bluets as well.

A little further, we came to more irises and these ones were blooming.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen so many irises.  It would be spectacular at the time of peak bloom.

After crossing Pine Mountain Creek, we found a nice big patch of jack in the pulpits.

And there was a single blooming bashful trillium.

As we got to the more rocky sections, there were a couple fire pink.

In about 2 miles, we came to the first rock scramble section.  These short but fun parts of the trail make this my favorite trail in the Triangle.

We found a spot to take a break along the creek, then started heading back.  The number of wildflowers along this trail was amazing.  I think this could be the best wildflower hike in the Triangle, in addition to being the most fun.