Weymouth Woods

Our next stop was Weymouth Woods in Southern Pines. It took a little over a half-hour to make the drive over and we got ready for our next hike. Weymouth Woods is a small park, actually a nature preserve and there are fewer amenities than parks. There are only about 4.5 miles of trails in the preserve, so this would take up the rest of our day until we had to go eat turkey with the family. From the visitor center, we took the Pine Barrens Trail through a lovely forest of longleaf pines.

At the intersection, we turned left to get on Gum Swamp Trail. At a couple of point along this trail, we saw some holly growing; it was just starting to produce red berries. At the next intersection, we turned left again to cross a footbridge and turned left yet again to get on Holly Road Trail.

Ultimately, this path would make a big loop around the preserve, hiking all or parts of the five trails in the preserve. Holly Road is the longest trail in the preserve and intersects with several service roads and bridle trails. I had picked up a map at the visitor center. Although the preserve is not big, having a map was helpful with the many trail intersections. We stayed on Holly Road Trail most of the way around the loop, turning left to get on Pine Island Trail, which leads through a very swampy area with several small streams and creeks together.

Three-quarters of the way through this loop, we turned left to get on Lighter Stump Trail heading back towards the visitor center. This trail is the only one in the preserve that is not a loop. I was surprised to see that there was actually a little bit of elevation gain on this trail. All the trails had been so flat today, even the mild climb on this trail was unexpected. At the end of this trail, we turned left one last time and took Bower’s Bog Trail back to the visitor center.

It was still a little too early to head over from dinner, so we did one last short hike, doing the entire Pine Barrens Trail. About half-way through the loop, we stopped to see a woodpecker. He was quite a ways away up in a tree and by the time I got the telephoto lens attached, he had flown off. I couldn’t get a good enough look to tell what kind he was, but he was definitely a woodpecker, possibly the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. After the last loop, we had worked up quite an appetite and it was about time to head over for Thanksgiving dinner and eat lots of turkey, stuffing, and pie. We changed into more appropriate clothes in the bathrooms at the visitor center and then made our way to Vass to eat with the family.

NC's Newest State Park

For Thanksgiving, Sandy and I were heading down to the Fayetteville area for dinner with family. Dinner wasn’t until 4, so we had some time to go hiking and work up an appetite beforehand. In September, North Carolina’s newest state park opened to the public – Carvers Creek State Park. Since I hadn’t visited this park yet, this would make a perfect opportunity. We left around 9 or so and got to the park around 11. Currently, only a small portion of the park is open to the public. The Long Valley Farm property was given to the park by The Nature Conservancy and has a mile or so of trails for hiking. From the parking lot at the visitor center, the James S. Rockefeller Trail goes through a fence and follows an old road towards the historic farmhouse of the trail’s namesake.

Along the way, it passes through an interesting landscape with a pine forest to the left and an open field to the right. After about a half-mile, the trail ends at the Rockefeller House, a beautiful old farmhouse on a millpond.

The farm was the former winter estate of James Stillman Rockefeller. The house was built in 1938, overlooking the 100-acre McDiarmid Millpond.

A sign on the fence indicated the park was working to restore the house and eventually open it to the public. After a few pictures, we got on the Cypress Point Loop Trail that meanders along the southwest side of the millpond. There were really nice views across the pond of the house and pavilion.

We also hiked down a peninsula in the millpond with many cypress trees growing in the shallow water.

There was also an interesting “bridge to nowhere” here, mostly hidden among the trees. One would have to walk out several feet in the water to get to the bridge and the other end didn’t appear to go anywhere.

There may have been a small island over there, but I couldn't really tell through the trees. We got some pictures and then hiked back from the peninsula and turned right to finish out the loop.

After finishing up the loop, I stopped to get a couple more pictures of the Rockefeller House before heading back to the parking lot.

Although we didn't see anyone in the park during our hike, there were a few people heading in as we were making our way back. I guess we weren't the only ones who wanted to get out for a nice hike on a chilly Thanksgiving.

Birkhead Wilderness Hike

This weekend, I headed to the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness area in Uwharrie National Forest for a nice autumn hike and opportunity to see some of the last of the fall color for the season. The hike was organized by Joe Miller through the GetHiking group and nearly 50 people were attending. Despite being a federally-designated wilderness area, the Birkhead Mountains are a little more developed than other wilderness areas and fortunately there is no group size limit. There are also signs at trailheads and intersections and the trails themselves are well blazed. We carpooled from Durham to the trailhead on Tot Hill Farm Road, just outside of Asheboro. Arriving at the parking, it was completely full and we had to park on the street. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones taking advantage of a nice Saturday to enjoy the outdoors. There were quite a few Boy Scouts hiking in the area and it was the first day of rifle-hunting season. As the wilderness is also state game lands, there were many hunters out and about. After Joe made a few announcements regarding the hike, we took off on the Birkhead Mountain Trail leading south into the wilderness.

The trail is initially pretty flat, but then becomes rather steep as it climbs up Coolers Knob Mountain, the steepest part of our hike today. Reaching the top of the mountain, the trail follows an old road bed along the ridgeline of the mountain. When we reach the top, some people initially went right on the old road bed, but this was not the trail. We got everyone back together and all went left, following the white blazes to stay on the Birkhead Mountain Trail. Up higher, we were starting to see what’s left of the fall color. Most of the leaves were down by now and the majority of those that remained were more of a dull brown. But there were still some very nice patches of red, yellow, and orange.

And without much of the foliage to obscure views, I could see the rolling hills of the Birkhead Mountains through the trees. Mountains is a bit of stretch, considering the highest peaks are less than 1000 feet above sea level. But still, the elevation gains made this hike a bit more strenuous than the usual Piedmont hike and the views were quite nice. We continued on the trail for a little bit over a mile to the intersection with Robbins Branch Trail, where we would finish up the loop later on, and then continued on Birkhead Mountain Trail for about two more miles to the intersection with Hannahs Creek Trail. By this time, our group had really broken up and I was hiking with the faster group. We didn’t really have any idea how far behind everyone else was and since the intersections are well signed, we turned on to Hannahs Creek Trail. Shortly after the turn is the remains of an old chimney, a sign of the human influence of the wilderness’s past.

I was here last year and the chimney was standing, signaling that there used to be a homestead here.

Some time in the past year, however, the chimney had collapsed and all that remained was a pile of stones. We continued along this trail, which follows Hannahs Creek for a ways and then crosses Robbins Branch, ending near the Robbins Branch Trailhead.

Like all the trails in the wilderness, there are many large rocks along the trail that indicate that these were once mighty mountains that have been eroded away by hundreds of millions of years of the elements. We stopped for a break at the intersection of Robbins Branch and Hannahs Creek Trail, had a snack and took a “biology” break.

By this point, we had already gone over six miles and Joe had indicated the total hike was 7.2 miles. Clearly, this was wrong, as we still had more than four miles to get back to the cars. A few people were not so happy about the extra mileage, but I didn't mind. With about 3 hours of round-trip driving for the hike, I wanted to get as much hiking time in as possible, at least more than driving time, and the extra miles would ensure that. 7.2 miles is the correct distance for the loop, but the extra section of Birkhead Mountain Trail adds more than 4 miles to and from the trailhead. A few more stragglers met at the intersection and then we continued on, hiking the Robbins Branch Trail back to Birkhead Mountain Trail.

From here, it was another 2.2 miles back to the parking area, but at least it was mostly downhill on the way back. Back at the parking lot, we saw more hunters with their rifles heading into the woods. I had gotten back to the trailhead with a few others about 20 minutes or so before the others got back. We waited around at the parking area for a while and when Grace and Isabel got back, we took off. On the way home, we stopped at Pisgah Covered Bridge, one of only two covered bridges remaining in North Carolina. It’s a pretty bridge and a nice reminder of the state’s history. Unfortunately, some idiots thought it would be cool to carve and paint graffiti on the bridge. After a few pictures, we took off and made our way back to Durham.

Rod's Raven Rock Hike 2013

Today was Rod Broadbelt’s annual hike in Raven Rock State Park. The hike started at 8, but it’s over an hour drive to the park so I left at 630 and got to the park a few minutes before opening. The rangers had just opened the gate when I arrived and I followed the line of cars in to the old parking lot. All or nearly all of the early arrivals were for Rod’s hike. After everyone signed in and Rod gave a quick overview of the planned hike, we took off on the Campbell Creek Loop Trail. It was very cold when we started out and I was bundled up with several layers. It’s too bad the first part of the trail is downhill so I couldn’t warm up during the coldest part of the hike. The trail heads down to Campbell Creek with a gradual but steady downhill slope. Along the trail, many of the leaves had already fallen. While there was some color left, it was clearly past peak. We crossed Campbell Creek on the nice footbridge and turned left, following the creek downstream towards Cape Fear River. Stopping at the river’s edge, I took a couple of pictures.

The river was beautiful today – very smooth, making perfect reflections of the trees on the other side, with some remaining fog hovering over the surface. But I couldn’t stop for long. Rod likes to keep things going quickly for cardiovascular benefit.

Continuing on Campbell Creek Trail, we took the short spur trail to Lanier Falls and got some quick photos and then continued on the loop.

Eventually, we got back to the footbridge and made our way back up to the parking lot. It had warmed up by now and I was wearing layers, so going uphill was making me start to sweat. Funny, considering how cold I was a couple hours ago. But we were soon back at the parking lot and I was able to drop the extra layers off in the car. After regrouping, we hiked down Raven Rock Loop Trail, taking the Northington Ferry Trail. The goal today is to hike pretty much all the trails in the park, at least on this side of the river.

About halfway down Northington Ferry Trail, we stopped at the Jesse Northington grave marker, just off the trail and turned around where the trail terminates at the Cape Fear River.

This turnaround point is right across Campbell Creek from where we had stopped earlier in the hike. Next, we turned left to hike down Fish Traps Trail to the Fish Traps, interesting exposed rock in the river.

Finally, we headed back to Raven Rock Trail. I was getting hungry by this point and looking forward to getting to the park’s namesake, where we each lunch.

We stopped briefly at the overlook and then headed down the 98 steep and narrow stairs to the base of Raven Rock.

We went all the way down to a nice spot to sit and have lunch under the rock and then made our way back to the steps.

It’s a lot harder going up, but at least I had eaten.

Back at the top, we finished up by taking Little Creek Loop Trail, opting to skip the Group Camp Trail and head back.

Chimneys and NC Wall

In the morning, we packed up camp and headed back to Linville Gorge via the entrance for Table Rock. It’s a long gravel road up the mountain and very dusty in the dry conditions. The cars were covered in dust by the time we reached the parking area. Rather than hike to Table Rock, which was very crowded on a nice fall weekend, we hiked in the opposite direction towards the Chimneys and the NC Wall.

We hiked on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail south from the parking lot towards the Chimneys.

This is one of the most scenic hikes in Linville Gorge. After a short hike through a forested area, the trail leads along an exposed ridge line with fantastic views of the gorge and the many beautiful rock formations and outcrops that line the rim of the gorge.

A large group of rock climbers were climbing near the Chimneys, so to get some solitude and not disturb them, we had to look around for a nice place to climb up.

We found a steep climb that leads up to a great overlook on the Chimneys.

The climb up was steep, but short, and we had to climb through a beautiful rock arch to get up there.

We stopped and had lunch here and climbed around to enjoy the views from different angles. To the east, we could see the rolling foothills and to the west we could see across the gorge with stunning cliffs lining the west side.

In the distance, the outline of the mighty Black Mountains could be seen in the distance. Fall color did not seem to be quite peaking yet and there was a lot of green left still visible (although much of this was from evergreen trees). However, there were many beautiful patches of bright colors.

When we finished lunch, we climbed back down and followed the MST for a little while longer, taking an easy-to-miss side trail that leads down to the NC Wall. This unofficial trail is the Amphitheater Trail and is not shown on maps. It leads from the MST down to the Amphitheater, a canyon in the cliff face of the gorge.

It's another area popular with rock climbers and had truly fantastic views.

A small patch of colorful trees down in the Amphitheater contrasted beautifully against the rugged grey cliffs. Further to the south, we could Shortoff Mountain and the end of the Linville River, where it flows into Lake James. From here, we hiked along the North Carolina Wall Trail, parallel to the MST, but several hundred feet below. This is another unofficial trail.

The NC Wall is sparsely vegetated and so provides some of the best views of the gorge.

Much of the interior of the gorge is forested, with the river dividing the gorge in half.

But there are a few fantastic rock towers sticking up from dense vegetation and providing a beautiful contrast.

Almost immediately, we saw the Sphinx rising out from the canyon floor among the dense vegetation.

Towards the end of the trail, we saw the Camel, another rock formation that looked surprisingly like the animal.

Altogether, we stopped at a three or four spots to enjoy the views and get some pictures and then took the trail back up to the MST and took this back to the parking lot. Although it was only about a four mile loop, we stopped so frequently that it took quite a while. We had initially thought about hiking up to Table Rock, but it would be crowded and it was getting late. And we were getting hungry and knew that our favorite restaurant, Las Salsas in Morganton was not far away. So we finished our hiking and drove to Morganton for dinner before heading back to the Raleigh area.