Frozen Falls Lake

Sunday, I was continuing my hikes along the Falls Lake Trail.  This week was Section 14 from Rolling View to Little Lick Creek.  It was very cold when we started just after 9 from the trailhead parking just before the entrance to Rolling View Recreation Area, part of Falls Lake State Recreation Area, on Baptist Road.  We followed the blue-blazed spur trail to the MST and then headed westbound.  With the leaves down, we soon had views of the lake from the trail and it was frozen.  After a mile or so, the trail passed next to a small beach on the lake so we headed down to check it out.  And sure enough, the lake was frozen, pretty much solid.

I wouldn't have walked on it, but it looked thoroughly frozen.  George tossed a rock out on the lake and it made a weird echoing sound.  Further along the trail, we passed by a pasture where some horses were grazing.

They were wearing jackets too!  This section of the trail ends at Little Lick Creek where a bridge crosses the creek.  Past the bridge, an elevated boardwalk crosses a normally wet area.

The water level at Falls Lake is so low, this is all dry ground.  We took a quick break and turned around here.  Across the bridge, I went out on the normally submerged area to get a couple pictures of the bridge.

Heading back a little ways, I took an old road down to lake level to get a couple more pictures of the frozen Falls Lake.

I've been hiking here for years and this is the first time I've ever seen it freeze like this.

Snow at Eno River

After the snow this week, most was gone near where I live in North Raleigh.  So on Saturday morning, I took Alex for a hike at Eno River State Park, hoping to see more snow.  We were not disappointed as there was a lot of snow on the trails and river.  We started at the Fews Ford section on Cox Mountain Trail, crossing Eno River on the suspension bridge.  At the split, we turned left to head up the mountain.

The trail has been rerouted in the last year or so.  Before, it was quite steep and headed straight up, but the slope had been reduced by adding switchbacks.  After passing near the summit, the trail heads back down and follows the river downstream.  Although not completely solid, the Eno was pretty well frozen.

I wouldn't have walked on it though.  We continued on the trail and at the next split, went left to follow Fanny's Ford Trail.  This trail passes the campsites and follows the river more closely.  We climbed out on the rocks at one spot to get some pictures of the rocks in the water.

Crossing back over the suspension bridge, we hiked north to Buckquarter Creek Trail and followed that loop.  On the way back, just before climbing some steps at the end of the loop, there was a cascade on the river.

It was flowing pretty well, but all covered in ice and just beautiful.  Almost back at the parking lot, we did a short loop around Eno Trace Trail to see the icy river one more time.

Alex really enjoyed getting to hike in the snow.

He's a husky, but living in North Carolina, he doesn't get to see snow much.

Redwood Road Detour

Saturday, we took Alex for a hike at Falls Lake Trail.  Last year on my Falls Lake hike, a sinkhole had formed in Redwood Road.

It was closed to traffic, but we could hike it to connect sections 17 and 18.  Since then, the road has been completely removed and there is no way to cross, on foot or otherwise.  Initially, there was a 7 mile road walk to detour around for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  Now, there is a 2-mile trail hike for a detour, so we went out to check it out.  We parked on Hereford Road at the east trailhead for section 17.  This section is a little over a mile and we came out at Redwood Road.  To the right, the road was barricaded, but a blue-blazed trail picked up across the street.  The trail was very well blazed and easy to follow heading upstream on Panther Creek.  About a mile up at the creek crossing, there was no reasonable way across.

So we bushwhacked upstream to just past an island in the creek and found an easy to cross and stay dry.  Continuing through the woods a short ways, we came to an old abandoned railway and turned right.  This old railway went all the way to Redwood Road on the other side of the gap.

Part of the way down, was the remains of an old bridge - much safer to just go around this one.

As we got to Redwood Road, I went out to the lake, since the water was so low to get a picture of Redwood Road.

We continued on sections 18 and 19 and went as far as the tunnel under I-85 before turning around.

Lower Haw River Hike

I had Friday off for the holiday weekend, so Sandy and I took Alex to Lower Haw River State Natural Area for a hike.  We took US-64 west past Jordan Lake and once across Haw River, made a U-turn, crossing the river again in the eastbound direction.  A small pull-off was on the right immediately back across the river.  We parked here and followed a trail down towards the river and under the highway.  There's no official trail, but the "social" trail was very easy to follow the river upstream.  The Haw is very rocky and the water level was low so there were a number of spots to head out into the river for a picture.

Soon we came to the first of three tributary crossings.  The water level was low, but the banks were steep so we had to go upstream a little ways to find a way across.  There were a lot of downed tree over the trail, which I would have expected given the trail is not maintained.  But there's another reason there are so many trees down - beavers.

The beavers had clearly been busy taking down trees along the river here.  A little further up, we came to a real scenic cascades in the river next to an island.

Continuing north, we reached the last creek crossing at Pokeberry Creek.  Unlike the previous ones, this creek had a good amount of water.

We followed the path upstream a ways to where we could get down to creek level and rock hop across.  From here it was only another mile or so to the north trailhead in Bynum.  When we got here, we continued a little further to the Old Bynum Bridge.  In the past, cars could drive over, but the barricaded it so only pedestrians can cross now.  We went out on the bridge to where we could see the US-15/US-501 bridge over the Haw River.

A little further back, there was a nice view of the river where the road was not visible.

We had a snack and then started making our way back.

All three of us had worked up an appetite by the time we got back, so we stopped at Grill and Go and got lunch, including a hot dog for Alex.

Chainsaw Art

Saturday, Sandy and I took Alex for a hike at William B. Umstead State Park.  From the last parking area on the Crabtree Creek side of the park, we went down towards the boat house and then hiked along the gravel roads to Reedy Creek Multi-Use Trail.  From here, we followed the multi-use trails to make a big loop around the park.  As we were finishing up on Graylyn Trail, we went left a short ways to see the chainsaw art.

After a large red oak had fallen, two artists from Gatlinburg, Tennessee came out and used chainsaws to make a beautiful sculpture from the enormous downed tree.  It's hard to believe such intricate detail could be carved with a chainsaw.

We got some pictures and then took Sycamore Trail back to the start.