hikes and trails

A week or so ago, I got two books in the mail that I wanted to share with you: The North Carolina Birding Trail Coastal Plain and Piedmont trail guides. I wrote a story for NC State University’s College of Natural Resource’s CNR magazine about the North Carolina Birding Trails, and I was so inspired by the effort to link communities together through this series of still-evolving trails that I ordered the first two guides. The western North Carolina version is scheduled to be released sometime this year.

I think I expected some run-of-the-mill guides, with standard maps and descriptions, but these felt so different to me. They don’t explain too much — after all a guide is just that, not a handholding expedition into the forrest — but they are filled with some unique details, I think. They include maps and photos and amenity details (ranging from camping and handicap access points to viewing platforms and hiking trail information). But they also include nearby attractions, such as museums and botanical gardens, along with bird species you might find.

This year, I’d like to explore some of these areas, and the guides include spots I’ve been really curious about, including the Dismal Swamp Canal in Camden County (just south of the Virginia/North Carolina border) and the Rachel Carson National Estuarine Research Reserve in Carteret County (which you can only get to by boat) and , in the Piedmont, the Sandhills Game Land in Richmond and Moore counties (one of the largest intact longleaf pine ecosystems left in North Carolina) and Eagle Point Nature Preserve in Rowan County (where Bald Eagle and Osprey are common sights). I’m going to put them on my list of places to visit as I’m traveling about the state, which I seem to be doing pretty regularly. And now with our overseas travel budget put on hold, some in-state exploring is an exciting prospect.

If you’d like to get your own, visit the N.C. Wild Store, where the two guides are currently on sale for $10 each. That is a total deal, I think, for helping inspire some new roaming and roving across North Carolina.

When I was a junior in undergrad, I spent the summer living on the edge of Biltmore Forest, in a little run-down house where my Bulgarian friend and his now-famous authoress wife lived. They were spending the summer gong to Bulgaria and dealing with US immigration agents (Are you married? Yes! Really? Yes!) while I took care of their dog and made terrible pesto while listening to Sonic Youth really loud.

That summer, I also found myself tagging along as friends sought out some of the best swimming holes around here. These pools had wholly uncreative names from what I remember: Whale Rock and Skinny Dip, for starters. This photo is from a hike Pat and I went on to Skinny Dip just a few days ago, where the withered ferns grew gold in the afternoon light. I always wonder where the red fern grows (wow. funny!).

I didn’t want to go on a walk in the woods, to be honest. Some days I can’t stand the quiet. But then I go and walk and dodge the tree roots growing over the path and slip on rocks and find myself on this footbridge over one of the pools. It’s a bridge with only one railing, the other side open to the water sloshing over the rocks. It’s not deep or tall, really, but I still felt a little dizzy, disoriented, bewildered looking into the water. It’s beautiful there. The water is cold, even in the heat of the summer. And there I found this little leaf, almost off the edge, and I knew what it meant.