December 10, 2015 - Mine Mountain, Airstrip, and Barn Trails - DuPont Stete Forest

Today was supposed to be another warmer than usual day, so we picked more trails to knock out from the Fawn Lake area of DuPont.  Again we began the hike on Fawn Lake Rd, but this time we took the Mine Mountain Trail which is about 1/4 mile up on the left.  The trail begins by heading up, but this is the hardest part of this trail - and it's not that bad.  Once you reach the big tank about 1/2 mile into the hike, the rest of the 1.4 mile trail is a steady downhill.  Here are some shots from the trail.
  

view of Fawn Lake from the trail

Cindy shooting Fawn Lake from the trail

looking up from the trail

This is one of the nicer trails I've been on in DuPont, mainly because it's a single lane trail through the woods instead of along a gravel road.  On trails like this in DuPont, you really have to keep an eye and ear out for mountain bikes.  They are supposed to yield to hikers, but it's a lot easier to just step out of their way.  Most are nice and look out for hikers, but we've run across a couple so far that would have run us over if we hadn't gotten out of the way.  The Mine Mountain Trail begins in really open woods - hardwoods mainly - then transitions into a younger mixed hardwood forest with mountain laurel, rhododendron, and other understory.  The trail comes back out on Fawn Lake Rd a short distance from Conservation Rd.

We headed towards Conservation Rd, but this time when we got to the intersection with the Airstrip Trail, we took it.  You can't miss it because it follows the old paved airstrip towards a pretty good view.

view from the end of the airstrip

view looking back down the airstrip

Just before the airstrip ends, the trail turns off to the left and heads into the woods.  It meanders down the mountain and meets the Shelter Rock Trail 1 mile from it's beginning back at Conservation Rd.  The next trail we wanted to complete was the Barn Trail.  It turns left a short distance down the Shelter Rock Trail.  The Barn Trail isn't very exciting at all.  It's about 1/2 mile in length and passes by the barn you see on Bridal Veil Falls Rd before ending on Conservation Rd.  From here, we took Conservation Rd back to the vehicle and called it a day.

the barn on the Barn Trail

 

December 8, 2015 - Fawn Lake and Lake Julia - DuPont State Forest

Today's hike began at the Fawn Lake access of DuPont State Forest.  There are several combinations of trails that can be done from this parking area and Cindy had one picked out that would include views of 2 of the lakes in the area.  This hike was about 4.5 miles in length and very easy.  From the parking area, you have a choice of either beginning a hike on the Reasonover Creek Trail or Fawn Lake Rd.  We began on the latter.

Fawn Lake Rd is one of the gravel service roads in DuPont.  It's about a mile long, passes Fawn Lake and the high voltage power lines than run through the forest, then connects with Conservation Rd.  We followed it for about 0.4 miles through some open woods, then turned left on to Fawn Lake Loop before getting to Fawn Lake.  This loop circles the lake for 0.6 miles, but far enough away from the lake so you only have glimpses of it through the trees.  This looks like a place that would have some nice spring wildflowers, so we'll probably head back there in early April to see. Here's a shot from the trail looking up towards Mine Mountain.

To see the lake close up, we would have turned back towards the parking area on Fawn Lake Rd, but we saved that for the return hike later in the day.  Instead, we headed towards Conservation Rd and turned left once we reached it.  In a short distance, this comes out to an old airstrip and a forest service building.  We stayed on Conservation Rd. with the intent of turning on to Lake Julia Rd.  When we got to that intersection, a huge group of hikers was coming from the other way and turned on to Lake Julia Rd before we got to it.  Time for a change of plans.  Instead, we kept on Conservation Rd to the left turn on Bridal Veil Falls Rd so we would have that part of Conservation Rd on the GPS.  I still plan to go back to Bridal Veil Falls, but want to wait until water levels are lower.

We hoped that large group of hikers didn't stop at Lake Julia, but when we came back that way they were at the picnic tables eating lunch.  Lake Julia Rd is only 0.4 miles long and it passes the forest service office right before getting to the lake.  Where the road ends, the Lake View Loop trail picks up, so we took it to give those folks time to move along.  This loop trail is only about 1/4 mile long and loops around a vacant house before coming around to a boat house on the lake.  There weren't any signs saying we couldn't go down to the boathouse, so we did.  It's being used by the forest service to store a couple of canoes and a john boat.  It's a nice spot, so we hung around a bit waiting for the group to depart.
 

Lake Julia from the boathouse

looking towards the vacant house from the boathouse

The group finally departed via the Reasonover Creek Trail, so we headed over to the picnic area for another view of Lake Julia.

Lake Julia from the picnic area

From here, we took Camp Summit Rd for about a half a mile back to Conservation Rd, then headed back towards Fawn Lake.  This time we stayed on Fawn Lake Rd and stopped at the lake.  This is probably a very popular swimming area in the summer and I plan to avoid it like the plague during that time.  That tree in the foreground in the picture below is a dogwood and I'd love to get a shot here in the spring with it in bloom.

Fawn Lake

December 7, 2015 - Grassy Meadow Trail, DuPont State Forest

Today we wanted to check out another area of the forest.  The trail we picked - the Grassy Meadow Trail - is off of the far end of Joanna Rd.  We could have parked at the High Falls access and hiked to the trail the same way we did for the other trails off of Joanna Rd, but we decided to start from the other end of Joanna Rd and hike in from that side. 

This end of Joanna Rd is off of Pinnacle Mountain Rd which is near the Fawn Lake parking area of DuPont.  This road isn't on DuPont property, but is a public road.  It's gravel and sections of it were in pretty bad shape.  I'm not sure if I would bring a 2 wheel drive passenger vehicle down this road, but our Outback did fine.  The road passes through private property before getting to the DuPont property.  Just in case you don't know, purple paint on trees means private property and landowners are allowed to use the paint to replace 'No Trespassing' signs.  Joanna Rd is on the left about 3.3 miles down Pinnacle Mountain Rd.  There's no nice wooden sign like on the other trails we've been on, just a faded yellow metal post and large boulders placed to block 4x4's from using the trail.

The trail is really rocky at this end and not wide enough for a vehicle like the last section we were on.  The elevation drops about 200' before reaching the intersection of the Grassy Meadow Trail a little more than 3/4 of a mile from the trail head.  We began hearing Briery Fork Creek on our left about 10 minutes into the hike.  Soon after that we crossed 2 small tributaries.  The second was a little tricky since water levels were still a bit high, but we managed to get across without getting our feet wet.  The trail improved quite a bit by the time we reached the right turn for the Grassy Meadow Trail.

Joanna Rd at Grassy Meadow Trail

The Grassy Meadow Trail itself is a really nice trail listed as .83 miles in length.  It begins by heading uphill slightly, then crosses a fairly wide tributary of Briery Fork Creek.  We were able to keep our feet dry by crossing on some rocks just up creek from the trail.  In this area we spotted some sphagnum moss that had turned a nice reddish color. 

After the creek crossing, the trail enters a field then descends and meets back up with Joanna Rd.  Turning left would take us back to our vehicle.  On the way in, we spotted a bedrock area in the woods right where the Grassy Meadow Trail split from Joanna Rd.  It was lunch time, so we decided to eat there.  The rock was quite interesting with colonies of different mosses and lichens growing on it. 

moss and lichen

moss and lichen podetia

If you come across areas like this, please tread lightly!  It takes years for these delicate plants to get established.  In that last picture above, the cup shaped podetia are the fruiting bodies of the lichen.  They can come in different shapes and are quite interesting looking!

It was still early afternoon when we got back to the vehicle (and back on pavement), so we decided to make a quick stop at the Lake Imaging access of DuPont.  Cindy wanted to check out the lake to see if it would be a good photo subject in the snow.  The lake is only a few minutes up the trail and a very easy walk to get to.  It's nice, but we both agreed that Lake Alford would look better with a fresh blanket of snow.  If it ever does snow, we'll head there first.

Lake Imaging

December 4, 2015 - Pitch Pine and Table Rock Trails in DuPont - plus Merry Falls near DuPont

It looks like Cindy's next hiking book will be on the trails in DuPont State Forest, so that's where we'll be focusing our efforts for the leafless months.  I have a lot of waterfalls in other areas that I want to return to for updated photos, but I'd rather get them when everything is greener.

Our hike today again began at the High Falls parking area.  We were heading over to the Conservation Rd and Joanna Rd area, so we took Buck Forest Rd to Conservation Rd.  Just before getting to Conservation Rd, Buck Forest Rd crosses the Little River above High Falls.  Here's the view from the covered bridge looking towards the top of the falls.

looking towards the top of High Falls from the covered bridge

We were heading towards the Pitch Pine Trail which begins (or ends) off of Conservation Rd   and had past it several times while hiking in this area.  It's a nice trail through a section of white pine and mixed hardwoods forest and is worth taking if you are in the area.  It's fairly easy and listed at 0.4 miles in length.  The trail passes another side of Lake Dense before ending on Joanna Rd.  We had recently been to Lake Dense when we did the 3 Lakes Trail.

Lake Dense

 

The next trail we wanted to check out was the Table Rock Trail which is off of Joanna Rd.  We had recently gone this way to find the decommissioned Joanna Mountain Trail, and stopped short of the Table Rock Trail.  Joanna Rd begins as mostly gravel when it turns off of Conservation Rd, but gradually narrows the further it gets away from it.  By the time we reached the Table Rock Trail, it had narrowed to one lane and was covered in leaves.  Not may hikers come this way - mostly mountain bikers and horseback riders.

Joanna Rd at the Table Rock Trail

Table Rock Trail

The Table Rock Trail is an out and back trail listed at 0.88 miles.  It's also fairly easy with some ups and downs, but not much real change in elevation.  The trail actually drops in elevation until near the end where it heads up to the knob known as Table Rock.  I'm not sure why it's called this as there are no flat rocks to be seen.  The knob is covered with trees and we had a very obscured view of Lake Julia below.  I'm guessing there would be no view when the leaves are on the trees.  Even though there's not much to see, the trail is a nice stroll through the woods and you're not likely to see very many people - if any.

From here we headed back to the parking area via Joanna, Conservation, and Buck Forest Roads.  We still had some time to kill, so I suggested we check out the nearby Merry Falls.  It's not on DuPont property, but is very close.  Here are the directions from my site.  I've only been to this waterfall once and that was quite a few years ago.  From what I remembered, the gravel road has been improved with a little more room to pull off.

Merry Falls from the road

Merry Falls from down the 'trail'

The creek and falls still had quite a bit of water, so getting down for a better view and shot wasn't an option today without getting my feet wet.  It's another falls I've added to the list to return to in greener times.

December 3, 2015 - Schoolhouse Falls, Panthertown Valley

Today I met a couple of friends of mine for a quick trip to Panthertown Valley near Lake Toxaway, NC.  One friend - Hal - is from out of town and he was staying with Harry who lives near Panthertown.  We met at Harry's house and left from there.  Here's the Panthertown Valley section of my web site with more info and directions.

I hadn't been to this entrance to Panthertown since the parking area was improved.  It used to be a mess with vehicles only being able to park long ways.  Once the parking area filled, it was impossible to get turned around.  It now looks like this.

new Cold Mountain parking lot at Panthertown

The lane coming back to this area has also been graded and widened.  Today's destination was Schoolhouse Falls.  The trail begins just to the right of the kiosk in the above picture.

There's been a lot of rain in this area lately so we decided to take the side trail to get behind the waterfall first.  During normal flow, you can get to the same spot from in front of the waterfall by crossing the creek.  We made the right decision today - the creek was flowing over the stepping stones and it would have been a wet crossing. There was also a lot of water coming over the falls and the sound from back here was almost deafening.
 

Schoolhouse Falls from the left side

From here we had to go back to the main trail, then cross Greenland Creek on a bridge and take another trail to get to in front of the waterfall.  The sun was quite bright today and coming right over the waterfall, so the shots weren't that great - and the video was so-so as you can see at the end of this post.  There's a campsite in this area that gets used pretty frequently and someone has gone to the trouble to position the rocks into chairs.

Schoolhouse Falls from the front

camp site in front of the waterfall

There's also a trail that comes in from the right side of the waterfall to the area right next to that side of the falls.  On a drier day, you could just walk  behind the falls from one side to the other, but it would have been wet and slippery today.  Today there was a smaller bonus waterfall also because of all the rain.  It was flowing down the rock to the right of the waterfall.

bonus waterfall

Schoolhouse Falls from the right side

Schoolhouse Falls from behind

We spent quite a bit of time back here.  It was mostly them waiting for me to shoot stills and then video with both the GoPro and a6000.  Here's some of the footage of the falls.

November 24, 25, & 26 2015 - Birding and Thanksgiving in Jacksonville Florida

While this blog is mainly about hiking, Cindy and I enjoy birding also.  The hobby is kind of new to us and we usually only do it in late fall and over the winter months - and in areas that are warm.  Plus, the areas we like to go give us a chance to get outside and see places we wouldn't see otherwise.  Our goal is to see as many different species of birds as we can - I'm at 193.  Of course we want good shots, but will settle for good enough to ID the bird.  IDing the dang things is a whole other issue that I won't go into here. I have a gallery of most of the birds I have seen here.

Cindy is from Jacksonville and this year we had Thanksgiving with her folks.  We left the mountains on Tuesday with the intention of stopping at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.  When we got to the entrance of the loop road, it was blocked because of a controlled burn in the refuge. Luckily, we had a plan B which was to check out Harris Neck NWR in Georgia.  We've been to both areas several times and enjoy going to both.

Harris Neck also has a one way loop drive with ponds and varied habitats at the different stop. The area has an interesting history and used to be an Army airfield during WWII.  You can read more about it here if you like.  Our first stop today was the short walk to Bluebill Pond.  As with any of the ponds, you never know what birds will be here - if any - and you're lucky if they are close enough to get off a decent shot.  We saw a few ducks and a Great Blue Heron when we first got to the pond, but they saw us also and were laughing as they swam and flew away.  There were also some Wood Storks which nest at the refuge, a couple of Roseate Spoonbills in the far distance, and a few other wading birds.  Below is a shot of the pond.  In the middle right you can see some white specks which are the Wood Storks.

Bluebill Pond

Wood Storks

female Blue-winged Teals

Our next stop was Woody Pond which usually has a lot of birds, but not today.  There were a few night herons, some coots, and moorhens and a guy who couldn't wait to point out the alligators.  Next time we might wear tee shirts that say ' We're not here to see the freakin' gators!'  Sorry.  Anyhow, here's a picture of the pond.  This pond is the main nesting area for the Wood Storks, but it's not that time of year yet.

Woody Pond

Snipe Pond was the next stop, but there weren't any birds there.  The pond didn't have much water in it at all and I didn't take any shots of it.  We were hoping for more - or anything - at Goose Pond and our luck changed.  There was a greater variety of birds here, but most were pretty far out. If there is a large group of birds, we'll shoot several pictures of the group and try to ID them later when we can zoom in on the computer.  We use binoculars in the field, and that helps spot something out of the ordinary in a group.  Our best strategy is still shoot now and try to ID later.  There were several varieties of ducks in this pond including Ring-necked, Scaups, and Blue and Green-winged Teals.  We also spotted Dunlins, a Black-bellied Plover, and a Killdeer.  And on the far side of the pond, my 194th bird - 3 Snow Geese.
 

Goose Pond

Dunlins

Snow Geese

By now it was getting late and we were losing light fast.  The road passes right between Greenhead and Teal Ponds, so we stopped to see what we could see.  There were a lot of birds on the far end of Greenhead, but nothing in Teal Pond.  I snapped a shot of Greenhead Pond and then we headed on to the hotel in Jacksonville.
 

Greenhead Pond

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are a lot of state parks around Jacksonville and we planned to hit a couple today to see what birds we could find.  Our first stop of the day was Fort Clinch State Park north of Jacksonville.  We've been here several times in the past 3-4 years since they have a variety of habitats.  Our first stop here was the fishing pier where I was able to get better shots of both male and female Black Ccoters that were swimming around the pier and jetty.  We also saw quite a few gulls and Ruddy Turnstones.

male Black Scoter

female Black Scoter

Ruddy Turnstone

juvenile Great Black-backed Gull

Laughing Gull

Gulls can be particularly hard for me to ID. There is either a 2, 3, or 4 year transition to adult plumage and the juveniles look very different from the adults.  Then there's breeding and non-breeding plumage.  So I'm kind of sure that the above is a Great Black-backed Gull, but it could be a Herring Gull.  We also got to witness a Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey and making it drop whatever it had caught.  What a bully!  They were pretty far off and this is the best I could do - and this is cropped from the original.

Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey

From the pier, we went down to the beach area to see what we could see in the mass of birds hanging out on the shoreline.  Cindy had read on EBird that there had been a mass fallout of Franklin's Gulls and we were hoping to see one of them.  Problem is that the distinguishing characteristic can only be seen in flight, and they look a lot like Laughing Gulls otherwise.  If there was one in this bunch of birds, we didn't recognize it.  Below is a shot of the pier from the beach and then a couple of bird shots.

Fort Clinch State Park fishing pier

Laughing Gulls - juvenile in front

adult Herring Gull

The wind had picked up considerably and salty, sandy air and camera equipment don't really mix well, so we decided to move on.  Little Talbot Island State Park was nearby, so we stopped there next.  The wind was still kicking, so we left the camera equipment in the car and just went out and enjoyed the beach.  Hardly anyone was there and we had a great time.

Thanksgiving Day at Cindy's folks house was great and we were back to the hotel by early evening.  Our hotel was downtown  right on the Riverwalk and we finally decided to take a stroll that evening.  I brought my smaller camera - but no tripod - with the intent of trying out the Twilight Handheld mode on the camera.  It figures that the only rain we saw down there came about 15 minutes into our walk, but I snapped a few before we had to run for shelter.

We left Jacksonville Friday morning and were breathing mountain air by mid afternoon - ahhhh.  It's always good coming home!