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| Hiking | 7.31 Miles |
256 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.31 Miles | 2 Hrs 20 Mns | | 3.13 mph |
| 256 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I was in North Carolina This weekend was the third reunion of my early 80s Army outfit at Ft. Bragg. Because the reunion activities began mid-afternoon, my plan was to hike most of Longleaf Pine, plus all of Little Pond Spur, Fox Squirrel "Loop" and Dead End Spur. About 6.9 total miles.
There trailhead had clean his & her pit toilets, with dispensers that actually contain hand cleanser! Whoa.
I hiked out the west side of the trailhead, by the two picnic tables. Though I picked up a flower brochure, I did not spot any of the flowers in it. 
At every trail junction, there are signs with trail names, direction, distances and blazes. Beside the trails, there are additional blazes nailed into the trees. Some of the blazes have the trail abbreviation and distance magic-markered on them. Longleaf Pine also has mileage posts every half mile. The post & blaze distances are accurate. Ignore the white plastic ground arrows.
Longleaf Pine closely parallels McCloskey Rd., through an old prescribed burn area. At 1¼ miles, I side-tripped to Little Pond Spur Trail. The highlight was an intake feeding a pipe under the earthen dam, to continue the creek's flow.
Back on Longleaf Pine, I soon crossed Carvers Creek, which runs through a conduit, enabling a dry-crossing. (I was nearly blinded by a prickly vine during a creek crossing at Ft. Bragg, back in '81.) At the two mile post, Longleaf Pine bends left. Instead, I split right onto Fox Squirrel "Loop", which had a slightly firmer surface. Nothing really interesting on it, but twas a pleasant stroll. At Fox Squirrel's 0.8 blaze, I split right onto Dead End Spur, which was pleasantly similar.
Dead End Spur does not, in fact, end at the "end of trail" sign. I was tempted to see where it actually ends, but instead doubled back to Fox Squirrel, which DOES end in 1/3 mile. Back on Longleaf Pine, it parallels Carvers Creek, which is ~100 yds. away, and crosses several tributary trickles, so that section was the moistest part of my loop.
Picking up my pace, I made it back to the trailhead in only 37 minutes. My 3.13 mph average moving speed attesting to the ease of hiking Carvers Creek State Park. All morning, I only saw one dog walker, and one family, so I can only assume that the locals are doing more serious hikes in Ft. Bragg’s maneuver area. 
Rumble Video: https://rumble.com/v5fupfp-hiking-carve ... -park.html
Vimeo Video: https://vimeo.com/1011672006 |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
I don’t know about the rest of the year, but in mid-September there weren't many flowers. Still, more than the zero I saw at the previous reunion in June, 2017: [ photoset ] . Besides the pictured flowers, I also found Maryland meadowbeauty and white coral vine. |
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