In our Element

Friday’s plan was to bike the on-road portion of the trail from Stone Mountain through the Yadkin Valley farm and wine country to the trail town of Elkin. Our friend Chad grew up in Elkin and is supporting us on this leg of the journey. Since getting to know Chad we have gotten to know Elkin and appreciate how the town has embraced its role as an ambassador for the Mountains to Sea Trail with an army of trail angels that roll out the red carpet for weary trail travelers with offers of beds, showers, meals, etc. 

Elkin is doing an amazing job of reinventing itself as an outdoor recreation hub for hikers, bikers, paddlers and rock climbers, and for that reason, is getting some serious consideration by us as a future retirement destination. 

Our bike ride was a mostly downhillish romp along some little used country and gravel roads. Along the way we saw lots of cows, squeezed in some ice cream at Byrd Campground and an unplanned hike to have lunch at Carter Falls. We bypassed a couple of our favorite Yadkin wineries, Elkin Creek and Grassy Creek, hoping to return to them if we can make time on Sunday.

We were happy we decided on some old mountain bikes for this ride as road bikes would not have handled the miles of gravel. As it was, I noticed my front tire was losing air. I pumped it back up with about 6 miles to go, and when we finished it was going flat again. 

The trail rolls right up Main Street in downtown Elkin, past the Reeves theater, where we hope to catch some live music on Saturday, and ended at Angry Troll Brewing, where we were met by Chad and his brother-in-law, in town from Germany, for some good beer and conversation to wrap up one of our favorite days on the trail... so far.

So Far Right Now

Near the beginning of this adventure, Jeff and I discovered that things can quickly change from good to bad. A beautiful, sunny day could soon become a stormy, rainy day. And no pains in the morning could become blisters and aches by middday. So we started clarifying everything by saying “so far.” 

Examples:

It’s a beautiful day, so far. 

I feel great, so far. 

No clouds in the sky, so far. 

My feet don’t hurt, so far. 

Today we also realized that things can go from good to bad to good again. Very soon after a glorious start to our supposedly 9.4 mile hike, it began to rain and thunder. Then it stopped. Then we got lost and added additional miles to our day. And it started storming again. 

With help from a great MST staff member when we just happened to momentarily get service, we found our way back to the trail and continued with a beautiful afternoon. 

But then it started storming again and we literally had to run down the mountain. Now we are safely at our campsite where there are showers and drinking water. The basic necessities. 

So we’re changing our phrase to “right now.” As in: I am dry and warm in my sleeping bag, right now. 

We are here

Today we start a week of hiking, biking, and paddling from Devil’s Garden Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway that will take us through three of North Carolina’s most scenic and iconic features: Stone Mountain, Pilot Mountain, and Hanging Rock.

We are here.

Sketch Up

Time to catch up with posting some sketches:

Segment 10. Done.

Today we finished Segment 10 of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from Falls Lake to the Eno River. It was  77+ miles of trail over 6 days, mostly along water the entire way. 

And once again, our trail angel and fellow MST hiker Mary Stewart was there to greet us!

Two Birds, One Stone

This abandoned building became our refuge from an unexpected storm and Jeff’s sketch of the day.

But the rain did catch us eventually. After hiking through it and wet fields most of the afternoon yesterday, it was such a joy to see this at our campsite. Shelters are magical when you’re living outdoors!

We get by with a little help from our friends (and family)

Going into the hike we expected to be pretty self sufficient once we got rolling. As we have moved in fits and starts and jumped around from place to place we have needed to ask for help, and rely on friends and family. That has introduced some fun, levity, storytelling and something to look forward to on the days we meet someone on the trail. 

The last few days hiking in our “backyard” along Falls Lake in Raleigh and into Durham has had a tremendous amount of variety in both scenery and trail companions.

Joined on the trail by friends Rob and Donna.

Sharing some stories wth thru-hiker Beerdra.

Catching a shuttle via pontoon boat with cousin Anne Marie and Chris and new friends Nicole and Brew.

And two very different crossings of the many fingers of Falls Lake:

We have now completed over 350 miles - about 1/3 of the Mountains to Sea Trail.

Full Moon

After a 15-mile hike yesterday, we were greeted by a full moon on Falls Lake last night. It was glorious!

Reminiscing at Shinleaf

Our 11 mile hike today brought us to the first place we ever took our daughter camping nearly 20 years ago, Shinleaf Campground on Falls Lake. 

It was just a short weekend trip but we knew it could make or break any similar future outings with her. Fortunately all went well – with the exception of forgetting the dog’s food – and we’ve enjoyed MANY family adventures since. 

Even now our current adventure has been a family experience with Summer often helping us with transportation and toilet paper usage research. (See her post here for explanation: https://rezelimst.blogspot.com/2018/08/thoughts-from-sometimes-contributor-and.html?m=1)

Of all the things we’ve instilled in her, I’m most proud of her love and appreciation of nature. It’s exciting to see her creating memories of her own in the woods now. 

Land Legs

We’re loving Segment 10 of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Falls Lake! Trying to get our land legs back after a week of paddling. But at least we’re still near water...

Down East

I want to find a way to sum up the paddle portion of the journey. After getting stymied yesterday afternoon by wind and tides near the coast where the river grows to several miles wide, and we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to finish, the conditions unexpectedly changed in our favor this AM. We just finished 175 miles of paddling over 7 of the last 8 days. Now we’ll be in Kinston tonight and Raleigh tomorrow to regroup and attempt to re-engage on the hike. We expect to use Raleigh as a home base for some day hikes over the next couple of days to make sure we are both healthy and ready to continue.

So to sum up the paddle in a word, I would say: rushed. Everyone has encouraged us to slow down and enjoy the journey, but Mother Nature dictates otherwise. Somewhat typical of North Carolina in August, thunderstorms were in the forecast for every day of the paddle, with increasing probabilty as the day went on. Each day we were up with the sun around 6:10, quickly packing, eating, and outfitting the boat for the day. We were usually on the water a little after 8 and hustling downriver, trying to complete each paddle before the afternoon and evening thunderstorms rolled in. To our credit, this actually worked and we somehow managed to not get rained on while on the river. Some days we just made it before the skies opened up and some days there ended up being no rain at all, but the all day threat of the unknown kept us paddling hard to the finish. 

The start of the paddle where the river is shady and narrow

Paddling between 6 and 9 hours a day, I have developed muscles in my shoulders and back that I didn’t know I had. We could not recall ever paddling more than 20 miles in a day, so I’m proud that we managed to average 25 miles day after day.

Having to pull off the river last night in New Bern turned out to be a blessing, as it allowed us some time to wander around a beautiful historic city and enjoy a leisurely dinner with some local seafood.

The end of the paddle where the river is several miles wide, and wind, waves and tide come into play

Two happy campers, ready to get out of the sun

Segments 11A-16A. Done.

With the weather, wind, and tide all in our favor, today’s remaining 19 miles were fairly easy – minus the last two maybe. We can now officially say that we have paddled every mile of the Neuse River!

 

Tide and Wind!

We discovered that 30 miles is unrealistic when the wind and tide are against you! But we did 22 miles total today anyway. A fisherman was pulling out his powerboat where we took out because the conditions were too rough. 

We’re safely in a hotel room in New Bern now which was our original goal. 

Bonus that one of my besties brought us lunch while we waited out a thunderstorm!

Pelican Landing

We made it to our stop for the day at Pelican Landing. Mr. Johnny is super nice and insisted that we stay in this structure since the weather is supposed to be bad tonight.

 

Heigh-hi, Heigh-ho

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go! Just a 30 mile commute to our next campsite at Pelican Landing. 

Thanks to my mom for her wonderful hospitality on our off day!

More sketches

Not much to report on a well earned recovery day today other than a visit to the Neuse Sport Shop to get some paddling gloves to keep my hands from getting scorched and a quality nap, so sharing some sketches from the last few days on the river.

A Planned Zero

If you’re following our tracker, there won’t be any movement today. We are taking a planned zero day in Kinston at my mom’s to resupply and recover. Paddling over 100 miles in 4 days is tough!

https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=012ZP6X92nWYyt85Rh0Pc3R0D6z1rV1YE

Country Breakfast and Afternoon Beer

Just finished a delicious country breakfast at Mae’s in downtown Seven Springs. 

And now we hit the river for a short 24 mile leg to Kinston. First stop: Mother Earth Brewery!

Easy Day

Compared to yesterday’s epic paddle, 24 miles today was super easy! And we feel very safe camping here tonight by Neuse River Trading. 

Air Show

Although we have seen few people the last 3 days, we have had an almost constant companion overhead as the pilots from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base have roared over the skies above us. 

Today we got a treat as the river runs directly past the end of their runway, with landing light towers in the river itself. As we paddled past we saw three big old B-52 bombers and thirteen F-15 fighter jets take-off over our heads with a deafening roar.

It was a reminder of my lost calling. My grandfather was part of the Army Air Corps during World War II. He was in Hawaii at Wheeler Air Force Base during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and was based in North Africa during the European Campaign. He was later instrumental in the Berlin Air Lift. My father majored in aerospace engineering at NC State (Go Pack!) and worked for a jet engine manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney, for almost his entire career. All of this is to say that I grew up around planes and air shows were a normal occurrence. 

I always imagined getting into the family business as a fighter pilot, no question. I knew and still recognize planes the way most teenage boys recognize sports cars. Alas, when I was a sophomore in high school my eyes went bad on me. Back before laser eye sugary, that was a deal breaker. The dream was dead. Luckily I found architecture the very next year and my life took a new trajectory. No regrets, except when you have one of those planes ripping past, which to me is still one of the coolest things going.

On the wildlife front, yesterday was also a big day in the air, with another bald eagle (four times), three sea hawks (carrying fish caught from the river), an owl (the first I have seen in the wild - they are nocturnal after all), seven ducks, and countless blue heron. We also saw five feral pigs, three wild turkey and four deer (including two Bambi-like babies). An amazing day by any measure.

Long Day

On a positive note, we more than doubled our goal today with 38 total miles on the river to Old Waynesborough State Park! On a slightly negative note, Jeff stepped on an ant hill while setting up the tent. But with a little Benadryl and hydrocortisone, all should be well...

 

Let’Lones

We’ve often heard about this stretch of the Neuse River just after the I-95 bridges in Smithfield. It’s referred to as the Let’Lones by locals because for nearly three dozen miles there is very little civilization. 

Though we did hear many jets from the Goldsboro military base, a tractor working a field that seemed endless in an oxbow, and a pack of feral pigs either not getting along or getting along reeeal well, if you know what I mean. And we saw an eagle, twice!

Our goal of 19 miles went by very quickly with the river flowing high and fast. So we got to spend much time in our awesome campsite at the Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center owned by Johnston Community College where I believe we were the only people around. Jeff said it was the first day that finally aligned with how he imagined the trip, with time to relax after a day of reasonable rather than maximum effort.

Segments 11A-16A: The Neuse River Paddle Route

We were always planning to do the paddle route of the MST over the predominantly road route when we reached Raleigh. We just thought it we would be much later and after we completed the entire hike. But alas, fate has intervened and we will set out on the Neuse River early tomorrow morning. Hopefully things will go as planned this time!

Since we have already completed the first legs of this section several times via bike and boat, we are starting where we last left off at the beautiful Smithfield Town Commons. Here is our updated schedule:

Below is documentation of our previous trips:

Bike: Falls Lake to Clayton

Paddle: Clayton to Smithfield