Hiking at Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area, Snow Camp NC

 

• Dates Hiked: Multiple dates in January and February 2021
• Trail type: hiking trail
• Official length: 3.1 miles
• Total miles tracked:  3.1 miles
• Best Features: A taste of the Appalachians, or at least the Uwharries, east of Greensboro. 
• Worst Features:  Nothing, really. 
• Wildlife spotted: None! It looks like it should be teeming with deer, but, so far, zilch.  
• Vegetation: Mostly hardwoods, and a meadow full of tall grasses and wildflowers. 
• Associated Websites: Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area – Alamance Parks (alamance-nc.com)
• Primary Author: James

Civilization grows more distant with each step. 

Alert readers might have noticed a rather long gap between our last posts in December and the resumption of posts in March. Most years, Cheryl and I get outdoors even during the coldest months, but I entered the new year in a hospital emergency room with chest pains. My gallbladder had given me 50+ years of reliable service, but now it had decided to part ways with the rest of my body. Some people recover from gallbladder removal quickly, but it took me well over a month to get back even a fraction of my stamina. I didn't get much of a chance to go out and explore new trails during this time. I did, however, have time to obsessively Google trails in our area we'd never explored, and happened to find out about the Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area. The website said it was the tallest mountain in North Carolina east of Greensboro, so I was eager to explore a mountain hike only a half hour from my doorstep. 

From the second Cheryl and I set out from the parking lot, Cane Creek Mountain became one of our favorite local hikes. To start with, the parking area itself is very welcoming, with a bathroom, picnic tables, and informative signage. Unlike its most comparable local hike, Occoneechee Mountain in Hillsborough, this is located in a rural area instead of right next to an interstate, so there's almost no traffic noise, nor do you walk under power lines or in the shadow of radio towers. 

I do feel like the signage might overpromise the odds of seeing foxes on the hike.

You start the hike through a grassy meadow. We hiked in winter when everything was brown and dry, but I imagine that in the next few weeks and all through the warmer months this will be a great location for wildflowers. It's also nice to have a little open sky as you approach the mountain, letting you see the climb ahead of you before you plunge into a tunnel of trees. 

The trail itself is two loops. The shortest loop is only a mile, and the longer loop a little over two, and if you do them both as a figure 8, you'll travel just over three miles. The website says that more trails are under development, but for someone recovering from surgery, three miles turns out to be a pretty challenging length. 

Once you're under the trees, the trail becomes increasingly rocky and steep. I wouldn't describe the hike as strenuous, but if you veer to the right going up the mountain, you get a very good workout climbing up stony ground. There are boulders along the path just begging for people to climb on them and pose dramatically for a photo. 

Okay, maybe a little strenuous.

If you can walk past these boulders without the urge to pose atop them, you're dead inside.

The lower slopes have plainly been logged in not too distant decades, leaving thin, young trees, but as you near the top of the ridge you're surrounded by tall, twisted giants spared from logging by the rugged terrain. Alas, to be so high up, there's not much of a view of the surrounding countryside. The trees are fairly dense and there are no overlooks. 

This looks like the sort of landscape the heroes are trudging through just before the orcs attack.

The left side of the mountain is less rocky and takes you along and over a creek in places. Before long, you're back in the meadow. For experienced hikers, Cane Creek might be a little too short and tame, but, if you are in the Burlington area, looking for a hike that provides a mountain experience without actually having to drive to the mountains, this is an excellent option. We're looking forward to seeing future trails developed on the property. 

Biking the Peak to Prosperity Rail Trail, SC

 

• Dates Biked: February 28, 2021
• Trail type: Rail trail, gravel/sand/dirt
• Official length: 10.7
• Total miles tracked:  21.92
• Best Features: Peaceful surroundings. 
• Worst Features:  Surface can get rugged, not much parking at the Alston end, a very sketchy bridge
• Wildlife spotted: Not much. Some turtles and one snake. 
• Vegetation: Pines, hardwoods
• Associated Websites:  Peak to Prosperity Passage
• Primary Author: James

"Honey, want to make a 200 mile detour to ride a trail in the middle of nowhere?" "Heck yeah!"

Back in February, Cheryl and I were in Myrtle Beach for the weekend. We planned to stop by the Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve on our drive home to do some riding there. This was only a couple of miles off the path we'd follow home, an easy detour. However, we'd biked it a few times already (see our review here). As an alternative, I proposed we instead make a three hour detour to reach a trail we'd never ridden before, the Peak to Prosperity Passage. This is part of South Carolina's Palmetto Trail system, which runs across the state linking the mountains to the sea. Cheryl was all in, since neither of us can resist a fresh trail to explore. 

A peaceful ride through the country, save for ten seconds of terror on the "Bridge o' Doom." 

Most of the other bridges have safety features like handrails and a sufficient number of boards to cover the entire surface. 

It turned out to to be well worth the drive. The trail runs from the town of Peak to the town of Prosperity (more or less), but the easternmost trailhead is actually across the river from Peak in Alston. We were there on a Sunday, and the tiny parking lot was overflowing. Despite numerous warning signs not to park along the roadside, we joined a few dozen other cars parking along the gravel road leading to the trail head. Keep in mind this was February, and it was fairly late in the afternoon when we made it there. I imagine this trailhead is even more crowded in warmer months, so if we do the ride again, we'd probably go to trailhead in the town of Pomaria at the midpoint of the trail. Plenty of parking there, plus a trailside convenience store, which would be handy for an after ride refreshment. As far as starting from the Prosperity end, this isn't an option. The trail just dead ends, reverting back into actual railroad tracks pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It may be possible to hike further, but biking isn't a good option.  

Prosperity is down these impassable rails. Feel free to craft your own metaphor. 

Pomaria has the best trailhead on the route, but do they get any credit in the trail name? Such an injustice. 

Ironically, Peak is actually the lowest part of the trail. If you start from that end, you'll be biking uphill pretty much nonstop for 10 miles. It's by no means a steep uphill; this is a rail trail after all. Still, we definitely felt it after the first few miles. On the return journey, the downhill grade isn't as helpful as it could be since much of the trail surface is a bit soft, zapping momentum. In a thirty yard stretch you might encounter mud, sand, coarse gravel and pine straw, none of which are great for coasting. This is definitely not a trail for a road bike. Wide, grippy treads are a must. 

Though some of the locals navigate the trail on skinny treads.

Especially as you near Prosperity, you'll come to regards sections like this as the good surface. 

Beware of sand traps! There aren't many of them, but they will bring you to an instant stop if  you aren't careful. 

Enough griping! This is a fantastic trail, well worth the effort of driving to it. It's got big trestle bridges with breathtaking views, miles of rural tranquility, and the twenty mile out and back ride is an almost perfect distance for an off-pavement ride, long enough to justify driving to reach the trail, but not so long that you're wondering why you're putting yourself through the ordeal of riding so far on bumpy terrain. 

The bridge over the Broad. 

An abandoned building in Pomaria.

Since the sun sets so early in February, we made it back to the bridge over the Broad River just as the sun was going down, providing us with a picturesque ending to the day. If you're in South Carolina anytime soon, check it out! 

A great place to watch the sun go down.