Eno River State Park: Buckquarter Creek Trail
While Drew and I lived in Provo, we did a pretty good job of exploring the Wasatch Mountains and surrounding areas (see, for example, here and here and here and here). Although I had a grand old time hiking through the red rocks and granite flats of the Mountain West, and although I've had multiple pangs of homesickness for some crisp mountain air and elevation, I never felt like I completely understood Utah's geography, geology, or ecology. That probably has something to do with my relatively short stint there - three years isn't really long enough to become truly acquainted with a place, especially when you're preoccupied with school and work. But I know it also has something to do with the expectation that our Utah residency was temporary. It's hard to make friends when your bags are already packed. With plans to stay put in Raleigh for a long time, I feel the need to get to know this area inside and out and truly adopt it as our city and home. Accomplishing that will mean visiting state parks and museums and outdoor concerts and farmer's markets and local shops and restaurants. We've already been to a few great places in and around Raleigh, and, eager to keep it up, Drew and I set out on Saturday morning to explore a new place (Eno River State Park) with our new toy (a Canon EOS Rebel T3i).
Macon, Georgia - the place where I learned what little plant biology I know - is located where the Coastal Plain meets the Piedmont; such a collision of geologic features makes for an interesting and unique collection of living things as it includes organisms adapted to one and/or both of those regions. What's cool is that Raleigh also lies on that border, just farther north, so many of the long-lost plants that I memorized as a college student are my vegetative neighbors once again. It sure is nice to see a few familiar faces in the woods, even if I can't remember their last names.
Although it was a lovely day, the weather was truly oppressive - hot, hot, hot and ridiculously damp. Conditions, at least in terms of humidity, were probably worse in the forest than elsewhere, and the impending rain didn't help. To make matters worse, our new camera, amazing though it is, is rather unforgiving in its ability to capture every.single.detail, including our prolific sweat. See?
In addition to all of that moisture emanating from our bodies, there has been plenty of it falling from the sky all summer, too; consequently, there were all kinds of fungus among us throughout our hike.
Wandering a little farther off of the beaten path than we should have been, Drew spotted the remnants of an old house that, once upon a time, probably belonged to residents of the little mill settlements that popped up along the Eno in the 18 and early 1900s. This is about the only house in the Triangle that we can currently afford, and we've thought more than once since leaving the park about what it would be like to live in such a house in such a place. Fun enough during the day, we think, but a wee bit scary after dark.
After getting pretty slowly through the first half of the Buckquarter loop, we finally started seeing more of the great Eno. It's great, not for its size, since it's not that long or deep, but for its quality, which, they say, is among the best. The Eno River has been the subject of some pretty aggressive and long-standing citizen-led preservation efforts, and swimming and fishing in it are supposed to be a real treat; we'll have to see for ourselves next time.
As we finished our hike along the river, we encountered a few cool critters, including a blue heron, a giant polyphemous moth caterpillar, a black ground beetle, a North American millipede, and a tiger swallowtail butterfly.
A day in the woods isn't really a day in the woods without climbing at least one tree, and we found the perfect candidate pretty close to the end of the Buckquarter Creek loop.
By the end of our little hike, the thunder was roaring pretty loudly and the sky was threatening to let loose any minute. If nothing else than for the sake of our camera, it ended up being a good thing that we didn't try to make it around the Holden Mill loop, too. It was great getting to know our own backyard a little better, and we'll certainly be back to see more of the Eno River and the park that protects it, maybe even while floating on an inner tube down the river itself.
Eno River State Park is large and winding, following the Eno River through two counties. With two entrances and over 28 miles of hiking trails divided into over 15 separate segments, there is way too much to see in one day. As newbies, we started with the Buckquarter Creek Trail, primarily due to its proximity to the park's Visitor's Center, but also because that particular trail was linked to a few other loops, providing the opportunity to keep going or head home, depending on the weather. With a thunderstorm rolling in, we ultimately opted to hike only the 1.5 mile Buckquarter Creek Trail; the others will have to wait for another day.
Macon, Georgia - the place where I learned what little plant biology I know - is located where the Coastal Plain meets the Piedmont; such a collision of geologic features makes for an interesting and unique collection of living things as it includes organisms adapted to one and/or both of those regions. What's cool is that Raleigh also lies on that border, just farther north, so many of the long-lost plants that I memorized as a college student are my vegetative neighbors once again. It sure is nice to see a few familiar faces in the woods, even if I can't remember their last names.
Although it was a lovely day, the weather was truly oppressive - hot, hot, hot and ridiculously damp. Conditions, at least in terms of humidity, were probably worse in the forest than elsewhere, and the impending rain didn't help. To make matters worse, our new camera, amazing though it is, is rather unforgiving in its ability to capture every.single.detail, including our prolific sweat. See?
This is where Drew decides the pictures would be better if I took my hair down:
He's right, but this is where I decide that, flattering or not, it's too hot for that mess:
In addition to all of that moisture emanating from our bodies, there has been plenty of it falling from the sky all summer, too; consequently, there were all kinds of fungus among us throughout our hike.
After getting pretty slowly through the first half of the Buckquarter loop, we finally started seeing more of the great Eno. It's great, not for its size, since it's not that long or deep, but for its quality, which, they say, is among the best. The Eno River has been the subject of some pretty aggressive and long-standing citizen-led preservation efforts, and swimming and fishing in it are supposed to be a real treat; we'll have to see for ourselves next time.
As we finished our hike along the river, we encountered a few cool critters, including a blue heron, a giant polyphemous moth caterpillar, a black ground beetle, a North American millipede, and a tiger swallowtail butterfly.
A day in the woods isn't really a day in the woods without climbing at least one tree, and we found the perfect candidate pretty close to the end of the Buckquarter Creek loop.
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| ^ Checking out the ants crawling all over the tree, one of which was clearly carrying a dead brother. I looked it up later and apparently, they do that in the name of hygiene, to prevent the spread of infection in the colony. Neat. ^ |
By the end of our little hike, the thunder was roaring pretty loudly and the sky was threatening to let loose any minute. If nothing else than for the sake of our camera, it ended up being a good thing that we didn't try to make it around the Holden Mill loop, too. It was great getting to know our own backyard a little better, and we'll certainly be back to see more of the Eno River and the park that protects it, maybe even while floating on an inner tube down the river itself.
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