MST: Singletary Lake to US 17 Sneads Ferry
Forecasted weather was another big factor in planning this weekend. Although it altered my plans it did not cause too much of an interruption, the main impact was I did not make it into Jacksonville on the final day of the trip. This weekend would take me all the way to the ocean. One might think it's over, he made it from the mountains to the sea. While true, this journey still has several hundred miles. For those not just walking the entire trail these segments provided a great mixture of hiking, biking and boating. I enjoyed this segment although I will say the my opinion could have easily been changed if the humidity and temperatures had been higher! I've been fortunate with some cooler weather while in the coastal plains.
 |
| Walking Surf City to North Topsail |
Day 36 April 23
Miles: 60.8 miles biking
Weather: Clear skies, highs in the 60's lows in the 50's
Camping: Quality Inn Sneads Ferry, NC (Sawpit Landing: stopping Point for the day)
Started just after 8 this morning from Singletary Lake State Park. A wildlife officer passed me shortly after leaving and then passed me again in the opposite direction. A little while later I could tell there was a car waiting to pass me but after oncoming traffic passed it slowly moved next to me. Turns out it was the wildlife officer again. His question, “have you seen a bear?” After answering no he said thanks and ended up going in a different direction. Just around the corner I found his bear, along with a opossum. Neither had successfully navigated the highway. I passed through Kelly and crossed over the Black River before arriving at Moore’s creek battlefield. I hiked the mile loop there and took a break before continuing to Burgaw. The park service was working on cleanup from prescribed burn in the battlefield but it didn't impact any of my trip. The riding was nice today with only minor half hearted dog chases. I had lunch in Burgaw and killed some time as I would meet mom and dad at the Northeast Cape Fear river. The last section was pleasant and the river area was a nice area to finish up the day.
 |
| Black River |
 |
| Moores Creek Battlefield Hike |
My original plan was to stay overnight in Burgaw. The next morning I was going to ride to Sawpit landing where my parents would meet me to join on a canoe trip down the Northeast Cape Fear river. The weather forecast looked bad all week and got worse daily. Saturday looked to be a wash with widespread severe weather so we made a new plan that involved doing the canoe on Sunday. They would pick me up at Sawpit and we are staying tonight at the Quality Inn which is on trail further away. Tomorrow I hope to finish the game lands section just after the river portion prior to any storms. I'm hoping I can ride my bike on the roads in the game lands as it is a 20 mile segment with no camping, no water etc...thats a full day of walking or few hours of riding which is a big difference when trying to plan.
Day 37 April 24
Miles: 39.9 miles (11 Miles were beach hiking)
Weather: Cloudy and breezy, highs in the 60's lows in the 50's.
Camping: Quality Inn Sneads Ferry, NC
I started at the Holly Shelter Game boating access area this morning under cloudy skies. From here I rode up Shaw Highway to the entrance of the Holly Shelter Game lands. Lodge road was the main route through the game lands and was gravel and easy to ride. As I made my way deeper into the area the roads were sandy and more difficult. It took a lot of attention but for the most part I was able to ride my bike. I was happy to get back on the gravel as I could relax the level of attentiveness and enjoy the surroundings more. If you need any practice on tracking this is certainly a great place to visit. I spotted one black squirrel which I don’t believe I’ve ever seen before. The challenge once leaving the games lands was crossing US17. With the help of a nearby light breaking up traffic flow I made the crossing, riding along 17 was fine as it has a large shoulder. The next road 210 was slightly more challenging but there were enough passing opportunities for folks. I took a break at McDonald’s and then headed for Surf City. Heading over the bridge was made easy by a pedestrian path. I switched to waking and headed out around 12:30 to walk just over 11 miles. The rain basically fell apart so it was a great day for the game lands and beach. I love the mountains and hate the sand and heat so clouds and cool breezy hiking was a welcome sight. 
 |
| Crossing the Intracoastal Waterway |
 |
| Surf City |
 |
| Defense System |
Day 38 April 25
Miles: 11.9 miles (3.8 miles biking, 3.5 miles hiking, 4.6 miles canoe)
Weather: very light rain mostly while driving the shuttle to the canoe. Clearing skies Highs 70's
Camping: Back home stopping point US 17 entrance to Stones Creek
There were some sprinkles overnight but not a single storm materialized. I'm glad I had an alternate plan to cover as much as I did yesterday. I left the hotel this morning on my bike as my parents took on the job of shuttling vehicles for our hike through Stones Creek. The hike is one of the 40 day hikes in the great day hikes of the MST book released by the Friends of the Mountains-to-sea trail. My parents are currently working on completing these hikes themselves. It was a nice hike partially following gravel roads and then some single track trail. There were a few drops of rain that made it to the ground but overall it held off until we were back at the cars and moving back towards our canoe trip. By the time we were ready to set off in the canoe the rains had stopped. The clouds were moving quickly out of the area and blue skies were taking over. The trip down the Northeast Cape Fear was very relaxing. It's a wide river and very easy to navigate. There were several turtles out sunning on logs and we heard various woodpeckers and at least one owl. It was a 4.6 mile trip down the river and it took us just under two hours to complete. After driving over to pick up the car we loaded the boat and then had to fix a flat before heading out. Fortunately the flat happened while in the parking lot and not on the road.
Comments
Post a Comment