Neusiok Trail Adventure

With Spring in the air, the kids and I were eager to get out of the house. We started by walking around our neighborhood. That soon got old. So we started walking out at Flanner's Beach. After we walked the Beady Trail several times, we felt we were up for a bigger challenge. So I hit the net and found *drum roll please* The Neusiok Trail!

On our last run of the Beady Trail, we saw a lot of smoke down the river. But I didn't really think anything of it, since the Marine Corp has their training fields over in the direction that the smoke was coming from. The next morning while reading the paper, I found that all that smoke was from a forest fire! The paper stated that the fire was in the Pine Cliff Recreation area. We called the Forest Rangers Office to find out if the trail was closed or not. They said not. Thursday, N1 and N2 and I drove out to Pine Cliff to check it out, we could see no fire damage at all on the way there, nor while there. We happened to find a Forest Ranger there working on who knows what. I told him our plans, and asked him if we'd be in the area of the fire, would it be okay for us to go, or should we hold off. He said we'd be fine, and no where near the fire. Cool!

This morning we set off on our hike and found out that Mr. Forest Ranger had no clue what he was talking about.

***Warning*** Pictures were taken with a not so fancy camera, by a person who did not get much sleep the night before . :)

Here we are leaving the parking lot, and starting down the trail.

The shelter was our destination.

Something in the above picture did not look right to me.

I zoomed in, and could see I was right. Since when do fan palm trees belong in the forest?
Very weird.

The first creek we were to cross.

The only mushroom we saw on this trail.

An example of the boardwalks used to cross the bogs and swamps.

An example of the open airy woods. The brush got a LOT denser.

A Tulip Popular bloom had fallen out of it's tree.

Dunno what these are, but they were pretty.

Another swamp to cross.

This trail takes you through the woods, and on the beach for the first 2 miles or so.

Wild Azaleas

The Neuse River as seen from the trail.

More creepiness on the beach.

Yet another swamp/bog.

No idea what caused this, but it creeped us all out. Perhaps a woodpecker?

Close up of the fan palm. Anyone know if these are native to NC? I did not think so!

Here is where things started getting really creepy, as you can see.

We walked and walked and walked and took in the destruction done to the forest.

While it may be beneficial, it just looked so sad.

After walking what seemed like forever, we realized that the shelter we were seeking may have been burnt down. We couldn't find it anywhere! So we gave up and turned around.

We knew we were in a better place once we started seeing Monkeys swinging from the vines.

For the way back, we walked on the beach for the most part.

Mainly to keep us from tripping on these, Bald Cyprus Knees. They were all along the trail, sometimes hidden in the leaves. Ugh.

Don't know what this was, but we spotted it from a distance. So pretty!

Same with these. So bright and pretty amongst all that green.

The last part of our trail, was the best. Being able to walk with our sore and tired feet in the nice cool water. Twas great!

We all agree that we will try and find the shelter again another day. I don't know if the blue blaze got burnt off or what. But we sure did not find it! :)