Monday, December 13th 2010 by Mr. Bill.

The forecast for Saturday was light rain and cool (around 40-45).  So, I went hiking anyway.  I have to find out if my current equipment is up to snuff.

I decided to stick with the Sycamore Trail and I started from the bridle/bike trail-head.  That cuts off about a mile of lead in trail.  If the weather got real bad I could get back to my truck in about 40 minutes at worst.  The first hour was nice and peaceful.  I passed a few people and one large organized group.  As I had noticed at Medoc Mountain, poor weather thins out the crowd at a state park quickly.

About half way around the loop part of the trail I came across a small group of hikers and offered to take a group picture for them as they stood on one of the bridges.  Nice folks turned out to be from the Greenville, NC area.  Hope they didn’t get too wet.  Not long after I left them the rain increased to the point my wind shell wasn’t up to keeping my dry so I put on my poncho.  After fooling around with the hood and my baseball cap a couple of times I got good protection without messing up my vision too bad.

The rest of the loop went so well that I crossed over the bridle trail and headed to the picnic area (where the trail normally starts).  I used the small picnic shelter for my lunch stop.  The entire picnic area was empty.  I still had plenty of time so I walked back down the trail to where Pott’s Branch Trail crosses.  Walked around the Pott’s Branch Trail adding 1.25 mile onto my hike.  At the trail crossing I picked up Sycamore Trail again and headed back to my truck.  Hiking time just shy of 4 hours for 8.5 miles.  I took it slow in a lot of areas due to the weather, talked to a few people along the trail and had a real 15 minute lunch break.  All in all a nice day.  Lessons learned: (1) Put the poncho on earlier, (2) The poncho doesn’t protect my forearms, hands, or lower legs, (3) Store rain gear in an easier to access place. at least when rain or snow in forecast.

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Wednesday, December 8th 2010 by Mr. Bill.

Saturday was an interesting day on several levels.  It began with getting my wife setup for a Christmas sale at a local school.  Thanks to my daughter for helping out at the sale; freeing me up to go hiking.  Woohoo!  The weather forcast for the day had snow flurries and/or rain expected for the afternoon.

Ok why would I go hiking with rain or snow in the forcast?  Well I carry foul weather gear and I will get rain while on the Appalachian Trail.  So train in realistic conditions, right?  Additionally, rain on Saturday would result in slippery leaves on the trail for Sunday.

The plan for Saturday was to walk all of the trails in the park on one day.  That’s about 11 miles.  I started at the Ranger Station and headed out on Bear Swamp Trail.  Turned right on the Dam Site Loop Trail to the bridge over Little Fishing Creek.  I caught the Discovery Loop Trail to the right and followed around to Stream Loop Trail to the picnic area. 

The next section was walking around the Bluff Loop Trail.  The first little bit of rain fell on me in this section.  Nice view from the bluff, even in the rain.  Returning back to the picnic area.  Here I picked up the other side of the Stream Loop Trail to the Discovery Trail whick leads back to the bridge over Little Fishing Creek.

Crossing the bridge brings me to Summit Loop Trail (to the top of Medoc Mountain).  Just as I reached the clearing at the top of the hill (mountain) I got my first snow flurries.  With about two miles to go and not knowing if the snow would get worse I cut my planned rest stop short and head on down the hill to pick up the rest of the Dam Site Loop Trail.  The snow had about stopped by the time I reached the connection to Bear Swamp Trail.  Bear Swamp Trail runs about .75 miles and I made it about a half mile before the snow started again.  I picked up the pace and came out of the woods across from the ranger station.  Checked my watch — hiking time for today including breaks: 4 hours 41 minutes.  Just slightly faster than 2 mph.  Next week I paln to be back at Umstead State Park.

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Thursday, December 2nd 2010 by Mr. Bill.

Well I’ve slacked off on writing.  It’s thursday and I’m planning next weekends trails, but haven’t covered last weekends hiking.  oops!

Saturday - I visited Medoc Mountain State Park for the first time.  And hiked around Bluff Loop, Stream Loop and Discovery Loop Trails.  Mostly easy hiking with a little hill climbing on Bluff Loop.  Total hiking around 5 miles.  Very quiet in the park this time of year.  The leaf litter was heavy on the trails making my use of trekking poles wise even on the short easy trails.  Due to some bad time management on my part I wasn’t able to walk the other trails that day, but decided to return on Sunday to explore the park some more.

Sunday - Returned to the park for Bear Swamp, Dam Site Loop and Summit Loop Trails.  Again only about 5.5 miles, but very peaceful.  Hiking was still mostly easy, with some moderate hills and one very steep climb on the Summit Loop Trail.  You can avoid the steep section by entering the Summit Loop Trail by walking CLOCKWISE around the Dam Site Loop Trail to where the white circles change to red diamonds (trail markers).  Continue up the “jeep trail” to the summit and then follow around back to the big bridge.  I have worked out about an 11 - 12 mile circuit that I’m going to try this weekend.  Look for a new web section rating the trails I hike with pictures and links to maps etc.  Medoc Mountain State Park will be the first one posted…….

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