The Carolina’s were a frequent destination for us when the kids were in school and it was spring break time. We decided to head back and see some old favorites and hopefully find some new one’s.
We had reservations at the campground on Ocracoke Island and decided to take 3 days to get there. We wanted to stop in West Virginia but the state parks don’t open until May. Leann suggested new River Gorge. We went there when it became a national park. On that trip we checked out the campground and liked it so we decided to make it the first stop on our way South. We learned the camping was first come, first serve. We rolled the dice and headed down. We had the place to ourselves, score. We did this hike on our last visit but had time to go a little farther.Sammy likes waterfallsThis was our turnaround spotRamen for dinner, it was pretty good.Stop number 2: Pettigrew State Park in North Carolina. Leann’s putting on the boots for another hike. This park was pretty basic but it grew on us and we will probably return.Pettigrew had some of the biggest Sycamore trees I have ever seenI realized looking at the pictures for this trip that we walk on a lot of boardwalks.Phelps Lake
When you least expect it………
We were just walking down the trail and Leann said :BEAR! She was right. It was a young one so we worried about big mamma showing up but he/she was by themself. It was probably a year old and mom kicked him out of the house. On the cool spectrum, bear are way up there.I took this picture and made a point to just show the sky. Reminded me of a University of North Carolina saying: if God is not a tarheel, why is the sky Carolina blue?This might have been the shortest wait ever for the Ocracoke ferry. We pulled into line and were waved aboard about 5 minutes later. It is first come first served so apparently the demand is a lot lower in March. The captain said the water level was low and we might hit bottom, we didn’t.Brown PelicansMost of the campsites are wide open with little privacy. We got one of the better one’s. Nice job Leann. I am the world’s tallest humanDunlin, little guy in the back? Willets in the front.Sammy showing off his beach body. He did not care for the waves coming towards him.The beach was packedOcracoke lighthouse and keeper’s house were completed in 1823 for a cost of $11,359.The “wild” ponies of Ocracoke.Hammock Hills Nature Trail: we tried doing this hike on previous trips and the bugs ate us alive. No bugs at this time of the year so we actually finished the hike.Somebody had some time on their hands.Another hike we tried previously and had the same bug issues as above. We were able to do it and keep all of our blood.Leann and Sammy after summitting the high point on the island.The “high” point, it was a brutal climb.I liked the way the clouds looked.We always took the ferry on the North side of the island since we were always coming form the North our headed back home to the North. We had more time on this trip so we took the Cedar island Ferry, we wanted to explore parts of the Carolina’s we had not previously seen. This was a 2 hour ferry ride.Fort Macon State Park was our first stop after the ferry. The fort is made from 2,379,546 bricks, more than any other U.S. fort. The fort was built to protect Beaufort Inlet from various attackers: Blackbeard, Spain, France and Great Britain.First time I have seen a sign like this on a nature hike.Next stop was Cedar Point Campground in Croatan National Forest. This was moon glow taken after dinner.The 1200 miles Mountains-to-Sea Trail goes from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks.This section of trail ended on a very nice and secluded beach.baby Fidler crab.Back at the campground: Blaze’s big brotherWe were on the way to our next camp and saw this sign. Let’s check it out.Moore’s Creek. Pulling in I assumed this would be a Civil War site but turns out it was a key battle in the revolutionary war. This battle ended the hopes of Great Britain to regain a foothold in North Carolina.On February 27, 1776, Loyalist forces charged across Moore’s Creek Bridge. They yelled “King George and Broadswords!” as they charged. Unfortunately for them they charged into an ambush. Swords do not match up well with muskets and cannons. The loyalists included a number of Scottish Highlander’s. This battle marked the last broad sword charge for this famous group of warriors. This was the first significant victory for Patriot forces.Poinsett State Park in south Carolina. Van check, Sammy check, Tent check. Where’s Leann?The park had miles and miles of interconnecting trails.Old Levi Mill Lake, the CCC damned Shanks Creek at the site of an old mill to form this lake.Congaree Swamp National Park had unusual speed limits. I guess they like odd numbers.The water level is lower than usual.Downed Cyprus tree
After Congaree we headed to Leann’s sisters house and stayed there for 2 nights. She is a great cook and her husband likes good beer, we had a good time. We then planned to head to the western South Carolina mountains for a few nights and then slowly work our way home. The weather had other plans, snow was predicted and temperature were dropping to the low 20’s. It looked like we were going to have one more day of good weather. We used the day wisely and decided to drive home.
