Goose Creek

February 24, 2023

Part 4 of 41 NC State Parks

Whenever someone asks what park is our favorite so far, Goose Creek is the answer.

We took this trip a couple years ago, and I think it’s because it’s so dear to my heart that it’s taken me forever to actually put it on the blog. In true Kevin and Lindsey fashion, we did zero research about this place other than learning it’s 2 and a half hours from Cary. We just knew we wanted to go camping.

One of the first things that struck me about the area was all the Spanish moss hanging from the pine trees. I’d never seen pines with Spanish moss before.

After we unpacked our stuff, we walked down to the little dock by our camp. I was looking around taking pictures, and learned that according to Kevin, the water tasted like 20% ocean. I decided I’d just take his word for it. This flavor makes sense because the salty water from the Pamlico Sound flows into the Pamlico River, making this brackish water home to a mix of fish you’d normally find in freshwater AND fish you’d find in the ocean.

These photos show what it looks like right next to the camping area. You can see the water and sunlight glinting through the trees on either side of you.

There are several shorter trails, but the longest hike is an 8 mile loop that will take you through several distinct biomes, or ecological zones. There are forest areas with lots of pine trees and ground cover, and out of nowhere you’re in the middle of a marshy swamp! Then later it’s like you’re at the beach all of a sudden, but there are oak trees everywhere! I’ve literally never seen anything like this place.

During this trip, Kevin caught a fish from every species he had hoped for. I even accidentally hooked up on a stingray! It’s funny, I was tired and ready to just chill in the kayak while Kevin fished. I hooked and tossed a minnow in just to ignore it, my plan was to float and watch the sunset. Then I had to deal with something crazy on my line! Fighting and reeling him in was challenging enough, but then to unhook and set him free? All I could think about was Steve Irwin, it was so stressful. Kevin talked me through it though, and it was fine.

I do want to emphasize that we went on this trip in September. We had such perfect memories of Goose Creek that we wanted to introduce a friend to this place, but we made the mistake of taking our next trip in the middle of the summer. It was 90 degrees, bugs all in the air, and the water was too warm to be refreshing, and also full of jellyfish. The three of us still had fun, but we highly recommend a fall (or maybe spring) camping trip. North Carolina summers be crazy like that.

Anyway, here are some more pictures from our trip!

Occoneechee Mountain

October 24, 2021

Part 3 of 41 NC State Parks

It’s that time of year where I start to experience what I’ve decided to call “The Fall Panic.” North Carolina has been ungodly hot all summer, to the point where it’s kind of miserable to be outside at all unless you’re submerged in water. Then October comes, and in between all the rain storms, the weather feels the way it’s supposed to. It’s beautiful out, the way that I remember summers of my childhood feeling like. So every single pretty day that happens, I want to do nothing but exist outside in nature.

This is also the time of year that the photography industry gets the busiest. So I’m working constantly, and get intensely and unreasonably sad every moment that I’m stuck inside working on a beautiful day. I’m always convinced that it’s going to be the last day of nice weather to ever exist, and I’m not taking advantage of it. I had written “Do Something Fun” on my calendar for the one Saturday I had free, and we chose an adventure that would keep us close to home for the day.

Occoneechee Mountain was this little inconspicuous state park listed in our passport book that we’d thought of as some sort of off-shoot from the Eno River State Park, near Durham. I didn’t really take the word “mountain” seriously, the Triangle area has lots of mild elevation change, but nothing too crazy. We thought.

We figured we’d do the 2 mile loop around the perimeter of the park, say we experienced it, get our stamp, and move on. It was a nice casual walk, lots of people with their kids and their dogs, a few nice boulders, pretty trees, and the river. There were also the ruins of an old wall that used to be part of a mill, and broken glass that had unearthed itself from a time where people used this land for the convenience of the river. Then the path seemed to split, where the left took you further along the river, and the right had something intriguing about it, calling our names at the top of a little hill.

We said “let’s just see what’s up there real quick.” It was this wall of crumbly white and pink rock that reminded me of petrified wood and mulch, so different than any of the boulders we saw along the way, different than any rock we’d ever come across, actually. Fascinated, I hadn’t even looked up to notice the spectacular view until Kevin directed my attention to the horizon. Holy shit, we were on a mountain.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but we had no idea this was here. We walked up a foot path on the crumbly rock that I don’t think is a designated trail, so due to legal reasons, I do not recommend it, but you could tell a lot of people had gone this way before us. We kept walking and found ourselves on the opposite side of a fence where people were gathered at the park’s official “overlook” spot. So we hopped the fence and took in the view like the rest of the tourists there.

The Eno River

September 06, 2020

Part 2 of 41 NC State Parks

Making the 40 minute drive to the Eno River has been a godsend lately. Becoming immersed in nature helps immensely for keeping our sanity and mental health in check through the pandemic. We have chosen the Eno as a favorite escape for when the weather’s nice and when we feel the need to get our bodies moving, and for Kevin, any excuse to go fishing is a win.

Large groups of people tend to gather “around the watering hole,” right past the parking lot at Fews Ford in a big open area of shallow wading water, especially on the weekends. Kevin and I prefer solitude in our exploration (even under normal circumstances), so we take the trail directly to the right of this area. Walking along the trails is easy to social distance from people coming the opposite direction because we can just pull over 6 feet into the woods and wait for them to pass.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the river are these green sprouty plants that pop up all throughout the water. There are also rocks and boulders scattered around as well, which feels shockingly out of place to realize exists in Durham. It’s like another world.

The vibrant green of the summertime plant-life adds to the magic as the sun rays peek through the trees, illuminating the ground cover. Most woodsy areas we come across in the Triangle have a ground covering of dead leaves and pine straw, but here, everything is alive. If you’re sneaky and observant enough, you might also spot a deer or beaver tiptoeing around.

We also camped out here once last fall. They offer primitive campsites only, where you hike in with all your stuff on your back instead of driving up. I found out how out of shape I am and how important actual nice hiking backpacks are. (My backpack was not, in fact, a nice hiking backpack.)

I doubt it’s still intact, but way off the trail on a hill, Kevin spotted this bushcrafting work of art that someone created. I know this has nothing to do with the consistent features of the Eno, but it was really cool to stumble upon, and something about the way the light created that glow inside had me mesmerized.

In Kevin’s words, “when you’re fly fishing on the Eno, it really just feels more like you’re fishing for the experience, like you’re on a mountain stream. You’re not catching anything huge, but you catch a lot of them. Every once in awhile you see a monster bass and you cast at them.” He said they’re really smart, and he’s only caught one there in his entire life. I’ve seen him catch a lot of suckers, a lot of bluegill, and a lot of longear and green sunfish. Also one horned head chub (which was really interesting looking), and one little baby channel catfish. There’s apparently also a good number of largemouth bass, but I’ve seen him miss more than he’s caught.

Jockey's Ridge

September 02, 2019

Part 1 of 41 NC State Parks

I’m thankful we got to have our visit right before Hurricane Dorian hit this beautiful island, so before we get started, here are some links if you feel inspired to help contribute to disaster relief efforts.

OBX Community Foundation
Ocracoke Island Hurricane Dorian Relief - GoFundMe

This was my first time taking a real week-long vacation with a significant other. Kevin and I stayed in an AirBnb in Hatteras, and after several days, I convinced him that there’s more to see in the Outer Banks besides fish. I kinda knew about Jockey’s Ridge in name only, and we went into this completely blind as to what to expect. I was wearing a dress if that tells you anything. For those like me who sorta know stuff but need a refresher, Jockey’s Ridge is the largest natural sand dune on the east coast. It was wild to see, like an expansive hilly desert with beachy plantlife. Instead of heading straight for the top of the dune where the rest of the tourists were gathered, we took the nature trail and hiked about a mile to the sound. Something unique I’ve never been able to observe on other hiking trails was how the impressionable sand here lets you see all the little tracks of different wildlife. We got a kick out of following the footsteps of a grasshopper and then finding him sitting at the end.

I was so busy appreciating nature that I barely noticed we were suffering from heat exhaustion. I don’t know what Kevin carried in that backpack, but the only thing we needed to bring was water, and I guess we brought everything but. The park rangers at the office were prepared for dummies like us, and gave us some cold packs for our wrists once we got back.

Part of the reason we decided to visit Jockey’s Ridge was so we could put a stamp in these passport books we got awhile ago at Pilot Mountain. I’m not sure if others experience the same mid-vacation mindset where anything seems possible, but I got inspired on this hike. My goal for the next year or two is to take photographs at all 41 North Carolina state parks and blog about each experience. With the photography aspect in mind, I would have loved to have gotten some cool shots of people hang gliding with the colorful kites, or come back when the sun was lower in the sky for some dramatic lighting on the dunes. This was a spur of the moment stop on our trip though, and something I tend to have a hard time with is being totally immersed in an experience while also taking cool photos. It’s typically one or the other for me, so this will be one of the biggest challenges I’ll experience with this project.

I told Kevin about my idea, and he was on board immediately, coming up with the extremely ambitious next step to hike the Mountains to Sea trail once we’ve visited all the parks. Vacation Me was like “yes! what a great plan!” Now that I’m home and back to my normal mental state, I keep pointing out how much we’re absolutely not ready, and every logical reason that walking the length of the entire state in one go is insane and terrifying. But that’s still the plan, so I hope Future Lindsey and Future Kevin are the fit and outdoorsy people of our dreams. Stay tuned.