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Published: January 15th 2014
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Some times I just want to get away from the civilized life, other times it's to take a walk and see all the beauty of nature, or like this past weekend it can be to share my love of a preserve with people who had yet to experience it. I could ask "What's your excuse?" as in why you weren't in the woods this weekend.
There are many great and wonderful places in North Carolina to explore. We have the highest peak east of the Mississippi River to the sun drenched outer banks. But if you're like me you may live somewhere close to center of the state and find it hard to travel so far for adventure. You may also wonder what wilderness the seemingly flat lands of the peidmont and sandhills holds. Here in Sanford, in the quintesential center of North Carolina, is where I reside and I can assure you that in as little as ten minutes there's a trail that takes me back to the forests of my youth in Massachusetts.
A few years ago I came to NC and realized very quickly the great outdoors was vast and wonderful. I spent some time looking into the AT and the MST trails, wondering how I could manage to make these daunting trips on a small income and no vacation time. During this time I walked and biked on the greenways in Pinehurst and Southern Pines trying to get a taste of wilderness while not breaking the bank. One day I came across a book about trails in NC and I noticed that a few were not far away.
One of the first trails I went to was hard to find, at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nowhere called the White Pines Nature Preserve. Owned by the Triangle land conservancy it's only 275 acres nestled between the Deep and Rocky Rivers. It said in the book that white pines are natural to higher elevations and more northern forrests, that the north facing bluff allowed this area to maintain a lower temperature than surrounding areas. I was intruiged to say the least and when my 85 T-Bird bottomed out on the road leading in I knew it would be secluded.
At first it's a typical southern forrest and you see a couple old white pines towering through the more native fauna, then the trail takes a right and dips into what was for me like time travelling. The smell of the forrest was what did it at first, I was back in the pine clearing behind the homestead on Cape Cod. The way the needles blanketed the ground, how the trees have very little branches till the top, how they seemed to hang out on the edge of the swampy flats. It was amazing to me, I walked with my head craned back so as to appreciate these old, majestic giants. they had been here since the last ice age, hanging out in this corner of the south, together but completely alone.
This awe inspiring moment was only the first for me, the trail climbs up over a small hill, away from the swamp and the pines don't like to follow. they do spread out around the preserve though, always in a valley or on a northern facing hillside. But the trail swings back twords the deep river and brings you right along the bank. This river makes up part of the border of Sanford and Lee Couny, and I can't for the life of me understand why there's no greenway there. The trail runs to the connecting point of the Rocky River and the two merge effortlessy. I'll take this time to note at the junction beween the two is a bench overlooking them, and this is where I asked my wife to marry me.
The trail begins to get a little tighter as it winds along the Rocky river, and it overhangs he river more. here you see that this river almost stands still at normal depth, and stays clear enough to see the rocky bottom. As you pass the Comet trail, which takes you to an overlook after winding up through a valley, you start to feel the foliage creeping onto the trail. The trail gets Especially overgrown during the spring and summer. After almost crawling over a few rocks you find a wide open flood plain, this area lies between some cliffs and hills and is traversed by the school kids trail. At the end of which is a steel cable wrapped up in a downed tree and running through a still living one, and on into the water. It's the remnants of a cable bridge. When the water is low I've found that you can cross the river on the rocks that it's named after. I've also found this to be an excellent spot for bass fishing. The large mouth bass love the rocks for hunting.
The gravel road leading back to the parking lot is quite a climb but still worth looking around. The laurels give you a feel that your on a mountain range out west and if you look left at the first gate you pass, you might notice what looks like and old graveyard in the woods. Similar to the Northington Graves in Raven Rock they're natural headstones lined up. It's hard to see if you don't know what you're looking for.
For me White Pines was more than I expected, it's just a small preserve nestled away in a forgotten corner just waiting to reveal it's secrets. If you do enough looking you'll find much more than you thought you would, like the half fallen outbuilding, or the treehouse.
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