MST-55, segment 16

Peletier to Newport, eastbound

December 17, 2024. I overnighted in my “Luxury RV” and did 18 miles on this second day of hiking.

Clean, cozy and decorated for Christmas!

A foggy start to what would be a fairly warm day for December.

Have I mentioned that I love hiking adventures!

Here begins over ten miles in the Croatan National Forest.

It was really beautiful.

Plenty of long, straight stretches for morning devotions!

The route left the forest and went through a mile of farmland. Because of the variety of habitat, I had over 40 species of birds for the day,

‘Tis the season!

The second long section of forest was a broad boulevard closed to vehicular traffic.

Perfect habitat for woodpeckers! And indeed, through the course of the day I found the remaining three species I still needed to have seen all eight North Carolina woodpeckers over the two days.

Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker

I took a long break just before leaving the forest, because the rest of the hike was on the roads. I wanted to have fresh socks and a refreshed spirit for tackling traffic and noise.

…..and noisy and busy it was!

I was happy to find some sidewalk for easy walking, especially since I had tripped and fallen over a piece of roadside trash.

Normally I would take the time to explore a small history museum, but I had 3 miles to go and was pretty tired, so I pressed on.

My car was safely tucked away behind “The Sanctuary of Newport.”