Category: Mountains to the Sea

NC-50 to Shinleaf Recreation Area

This hike was 8 miles round trip, and I was happy it was not as long as the last two outings, primarily because….

…because I have new boots! They are already pretty comfortable, but it always takes a few miles to completely break them in.

At the trailhead there was a guy in a pick-up truck setting up signs like these:

The race was held a few days after my hike, on March 9, and had 10 mile, 50K, 50 mile, and 100 mile distances.

The trail was already a bit messy from recent rainstorms, so I can’t imagine what it looked like after a bunch of runners came through.

I slid on some wet planks!

My STEPS app recorded 20,000 steps and the equivalent of 51 flights of stairs!

One abandoned farm, and two abandoned cemeteries.

There were surprisingly few views of Falls Lake today. I actually went off-trail down to the lake for this photo.

The MST continues down the gravel road into the Shinleaf campground, but this was my turnaround point.

I took a short break at the hiker’s lot, where I’ll park next time.

But that’s the next hike. For now, I re-entered the woods and began the four miles back to the car, reading a page from “Valley of Vision.”