MST in the Triangle - Section 4

Wow, another great section, at least from the point of view of varied terrain.

Starting at the Possum Track Road causeway over Cedar Creek, Section 4 heads basically northwest towards an intersection with the end of Bayleaf Church Road. It's also known as the Cedar Creek section since it, well, starts at Cedar Creek.

And considering how hilly the end of the previous section of trail was, the first part of this section is surprisingly flat. It starts out through a forest, occasionally coming within a few hundred feet of Possum Track Road in spots, as it heads west.

After about 1/4 mile, you enter a young pine grove, with pines planted extremely close together on each side of you. The slope is gradually upward. It gives you the feeling of walking through a tunnel. In the middle of this grove, at 0.4 miles, you cross a wide roadbed, and start a gradual descent.

After the pine grove, you turn gradually to the right, away from Possum Track Road, and directly toward the lake. At 0.6 miles, you pass alongside an open wildlife area (which looks like a wide road cut through the forest), and soon you pass a former homesite on your right (with a building still standing), and a rusted-out car very close on your left. Then, you come back to the wildlife clearing.

At 1.2 miles, cross a footbridge. You soon reach a creek that leads to a finger of the lake to your right, and at least 6 homes on your left.

At 1.5 miles, you come to a sharp promontory, with great lake views. The trail turns sharply left here, and goes along another finger of the lake. After crossing the dry stream at the cove, you walk through an area with a lot of ground pine (I think that's what it's called) -- a unique evergreen ground cover.

Then, you walk up a hill and soon enter an area with profuse holly and, surprisingly, mountain laurel. It must be the north-facing slopes here that allow the mountain laurel, which typically only prospers in the mountains of NC, to grow here.

The trail here is very rooty and rocky. You're walking along a narrow strip of land between some homes on your left, and the lake on your right. Parts of it seem as though they will shortly erode away down the hill. Finally, the trail leads down along a creek, and at 2.4 miles, you cross a footbridge over the creek, and a sign says you are entering an NC State Park.

Shortly you cross another bridge, and start uphill, then back downhill to another bridge. Then you start a long uphill climb, perhaps the longest climb on the trail so far (well, except for climbing the dam itself). Thanks to the city of Raleigh for not allowing developers to cover this ridge with homes!

You start back downhill again, and this section of the trail ends at 2.8 miles when you intersect Bayleaf Church Road.

I don't know if it's because this section of the trail ends in a state park, or because it was a pleasantly warm day, or the closeness of housing, but I did meet several people walking on this section. Two were walking their dogs (unleashed), whose dogs immediately left their owners and ran towards me. Both owners said they were sorry, but I still freak when a strange dog runs at me.