Section 5 of the MST (also known as Loblolly Point) is a short walk -- just 1.2 miles long. It starts at the end of Bayleaf Church Road. Just past the massive, and somewhat aseptic, houses of Carlisle subdivision, Bayleaf Church Road ends at a State Park -- one I didn't even know was there, and doesn't seem to have a name. For a park, it's strange that it doesn't seem to have any amenities. No picnic tables, no ball fields. Just the terminus of two sections of the MST, and the site of a two (or three?) story building called the Yorkshire Center, which houses the administrative offices of the NC Division of Parks and Recreation. Oh, and the park is only open to traffic from 8-5 weekdays, when the Yorkshire Center is open. You can park on either side of the road, outside the gate, during other times.
It's a nice location for an administrative center, as it commands an excellent unobstructed view of Falls Lake.
Back to the trail -- it starts opposite a sign board just inside the park gates. This section of the MST stays mostly close to the lake shore on your right, and homes appear every now and then on your left. The trail heads mostly south-west, following the southern edge of Lower Barton Creek.
Walk across Bayleaf Church Road and enter the forest. At 0.2 miles, you cross a footbridge over a small drainage creek, and head uphill. At 0.4 miles, you cross a short plank over a dry creek. At that point, you leave the state park, and enter game-lands, where hunting is allowed, so be sure to wear bright-colored clothing.
At 0.6 miles, you come to a broad open area, and cross an angled footbridge across a nice creek, that wouldn't look out of place in the mountains. Walk uphill again. At 0.8 miles, another footbridge to cross. Soon, you can hear the cars on Six Forks Road ahead, even though you have a ways to go. The trail makes a sharp left turn, seemingly away from the lake.
As you approach another bridge at 1.1 miles, a blue house appears in front of you. At this point in my journey, a large domerman came running down the hill from that house, crossed the bridge, barking and snarling as it approached. I yelled at it ("Sit!" and "No!") to stop it from attacking me, and it stopped for a bit. Since couldn't see any human near, I screamed at the top of my lungs "Where is this dog's owner?" "This dog is attacking me!" The dog came very close and snarled menacingly. Finally, I heard the dog's owner say something, a long way off, and the dog ran back to its house.
That experience got me wondering -- do the people who live on land that borders the public land the MST crosses really think of this public land as an extension of their own land? Perhaps not, since some homeowners have surrounded their house with a fence, but a lot of them have no fence. I'm guessing they probably would have stopped the construction of the trail if they could have.
Anyway, after crossing the footbridge at 1.1 miles, you walk right, around the blue house, and climb a ridge. At 1.2 miles, you come to a steep, muddy and rocky set of steps up to Six Forks Road. Turn right on Six Forks Road and follow it across a causeway over Lower Barton Creek, the largest creek I've seen so far. After 0.3 miles, the next section of the trail turns right into the woods, into a Wake County park named Blue Jay Point.
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