MST in the Triangle - Section 6

Views, views, views! Oh, and benches.

Section 6 stays consistently closer to the lake than the other sections up to this point, so you get a lot of awesome (winter) views.

Section 6, also known as the Blue Jay Point section, is 3.1 miles long, and goes from one end of Blue Jay Point Wake County Park to the other. It starts at the northern end of the Lower Barton Creek causeway on Six Forks Road, and ends back on Six Forks Road, just south of the Upper Barton Creek causeway. The first half of the trail heads northeast, along Lower Barton Creek. The second half heads west, along the southern shore of Upper Barton Creek.

Besides the beautiful views, you pass lots of hills, bridges, benches, and side paths leading to other parts of the park. You'll also probably meet a lot of other people, as they are strolling from the park's parking areas down to the lake. What you don't see are any homes, at least until the very end of the section.

The trail starts at a wide graveled pull-off on Six Forks Road, just north of the Lower Barton Creek causeway. You enter the woods and take a quick left turn. In a very short while you cross several drainage areas. Then at 0.1 mile you walk across a plank bridge. You walk along an area with a steep drop-off on your right, just past what looks like a man-made berm for a short distance. Also in this area, I noticed a roped-off area on the left with a sign that says "This is not a trail". It doesn't look like a trail, though, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to go that direction.

Then, you start to pick your way down to a bridge for a creek crossing. You turn right and follow the creek back to the lake, walking uphill so some pretty good views. The next section consists of several crossings of creeks (some dry) by bridges and planks of various sorts. At 0.7 mile, you cross a wide footpath.

At 1.0 mile, you start a steep descent down some stairs to cross a creek over a footbridge. You turn sharply right after the bridge, and soon see the first of 16 benches. This is a novelty, possibly because this is a County Park. From here on, you see start to see some evidence of park development, such as cross-paths, and those benches. At the fourth (or fifth?) bench, you get a great view across the water to the Yorkshire Center, which is at the start of Section 5.

The next section is a little confusing, with several twists and turns. Just follow the white-blazed trail. At 1.3 miles, you cross a gravel blue-blazed trail that leads right to Blue Jay Point. I'll have to go back to the park sometime to see it, since I continued on.

At 1.4 miles, you cross another bridge, and turn right to join another trail. If you turned left here you would go uphill to a playground and restrooms.

At 1.6 miles, take a right to join a wide yellow-blazed trail that heads toward the lake. At 1.7 miles, the MST continues to the right. At 1.8 miles, there's another footbridge. At 1.9 miles, you intersect a wide blue-blazed path, and turn left to follow it for 100 yards. Then, turn left again. You start heading uphill to a signboard and parking lot at 2.0 miles.

From the parking lot, turn right to cross the road and re-enter the woods. This next section is extremely hilly. You are initially very high above the lake. At 2.2 miles you cross a bridge, and then head downhill. At 2.3 miles, you cross two bridges with a bench between them. One of the bridges is brand new -- it has a plaque that says it was built by an Eagle Scout Troop on January 10, 2010 (just 9 days ago!).

Back uphill you go, then downhill to cross another creek on a bridge at 2.6 miles. You start to hear cars on Six Forks Road, but you've still got a ways to go. Back uphill and downhill to cross a bridge at 2.8 miles.

Then, I encountered the first houses of this section. It's just two houses, but it's kind of jarring -- you're in a park after all. The first house has a couple barking dogs. The second house, which you pass extremely closely to, is bright yellow and seems to be brand new. You also get a good view of the boat ramp across the lake from here.

At 3.1 miles, you descend a set of steps and emerge from the forest onto Six Forks Road. The MST continues north along Six Forks for 0.3 mile.