Section 8, or Shinleaf Recreation Section, of the MST/Falls Lake Trail starts at NC-98, just west of the Falls Lake bridge, and goes west-north-west to New Light Road. The distance is 3.6 miles. It seems hillier than most sections. It reminded me of Section 4, because it also goes through a state park, and Section 6, through Blue Jay Point Park, because of its length.
Starting at a gravel pull-off on NC-98, the trail ducks into the woods and almost immediately passes a house on the left, and then at 0.1 mile crosses some power lines. Do those people in the expensive houses you pass care they are so close to the power lines?
At 0.2 mile, you cross a wide road bed, and go through a stand of pines. At 0.3 mile, you pass a very small bridge over a mostly-dry stream. You start going downhill, and at 0.5 mile, you cross another bridge with an oddly angled handrail, which looks as if someone or something tried to push it to the side. It's along here you also see a couple monstrously large houses on your left. One of them is so close, you feel as if you're walking through its backyard.
More downhill, and at 0.7 mile you cross your third bridge near a cove. You keep traveling up the cove past the bridge, and it takes quite a while to get around to the other side of the cove, since there are several ditches (or runoffs) that you have to go around.
You walk down toward the lake, and have some awesome views starting at 1.0 mile. The next section becomes progressively more hilly. You start back up another cove, and reach two bridges at 1.5 miles. You are very high above the lake at this point, and the second bridge is a multi-level marvel, with a couple sets of steps. You would swear you were in the middle of the NC mountains here.
At 2.3 miles you pass another bridge, and start wandering downhill to a stone-step creek crossing at 2.4 miles. A sign here says you're entering a state park, and dogs must be on leashes, but near here, I was attacked by two German shepherds owned by a woman walking the other direction. They ran away from her toward me, snarling and barking until they were within a couple feet of me. I shouted "No!" really loudly, and they seemed to settle. I told the woman I was really afraid of dogs. The woman said a half-hearted "Sorry!" as she walked past.
I also passed a couple with a cute Boston terrier on a leash, so I can't say everyone I have met hiking ignores the leash law. Yeah, maybe I'm too scared of dogs I don't know. Perhaps I should just ignore them. But I can't help but think -- what would have happened if I was walking with a young child, and those two German shepherds came up to us? Someone might have been hurt. It's not worth the risk.
After you enter the park, at 2.7 miles, you cross a rapidly flowing stream over a footbridge. It must be spring-fed, since it carried a lot more water than any stream that day. The trail follows the stream (on your left) uphill through the park. At 3.0 miles, you reach a gravel road at Shinleaf Recreation Center. A sign said they have walk-in campsites, so that might be nice for through hikers on the MST. There's also a large car park and restrooms here, but in late February, I saw no cars parked. I think the campsites are strewed along an isthmus that juts into the lake, so the views from the campsites must be nice, but I couldn't see them from the trail.
The MST continues left along the gravel road for a short distance, then crosses a paved road, and reenters the woods. You soon pass a tiny old cemetery, whose rusted iron gate has been smashed by a fallen tree.
The trail heads downhill (aw, you're about to lose all the elevation gain from the last section of trail), crossing a footbridge at 3.2 miles. Oddly, soon after this, there's a small signpost that says MST 3.5 miles. Not sure why it's there, as it's the only one of its kind I have seen on the trail.
You soon hear road traffic, and at 3.5 miles, you cross an old road bed, that is in quite a deep depression. At 3.6 miles, you reach New Light Road. Follow the road to the right to get to the next section.
No comments:
Post a Comment