New trail at Cliffs of Neuse
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on May 5, 2015 1:46 PM
There's one more reason to visit the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park near Seven Springs -- a new trail is opening this month.
The Lake Loop Trail will be open to hikers May 30.
To celebrate, the park is hosting a special ranger-led hike on that trail on opening day at 11 a.m.
"Construction on the Lake Loop Trail has just finished up," said ranger Autumn Kahl. "It's been in the works for a couple of years, and it took a construction company about three weeks to actually complete it."
Ms. Kahl said the trail starts behind the visitor center, goes around through the woods and around the lake and comes up to the lake parking lot. It's about two miles long.
"It's not very strenuous," Ms. Kahl said. "Anybody can do it. It's pretty wide now, but we're not going to be maintaining it that wide. When the trail starts healing back, it'll get down to about the width of our present trails."
There are no stairs on the dirt trail, just a bridge and some stepping stones.
"There are good scenic views of the lake and hills on the Lake Loop Trail," Ms. Kahl said.
On opening day, in addition to a ranger-led hike, Ice Storm and Haulin' Hog of Goldsboro will be set up in the lake parking lot selling barbecue, lemonade and ice cream.
There are four other trails at Cliffs of the Neuse. With the addition of the new trail, hikers can now see all of the park.
"The older trails are more difficult to hike, especially the Spanish Moss Trail," Ms. Kahl said. "If you're into fitness and you enjoy stairs, then the Spanish Moss Trail is the way to go. It also connects you with the group camp sites so you can use it as an access trail. You can also get to the river from that trail.
"The Bird and Galax trails both cross over Mill Creek so you get to see the river and the creek, two different moving bodies of water, one small and one large."
In addition to some awesome scenery, hikers might just catch a glimpse of various animals that live in the park. That includes lots of squirrels and green anoles (a type of lizard).
"There might be a snake or two out sunning himself," Ms. Kahl said. "But they're not going to try and go after people. We've already seen some black snakes, green snakes and a king snake this year. So the reptiles are out."
Ms. Kahl said anyone can hike the Cliffs trails regardless of their fitness level or age.
But no bikes and no horses are allowed on any of the hiking trails.
"And our trails are very safe," she said. "The rangers do frequently patrol them."