FCSP 1/30/24

This Tuesday we had 27 hikers to hike the hills and valley of False Cape State Park. We met at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge at 9:00 A.M. and was on our way in the Tram by 9:35 A.M. The drive through the Wildlife Refuge this time of the year is very nice because the birds, large and small, are there resting and eating for their trip south for the winter. There was Swan, Canada Geese, 4 or 5 different kinds of ducks, Great Blue Heron, and a few Egrets.

We took a vote about stopping at the V C and you know these hikers were ready to hike, so we bypassed the coffee, and hot chocolate, and drove on down to False Cape Landing Road where the hike would start. By not stopping at V C some had to use the pit toilet, and one of the ladies got locked inside and could not get the door open and we heard her hollowing for help, it only took 3 of us to get the door open, which is locked with a 6 in hook. In my 31 years at the park this was the first time I ever heard of anyone getting locked in, but it wasn’t the last time, because at the end of the hike, another hikers also got locked in and had to be helped. I guess we need to fix that lock.

We headed down the main trail for about one quarter of a mile and we met 3 trucks and only one was from the park, the others were from North Carolina heading out to work, and I knew the tide must have been very high and they couldn’t drive the beach with the water coming up to the dunes. Here we turned off the road and headed out to Snow Hill which at one time was about 80 feet high and the tallest sand hill in the park, but over the years the North/East Winds have knocked it down to only about 50 feet tall. The views are still spectacular of the many Pine Trees, Live Oak Trees, the wide-open spaces and of course the Ocean.

 Hiking out to the Powerline we turned south and headed to Wash Woods Road, here we turned East out to the ocean where we could see why the trucks were on the interior road. The winds had been pushing the tide all the way to the dunes. We did have enough beach to hike on and did so for about one quarter of a mile, down to the Maritime Trail. Here we stopped at Christine’s Bench and talked about her times with the Friends Group and took a few pictures.

Heading West for about three quarters of a mile we came to the Powerline again and turn South for a few hundred yards and turn west hiking through the sand hills till we got to one of the old junk yards, this one had about 7 cars and a baby stroller, why anyone would have a stroller in this area with all this sand is beyond me. Most of the group had never seen one of our junk yards and I had to explain what and why the cars were here in our beautiful state park. I told them of all the people that had once lived there and how they were forced off the land back in the 60’s, some own the land and were paid for their land others were squatters and had to leave, and they left a lot of old cars and lots of junk.

It was about 12 noon, so we hiked over to the big platform that our trail club helped to build back in 2004 and had our lunch, some set on the platform and others set on the ground on a blanket of Pine Nettles lying on the soft sand. We were there for about 30 minutes enjoying our PP& J, tuna meals, and other goodies that were brought on our hike today. The platform is on the Maritime Trail, so we headed west on it out to the end of the trail and on to the Bay and the Wash Woods Boat Dock, here a bird fell out of a tree right in front of one of our hikers and she thought it was dead, picking it up she found out no, it was alive, and it flew away. Strange things happen at False Cape State Park.

From here we headed North till we got to Wash Woods Trail and turn East for about a quarter of a mile then turn back North again and did some more bush whacking for almost half a mile. At the junk yard I had told the group that I would show them one more old car and we were at that spot now and a few walked out to see it up close, a 65 Corvair with 1971 license on it. The park has 3 Corvair, so they must have been good to ride around in the sand back in the 60’s. Next stopped was the Maple Leaf Trail and I told the story about the Confederate Prisoners that took over the ship that was carrying them to Maryland to a prison camp, and how they crossed the Barrier split to Knott’s Island and finely working their way back to Richmond. We hiked the Maple Leaf trail out to the Bay and more pictures were taken out on the dock. Then it was a short hike back up to the tram on False Cape Landing Road where we had left the Tram. We drove to the V C and about half of the group used the restroom and then we were on our way back to the parking lot arriving at 3:00 P.M. Another great Tuesday Group Hike.                                                                   Bruce Julian

Picture by Bruce