Here
it is May already, and I know hiking season is winding down as the weather
heats up for summer. I want to take
advantage of every opportunity I get, for comfortable hiking conditions before
it’s too late. Two days ago was a
beautiful day for hiking, much like today, and I went hiking in the BNR at Kyle’s
Landing (see: 228 Indian Creek Loop).
That hike was a lot rougher than I had expected, so today I’m
looking for something shorter and easier.
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natural beauty abounds
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Besides
shorter and easier, I’m also hoping to steer clear of the tick infested tall grass
and weeds that I encountered Thursday.
On another recent hike, this one in Gene Rush WMA, I stayed on the ‘firelanes’
and never found a single tick (see: 227 Quantum & Seed Tick). So I’m thinking, some nice wide clean
firelanes are just the ticket for ‘tick free’ hiking this time of year. With that thought in mind I head back to Gene
Rush.
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| that's mine in the trees... |
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and about 750' later
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I
pull off NC 4260 at the first firelane with a green gate on the west side of
the road, this is where I’ll start out, but not on the firelane, I’ll return
on that. I walk up NC 4260 about 750
feet further to the next gate at FL1103C, this firelane is exactly what I was
hoping for wide clean and tick free. At
about a third of a mile up the easy lane I meet a hunter heading back to his
truck. I didn’t know there was an open
season this late in the spring, he tells me spring turkey season is really late
this year. |
to start FL1103C is wide clean and tick free
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Hiking
northwest on FL1103C and passing a couple short loop that go further north to
wildlife openings, first is FL1104C that circles up to WO1103 then back, and
after that is FL1101 which loops up around a point and back. I don’t take either one staying instead on
FL1103C soon passing a little pond P1101, before this lane disappears in
WO1102. Just about everything on this
hike has ‘eleven’ in its name, that’s how I came up with the title ‘Little
Eleven Loop’. |
field WO1102, and pond P1101 above
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Anyway,
past the field ‘WO1102’ the lane ‘FL1103C’ continues just a short way, I
eventually find it but this isn’t the ‘wide clean tick free’ road that I came
in on. This ‘lane’ could barely qualify
as a trail, with weeds rock and lots of ticks I continue northwest down the
hill. It isn’t hard hiking and about
what I expected once the lane ended, so I plug ahead no big deal. Soon I land in the back yard of a brown
house. |
FL1103C past the field
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As
near as I can find out from AGFC ‘Mapper 3.0’ is that this brown house and out
buildings are now Game and Fish maintenance cabin and equipment sheds. More important for me, this is where I find
FL1102C my road back. This lane
obviously gets plenty of use to keep the weeds down, around a big sweeping
curve to the south after almost half a mile I come to one of Gene Rush’s locked
green gates, with a parking area just beyond. |
maintenance cabin and equipment shed?
|
FL1102C
leaves the road here at the parking spot and continues southeast up the hill,
but you couldn’t call it a ‘lane’ I wouldn’t even call it a good trail. Not quite a bushwhack, thanks to the occasional
faded orange ribbon tied in trees, once again it’s grass weed and more
ticks. But FL1102C does get better after
cresting out on top of the hill at small field WO1101, along the way to this
little wildlife opening was one downed tree on the faint trail (reminding me of
228 ICHT). |
both pics are FL1102C
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The
lane is great the rest of the way, about 700 feet after the small field is my
parked truck at the green gate, the end of FL1102C. Well I
mostly got what I asked for, a short easy hike at only 2.4 miles, with just
264 feet of elevation gain. And even
though the grassy weedy sunnier stretches of trail were thick as thieves
with ticks, I still had a great time. I’m
hoping May stays cooler than average so I can get a bunch more opportunities to
spend the day on an Outdoor Adventure in the Ozarks. |
end of the hike
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Lil Levin Loop: Statistics Chart 229
Getting to the green gate where I parked today is pretty easy. South of the Buffalo River/SR123 bridge about
a quarter mile is NC 4500 into Gene Rush WMA, there is a sign. Go east on NC 4500 about 1.8 miles to a fork,
take a left on NC 4260 and continue northeast just a quarter mile to the
parking area on the left near the gate, or you could park at the next gate on
the left (both have small parking areas).
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