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Neuse River
It's always a surprise when I stumble across the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. This summer I will have lived in North Carolina for twenty years and through this whole time the Mountains-to-Sea Trail has been like an old friend who keeps popping up again - someone I knew and liked throughout my life but never got to know intimately even though we share interests and keep rubbing elbows over the years.
Summer always looks tired to me. By July all the leaves look spent and dry. The oak leaves droop depressedly and the canopy takes on a tinge of golden-orange as if it had been singed. Yellow. So much yellow. I heard about this sunflower field through a couple sources, so one afternoon after work Emily and I headed out to find that sunflower field. I picked up Ryder and we headed east, towards the Neuse River Greenway heading to Johnston County.
What's in a word? Or rather, what's in a silence? Long, hard work at a day job, and long, physical work in Johnston County forced my silence for the past week. I've never been one to plan blog posts more than a couple days in advance, so with a sudden onslaught of extra responsibilities and the sudden lack of time (an hour commute each way and extra work killed all my blogging and running time) meant radio silence. On Saturday though, stuck in Johnston County, I took the chance to explore somewhere new for a little stroll.
Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest - Leading up to my trip I really thought I was going to walk into a Lost Colony sort of scenario and just disappear into unknown woods. My efforts to research the trail and plan my overnights had just been one big "404 Not Found" love fest. "Click here for a link to a map!" 404 Not Found. "Click here for directions to the trail head!" 404 Not Found. "Click here for shuttle information!" 404 Not Found. But my backpacking NC book and Mountains-to-Sea Trail book encouraged me to go ahead and just explore.
