Saturday, May 22, 2021

Four Creeks State Forest


We still haven’t traveled far from home. Near us is Four Creeks State Forest with 13,147 acres. Our first visit was last year when we found sandy roads, a landing, and a tent campground site (closed). We visited the forest twice more and are rather confused by it all. Google shows three roads going into the south section of the park. However, we drove four miles in one direction and three miles in another direction on rough roads to find gates closing off the roads. So…one entrance. Oh, and the roads aren’t wide enough for two cars so if someone is coming the other way one of you has to find a wider section and stop to let the other car by.



There are two landings in the south section. Saul’s Landing is very pretty but if you put out a kayak here, it looks like you have to break through the water plants crossing the creek. I found one comment online that says you have to portage in places. The Hobbs Landing is more open. It has a picnic table and we found an unmarked trail along the water. I didn’t walk to the end but I am assuming it is fairly short.

The north section was confusing too. We tried to drive to Boggy Creek Landing but the road off the main sandy road was more grass and weeds than dirt and sand. 

I was looking forward to hiking the only mapped hiking trail in the forest. We had been very happy with the trails at the nearby Cary Forest. But this trail hadn’t been mowed in a long time. There were bushes over 3’ tall in places. At some points the hiking trail was just a deer trail. The trail is both not marked and isn’t the same as the official map. We ended up walking for 45 minutes or so and then returning the same way.

 

The good news is that the forest is good for the habitat of plants and animals. It’s not so useful for people.