Carolina Thread Trail: Seven Oaks Preserve

Carolina Thread Trail: Seven Oaks Preserve – 6/16/18 – 5.5 Miles

Working on my 60 Hikes Birthday Challenge when I have a free morning but not a whole day means exploring pieces of the Carolina Thread Trail close to home here in Charlotte, NC. Their comprehensive website includes descriptions and photos of every trail segment.  Most are part of a larger existing or planned trail, not loops, so I look for segments that are 2 miles one way or longer (4 miles out-and-back). I also prefer natural surfaces to pavement but am not a purist. If it introduces me to a new area, I'm game! CTT’s work is a significant gift to the community, offering outdoor education, events, funding land purchases and conservancy, advocating for green space. Later generations will enjoy the work and vision that is going on today!

Seven Oaks Preserve Trail is a “2.8-mile natural surface trail [that] meanders along the shoreline of Lake Wylie and is located on 78 acres of preserved land managed by the Catawba Lands Conservancy.” An out-and-back on this trail is great on its own, but it also connects to trails at adjacent Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens (free access) to make a nice lollipop hike. The DSBG website has the better map to use for the loop, although it does not name all the trails. Gigantic trail sign boards out there in the woods, though. Would be great if the two organizations collaborated on a comprehensive map…

Carolina Thread Trail main website is here.

Seven Oak Preserve info page is here.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens webpage for their map is here ( link to printable map on this page).

News flash: mid-June in the south is HOT HOT HOT! There is no outrunning the wilting heat. At least the wildflowers at the trailhead were cheerful.

 

Seven Oaks Trail is flat and easy, nearly always in sight of the water. At this time of the year I was on the lookout for snakes, but I wasn’t the only human out there (CTT had a guided group hike this morning too) so all snakes had heard the alarm and departed. Alas, I was too early for the goat project.

A sliver of Lake Wylie

Reflection

At eye level, a vine reaching across the trail; vegetation grows quickly in the summer heat

 

Seven Oaks Trail ends at a viewpoint on the lake. A fellow hiker was there admiring the view with his four-legged best friend.  He clued me in about the loop route, backtracking with me a short way to a left turn onto Worrells Walk, which passes through a pine forest and leads pretty much in a straight line to DSBG.

 

I’m detailing the signage and turn directions because I sure would have liked this information when I hiked this loop (some of us don’t carry a GPS with us all the time). It was a tad disorienting in the DSBG parking lot, but I soon found the Persimmon Trail. In a few yards the trail splits left and right. Doesn't matter which one you take, as this is a loop. Either way you will come to the Boulevard Trail that will lead you back to Seven Oaks to complete the larger loop (confused? yeah, me too...)

A magnificent willow oak

Turn onto the Boulevard Trail, the way back to the Seven Oaks Preserve parking area.

The loop part of the hike connects back to the Seven Oaks Trail with a big ol’ sign waving goodbye to DSBG property. I turned left here for the last mile back to my car.

Have those wildflowers grown a little bit taller while I was on the trails?

Please check out both the Carolina Thread Trail and Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens – they are significant resources and supporting them is critical today and in years to come.

 

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” ~John Muir