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

Scotland: Steall Falls at Glen Nevis

Steall Falls, Glen Nevis, Scotland – 6/5/18 - 3 miles

 

When Jim and I were planning our trip, we envisioned that this day would see us hiking to the summit of Ben Nevis, the highest point of Scotland, actually the highest point of the United Kingdom. As the trip got real close, I began reading detailed descriptions of the endeavor and felt those trail jitters, waking me at night and filling me with doubt.  The main route is long and steep and takes all day, and even if you begin in clear skies, it’s likely to end in fog and rain and having to turn around just short of the summit.  Hmmm…did I mention that we also planned to drive to the Isle of Skye after this hike?

So last night at the Fort William hostel we had conversations with hikers who had climbed Ben Nevis just that day, some of them less than half our age, and their tales confirmed that I for sure did not want to attempt the hike.  Maybe if we were staying in town another night…but definitely not with an hours-long drive the same day. With that settled, I had the best night’s sleep of the entire trip – in a full eight-person bunkroom!

  

So we had time to do something else this morning: Steall Falls. We can do a drive-by of the Big Guy on the way. First we walked a few streets in search of breakfast [note: next time, allow a day to knock around Fort William, looks like an interesting place] and headed off to Glen Nevis (glen is valley and ben is mountain, remember?) Getting out of town was confusing - one-way streets, is it the second or third roundabout, is that the train station again, we could never survive living in this country – but we found our way. 

The road through the Glen parallels the River Nevis. On the left, the green slopes of the base of Ben Nevis are so close that the summit was hidden – or is that the summit? Instead, those cute Scottish sheep captured our attention.

 

The Glen tapers down and the mountains close in, and at road’s end the parking area was filling up – we were in the right place. Though Steall Falls is a major attraction, there’s much to explore here. The powerful waters spilling from the gorge towards the valley have worn away the rough edges of massive boulders that have tumbled down with time. There are also more trails and loops for those with more time than we had. [Note: the Ring of Steall, a16km route that appears to require nerves of steel.]

The cobblestone-type path lured us into Nevis Gorge, quickly becoming more rugged with steep sides and overhanging boulders. There’s a pinched-in feeling similar to walking up the washes in Death Valley, only with trees.  In several places we tiptoed over small streams that flow down to join the River Nevis.

 

In less than a mile we popped out of the trees where the unexpectedly grand Steall Meadow spreads out wide. Just around a bend to the left, we could see across the meadow to Steall Falls (An Steall), flowing like a loose skein of white yarn down the rock face of An Gearanach.

At 120 meters, Steall Falls is the second highest waterfall in Scotland, and Harry Potter fans may recognize its appearance in tournament scenes in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” But if you are an HP fan, you already know all the places in this area that were used in filming. 

To the right of the waterfall there’s a sketchy cable wire crossing over the River Nevis, but Jim and I scouted to the left and found a good rock hop so that we could investigate more closely.  

Which is more dramatic, taking in the waterfall’s massive scale from across the valley or sitting beside it, hearing the thunderous pounding and feeling the spray? I say both!

The trail continued past the waterfall, pulling us further up the broad valley to the Steall Ruin. I couldn’t find much information about this other than that it dates from the 1700’s.

Jim conquered the cable crossing – and then had to come back!

We met a steady flow of peeps on our return hike and were glad we’d started as early as we did, for now cars lined the roadside for a half-mile past the parking area. The flower report today:

Cottongrass

Foxglove

Bluebell/wild hyacinth

Our drive to the Isle of Skye was filled with more adventures (we’ll stop to look at just about anything) and with daylight until after 11:00 p.m., there was a lot to see.  Our B&B for the next two nights was on a farm outside of Portree.  How about some sheep with your sunset?

 

“Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time deid.” ~Old Scots proverb