Carolina Thread Trail: Anne Springs Close Greenway – Blue
Star Trail/Steele Creek Trail – 7/20/18 – 4 Miles
On a steamy, humid but free Friday morning before the weekend got hijacked with other plans, I ventured to Anne Springs Close Greenway nature preserve to check out a segment of the Carolina Thread Trail. There are pieces of “thread” scattered throughout a 15-county area surrounding Charlotte; the threads will eventually be tied together, though completion will be after I am hiking in heaven. But…pieces waiting to be connected are often parts of larger parks and greenways, so no need to wait for the big picture to be revealed. For example, the Blue Star Trail at ASCG is 7.2 miles long, and 1.4 miles of it is designated as a CTT segment. It’s easy to map out a loop (or multiple loops) to include this portion of the Blue Star. I arrived at the Dairy Barn parking lot ready for a walk in the woods.
Only 8 miles from my home, across that SC state line in the
town of Fort Mill, I forget how convenient Anne Springs Close Greenway is and
how much there is to see and do. There’s a $5 day use entrance fee for hiking
and mountain biking all trails and exploring 2,100 acres. [A bummer,
though, that you can’t buy a day pass to the Mary Warner Mack Dog Park. They offer a couple of fee-free days each
year; otherwise you need to have a membership.]
Check the main website for the fascinating history of the
property AND be sure to check just before you visit for current openings and
closings of sections of the property due to construction.
I paid my $5 and then was told by the nice volunteer that the
swinging pedestrian bridge across Steele Creek (the creek bisects the property)
was closed for construction. My hiking loops options were greatly reduced, but never fear!. The trail map
features several loops, so I took the Steele Creek Runners’ 5K Loop that
combines the Blue Star and North Steele Creek Trails.
I can get around national parks really well, but not-to-scale
maps of county parks and local greenway trail systems are often hard to interpret,
as symbols and language are not standardized. After locating the bathrooms (not
easy) I needed the nice volunteer’s help pointing me to the Blue Star Trail
(the gravel road) as it crosses Highway 21. Join me now and enjoy nature up close
on this engaging Piedmont hike. Maybe we’ll see a snake today!
First, cross the road
So far so good
Follow the arrows across the freshly mowed field…
…and into the woods
Little brown jug foliage, no blooms
A good thing I didn’t have my heart set on hiking the
whole Blue Star Trail today
Steele Creek Trail passes back underneath Highway 21 at its
bridged crossing of the creek, a bit soggy, a little creepy, less canopy and
more dense weeds here. Any snakes yet?
Nope.
Pokeberries
I have a healthy respect for spiders as they conduct the
good work of controlling insect populations, but I like to see them before they
are within arm’s reach. This ominous funnel
web was about 3 inches in diameter (no, I didn’t measure it). I couldn’t spot the architect of this
masterpiece and I didn’t get close. [BTW,
if you try spiderweb identification via Google, one of the first sites that pops
up is Orkin Exterminators.]
Beautiful patterns of bark on live trees and dead trees
The trail skirts the creek for a while. The water level was
very low but the height of the bank shows how much water can flow after heavy
rainfall. This tree is hanging on by a
massive root system. When it lets go,
there will be a big change.
On the edge of another freshly mowed field that almost
looks like muddy water
At this intersection, Blue Star Trail turns left and is
interrupted by bridge reconstruction. The creek is knee deep but muddy. I wanted
to see a snake, but not in water that I am also in. At this point, Blue Star is
a wide gravel road lined by fenced green pastures, and Steele Creek Trail stays
in the trees as it parallels Blue Star. I opted to stay on Steele
Creek Trail to complete my route.
As a bonus, I walked the Nation Ford Loop, a handicap
accessible surface that passes by two restored cabins. One is known as the Graham
Cabin, once the home of the grandfather evangelist Billy Graham. (The cabin was relocated from about 2 miles
away and then restored.) The second is the Faires-Coltharp Cabin, also
relocated from about 3 miles away. You can learn more about both structures here.
Faires-Coltharp Cabin
Summary: lots of perspiration
on a sweltering day, about 4 miles walking (almost none on the Blue Star), 2 trail closures, no snakes, a very
intimidating spider’s web, all before noon on a Friday. Well done!
“How
we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” ~ Annie Dillard
No comments:
Post a Comment