North Carolina State Parks: Goose Creek State Park

 North Carolina State Parks: Goose Creek State Park
3 Miles – 6/6/24

Yesterday’s discoveries in Eastern NC left me happy as a lark. The land, the history, and the people were awe-inspiring! This morning I woke up wondering, could I have just one more little adventure before I face the long drive back home to Charlotte? Of course.

The headwaters of the Tar River in North Carolina begin 215 miles inland, flowing eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. At the town of Washington, this freshwater river meets brackish water and becomes the Pamlico River which flows into Pamlico Sound, the second largest estuary system in the U.S.

Among the communities along the shores of Pamlico River are the towns of Washington and Bath. Each has a unique character and both have centuries of history to share. Visitors can spend a day or a week exploring, learning and eating. In Washington, I recommend starting at the North Carolina Estuarium, an outstanding environmental center, and the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum, housed in a caboose on Main Street. Bath’s claims to fame include status as the oldest town in NC, the oldest church building in NC (St. Thomas Episcopal Church) and home of the pirate known as Edward “Blackbeard” Teach.

Leesa Jones, founder of the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum

St. Thomas Episcopal Church

On the banks of the Pamlico River, about halfway between Washington and Bath, is Goose Creek State Park. It has a big shiny Visitor Center where I stamped my NC State Parks passport and got my bearings for exploring in a limited time frame (park map link here). Decisions to make about trails to hike.

First I drove around to check out the family campground (very few trees, y’all, so think about that summer heat) and the primitive camping area near Goose Creek.  I parked where the main road ends at a large picnic area with (yay!) restrooms. 

Before we start walking, let’s learn about the slinky snakes that live in the neighborhood

From the picnic area, a shady path leads to the official swim beach. Early morning and it was already steamy, with a welcome breeze by the water to keep biting bugs away.

Live Oak Trail, Mallard Creek Loop and Huckleberry Trail form a nice loop along the Pamlico River and Mallard Creek and through pine forest, with a couple of short interconnecting paths. I used the Strava app to keep me on track today. 

Live Oak Trail is just as it says, majestic trees dripping with Spanish moss, dipping limbs down into the water, swaying in the breeze, small waves breaking on the sand and dead limbs scattered along shore. 

  Nature’s sculpture

For a few moments I watched a woman and two little girls playing on a stretch of sand in between the trees. The blue skies, drifting white clouds, swaying trees, mesmerizing waves rolling onto shore, invoked scenes hundreds (thousands) of years ago when indigenous peoples knew this peninsula as home.

(Okay, I thought about all that later, but at the time I just enjoyed watching the kids playing.)

A grand live oak’s rooty toes stretch to the water. I learned later that this setting is the symbol
 for Goose Creek State Park (see patch photo at the top of this post)

Live Oak Trail intersects with a short trail to a tiny cemetery. It's not on the trail map but there is an interpretive sign. It is informally called Goose Creek State Park Cemetery. There are four graves, two unmarked and two marked with headstones indicating both people died in 1882, probably of an epidemic (cholera?)

Headstone of Melisa Carawon

Headstone of J.T. Campen

I backtracked to Live Oak Trail and continued to its intersection with one-mile Mallard Creek Loop Trail. As that trail turned away from the water, the wind died down, and the gnats and skeeters swarmed around me with a mission.

Mallard Creek Loop leads to the edge of Mallard Creek

An inviting dock stretching out into Mallard Creek

The rest of my hike was away from the water (and the wind) and I picked up my pace to stay ahead of the insects. I saw more Spanish moss in pretty light along this section.

If I’d had a full day, I might have hiked all the trails in Goose Creek SP, but it was time to hit the road. Some of what I missed: the Palmetto Boardwalk Trail crossing a blackwater swamp and the Tar Kiln Trail that has remains of tar kilns, used for burning long leaf pines to extract resin to produce tar for the 17th and 18th century shipbuilding industry. Next time!

I’m very grateful for North Carolina’s state park system that preserves, protects and promotes the diversity of our wild places. I’m a lucky girl exploring the corners of this amazing state. Just a few more counties and state parks to go!

“Go out in the woods, go out.

If you don’t go out in the woods,
nothing will ever happen

and your life will never begin.”

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes