I had originally hoped to head west and hike in the Appalachian Mountains this weekend, but I wasn't exactly feeling up for the long four-hour drive to western North Carolina. Instead, I opted to make use of the cool weather locally and hike in Jones Lake State Park, a park just 40-miles (65 km) south of Fayetteville. As the name would suggest, the main feature of this park is Jones Lake - and the majority of people visiting this park only make use of the picnic and beach areas near the parking lot.
I, however, chose to forgo the beach and hike the 4-mile (6.5 km) Bay Loop Trail that passes through the forest surrounding the small lake. The first segment of trail is by far the most beautiful. Passing through the lush forest, the trail occasionally breaks with paths leading to the waters edge for spectacular views of the lake.
Unfortunately, after about a mile of walking, the trail works away from the lake and passes deeper into the forest. Eventually, the trail leaves the forest entirely and begins following a small dirt road that is composed entirely of sand (which will find its way into shoes and socks.) The one interesting aspect of this segment is the division of the forest; towards the lake, the forest is a thick massive of wilderness...on the opposite side, the forest is little more than thinly-spaced pines (I'm not sure if this is the result of a past forest fire or logging.) Sadly, the openness of the road and the reflective quality of the light-colored sand made this an incredibly hot walk (even on a rather cool day.)
Fortunately, the trail does occasionally skip away from the road and pass through the treed area to the right (though the road is always within sight.) After the second mile, the Bay Trail connects with the Salters Lake Trail, a smaller 1-mile trail leading further into the woods to the more remote Salters Lake. Since this trail is even less traveled, it provides a much closer experience with nature. Although there were many more insects along this trail, I also witnessed two white tailed deer right along the trail's path. Sadly, the end destination at Salters Lake was less than ideal; it was simply a small clearing next to the lake that provided a narrow view of the lake (in general, all the outlook points around the lakes would have been greatly improved with the clearing of a view more trees to provide more of a panoramic view.
After returning along the same trail, I rejoined the Bay Trail, and completed the final two-miles around the Jones Lake. Fortunately, this segment was slightly more interesting than the first portion of dirt road. The final two-miles showed how much of a boggy swamp this area really is. The park's department has definitely built the trail here, which becomes extremely obviously every time the man-made path is flooded and requires you to step off the trail; several times, I stepped in what looked to be dry, solid ground - only to discover that it was a thin layer of dead leaves covering a much messier layer of decomposing swamp muck!
When I finally emerged at the park's picnic area, I was actually surprised to see the manicured lawn and sandy beach so close to a "wild" swamp. I almost considered renting a canoe at paddling across the lake, but I didn't exactly want to risk tipping myself into the swampy waters. Instead, I had to happily return with just a 6-miles (10 km) walk completed.
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