Loop
0.8 miles
Easy
On Saturday, we continued our bid to hike all of the trails at Morrow Mountain State Park in Albemarle, NC by hiking the Three Rivers Loop Trail.
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| Morrow Mountain Trail Map |
The weather was mostly pleasant with temperatures in the mid-70's. We came in just ahead of a rain front but didn't get any rain while we were hiking. The recent rain had caused the humidity levels to climb, so that while the temperatures were nice, it was a bit muggy. On a couple of occasions, there was a nice breeze for which we were very thankful.
The Three Rivers Loop Trail is 0.8 miles of easy walking on a well worn path. If you are seeking solitude, look elsewhere. The trail starts at the boater put-in parking lot, crosses the main road leading to the parking lot, and then splits. If you turn left as we did, it follows the road for the first couple hundred yards. After that, the trail follows the river for a quarter mile or so. In both cases, on any warm day, it is likely to be noisy from boaters coming and going in their cars and running back and forth on the water. It ranges from annoying to downright awful.
After the trail leaves the river, it does provide a little bit of solitude, but the sound of the trucks and boats was always ringing in the air. It climbs a small knob from which you can see the river through the trees. Then there is a steep downhill grade to get down off the knob. Once down to the bottom "typical" trail level, there is almost no gradient change at all. The loop finishes where you started (Obviously) with a short trip down the connector trail.
With the recent rain, the lower portions of the trail had puddles, but all of them could be circumvented without getting too wet. Iwould not recommend this trail in the summer because I am sure the mosquitoes to humans ratio would be astronomical since it is mostly in a low lying wet area with lots of standing water and tall grass.
The trail has markers that correspond to a guide of some sort that we didn't have with us. I would assume it is identifying the trees. We may have to hike this trail again some time with the guide so I can start teaching the boys (and learning myself) what the different kinds of trees look like.
Conner tripped on a root near the top of the knob and hurt his knee. He wouldn't let us look at it, but after a few minutes, he recovered enough to start walking again. Within a short space of time, he was not even limping. No harm, no foul.
Elijah did pretty good. Only one restroom break, and not nearly as much "Can we rest now?" and "Can I have something to drink?" We did make him ration his drink so it would last for both trails we had planned to do. Next time, I will bring more fluids. I didn't do a proper job planning for this hike. I got a bit complacent because I knew it would just be two short trails.
We saw a huge turtle (tortoise?) in a tributary. It swam out from under a footbridge and hid under some roots. Unfortunately, Kristina missed it.
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Pictures coming soon. Check back later
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