Deep River Rail Trail, Franklinville, NC

I recently hiked the Franklinville, NC portion of the Deep River Rail Trail. Map pictured left (someone owns this map picture and I give credit to them. I got the map to the left and directions found below from the grand opening flyer at http://townoffranklinvillenc.org/). It is a really nice, flat, easy hike that last 3/4 mile one way (double that to 1.5 or so miles for round trip).

Check out the Google map made for it. . .

View Deep River Trail, Franklinville Portion in a larger map

Directions and map

From Asheboro and points west: from the intersection of Hwy 220 and Hwy 64 in Asheboro, it is about 7.7 miles east on Hwy 64 to the turnoff at Andrew Hunter Road / NC 2235; turn left here and go 1.8 miles. Take a slight right onto West Main St. (NC Hwy 22) and go about .75 miles. Turn right on to Rising Sun Way (you will see a sign for the trail) and drive a short distance to the trailhead parking lot.

From Siler City and points east: drive west on Highway 64 to Ramseur; turn right on NC Hwy 22 North and drive about 1.4 miles to Rising Sun Way (see sign for trail). Turn left on to Rising Sun Way and drive a short distance to the parking lot.

From Climax or Pleasant Garden to the north: drive south on NC Highway 22 all the way into Franklinville. Continue to follow Hwy 22 (it becomes Main St.) through town. About 0.5 miles past downtown, turn right at Rising Sun Way (see signs for trail) and drive a short distance to the trailhead parking lot.

This is the eventual proposition of the full Deep River Rail Trail. It's a pdf file from http://www.ncrailtrails.org.

Hike in Birkhead Mountains Wilderness - Uwharrie National Forest

On Memorial Day I checked out a couple trails at Birkhead Mountains Wilderness located at the north east corner of Uwharrie National Forest.

Directions
From Troy, NC take Hwy. 109 North to the village of Uwharrie and turn right onto Ophir Road (SR 1134). Ophir Road becomes Burney Mill Road as you cross into Randolph County. Continue on to the intersection of Lassiter Mill Road and turn right. Proceed north on Lassiter Mill to either of the trailhead locations as depicted on the map.

From Asheboro, NC take Hwy. 49 South approximately 6 miles. Turn right onto Science Hill Road. About a fourth of a mile further, at the "T" intersection, turn left (south) onto Lassiter Mill Road. Continue on to the two trailhead locations as depicted on the map.

http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/recreation/uwharrie/birkhead_mountain_wilderness.htm
The above link is the Birkhead page on the National Forests in North Carolina website.

About the Hike
A nice hike. The first trailhead you come to on Lassiter Mill Rd. starts out from the parking area going past an old house down a trail by a barn and to a creek. When I walked up and saw the house I wasn't sure if I was going in the right direction, but just followed the driveway around behind the house to the trail. Take note that there are game lands there and folks may be out dove hunting. Memorial Day marks opening weekend on dove season in North Carolina most every year. . . The creek - there is a foot bridge that leads to a small path through an overgrown field, overgrown at the time. You can use the step stones to cross the creek and follow the tractor path to the same place without taking the tiny path through the overgrown field. Might as well walk the foot bridge just for fun then cross the creek, because how often do you get to walk a footbridge?

The rest of the hike was nice. I didn't hike all of Birkhead but I did drive up to check out the trail at the second trailhead.

The Second Trailhead
Keep going past the first trail access and you find another trailhead. Its a pretty good way down a gravel road to the parking area, but the trails here are nice. No overgrown fields. I hiked, taking a right at the fork, down to a creek and didn't go much beyond that. The creek was nice and there was a small camp spot just beyond the creek.

Length of The Tails
Birkhead trail is a trail that is access via the two other access trails that I mentioned above. As this Wilderness.net site puts it
"The Birkhead Mountain Trail crosses the heart of the area for approximately 4.5 miles from north to south (but you won't find a parking lot on either end). From a parking lot on the western boundary of the Wilderness, the Robbins Branch Trail (about three miles) enters the area to fork at the Hannah's Creek Trail (about 1.5 miles). Both trails join the Birkhead Mountain Trail."

or this book found on google book

Nearby Hikes - The Hikes I Like

I live in the Piedmont of North Carolina, and don't like the idea of traveling a distance to hike somewhere I've never been. Piedmont hikes are what I prefer. If you are looking for western NC hikes check out the links at the lower right. Naturally there are more hikes in the mountains, and I hope to devote some time to hikes out west, but hikes in the Piedmont area are preferred and that is what you will hopefully find here.

If you have taken a central North Carolina hike. Let me know. You can write a note, send it to me and I'll post it for you.

Hiking and the Idea of Hiking

I like hiking. I like the enchantment of the outdoors. I like hearing the wind make its own soothing melody in the trees. Its like the leaves are natures wind chimes and the trail is natures back porch. The thing is, I don't hike very much, but I do like the the idea of hiking. However so, a couple of trails have met the rubber of my old Reeboxes recently and it has sparked the interest in me. Hence the blog. When the time gets right I hope to write about my most current hikes and hopefully future hikes.