Neusiok Trail Exploration Trip

We made our plans to hike the trail on Martin Luther King weekend with a group of 10-15 guys, aptly named, “The Old Goat Patrol”. Our plan was to start at the Neuse River hiking south. We would spend a night on the trail near one of the shelters and finish at the Newport River the next afternoon for one more night outside. Unfortunately, this year has been particularly wet and we were forced to cancel the trip a few days before leaving. Given the heavy rains and cold temperatures in the forecast, we opted to stay home rather than drag ourselves through 20 miles of swamp.

However, my buddy Robert and I were able to spend a warm, dry day scouting out the trail three weeks before our planned trip. We explored both ends and the middle sections. We checked out the shelter where we expected to be camping in a few weeks. We have learned that when you are leading a group with mixed backpacking experience it is better to be informed than surprised. After a productive morning and a great lunch at a local eatery, there was one more portion of the trail that we wanted to see before we were finished and returned to Raleigh. This was the section of the trail that passes through stands of timber managed by Weyerhaeuser. Additionally, much of these lands are leased to local hunt clubs. The day we were there was the next to last day of deer season, so we saw and heard a lot of hunting activity.

As we were searching for an access to this last area of trail, we met one of the local hunters who had the key to unlock the gate that would allow us into the area where this section of trail was located. We talked to him for a few minutes, explaining why we were there. Once we explained why we were in the area and our connection to Boy Scouts he offered to open a couple of gates for us to allow us to get to our intended trail section much quicker. He shared his experience hiking the Neusiok a number of years ago when his sons were in Scouts. He was a great guy and really saved us a lot of time as we tried to find that section of the trail.

Earlier that morning, we had visited the Ranger’s office for the Croatan National Forest and learned that this section of trail was the 2 miles or so that were most likely to be “wet”. The Ranger recommended that we stay on the forest service road around this section of the trail. Walking on a road didn’t sound like what we wanted to do so we wanted to see the section of trail for ourselves. Once we reached the “wet” section of the trail, we were able to understand the Ranger’s advice. While portions of it were passable, a significant amount seemed like it would stay under 4-8 inches of water most of the time. During the next 3 weeks, we would have to decide if we were willing to carry rubber boots or just stay on the road.

Now that the weather is warming, it is unlikely we will hike the trail before it grows cold late next fall. I have waited for about 20 years. I can wait a little longer.