2004/04 Boston and South Carolina trip - Cliffs of the Neuse |
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Wednesday 21st April
It was nice to have a heated shower block, even though it wasn’t cold outside! We hadn’t been able to contact the Jenkins, so we replanned for another place to stay in North Carolina. We crossed from Delaware into Maryland across the Chesapeake River, headed south towards Washington DC, skirted it on the Beltway, and crossed the Potomac into Virginia. We were moving rapidly into spring. Massachusetts only had buds, Delaware and Washington had blooming cherry trees, and Virginia and North Carolina had blazing azaleas.
We chose to camp at “Cliffs of the Neuse” state park, mainly to find out what the name meant! There were just two parties camping under the pines. It was a warm evening, and we were able to sit out and eat in shirts and shorts. The evening was full of bugs, moths, and beetles, but nothing particularly malevolent, so we enjoyed the warmth.
Thursday 22nd April
There was no rush the next morning as we were ahead of schedule. We took a look at the Neuse River and its cliffs, and hiked the more interesting trails. The pine trees supported a good population of red cardinals, much like Minnesota, but everything else was different. The dogwoods had just finished flowering, the rest of the trees were fully leafed out, and there were cypress trees wherever there was water. These are the trees with the “knees” protruding above water, really just extensions of the roots, looking for air.
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We climbed down to the base of the cliffs and the river bank, and met a pair of black
snakes mating.
Believe me; if you don’t like snakes, then we have a video of these two that’ll curl your toes. Sandie showed the video to one of the park rangers. Consensus was that these were probably rat snakes, constrictors, so harmless to us. As a naturalist, I think he was a bit upset to have not been there himself.