Raven Rock State Park - Lillington, NC

Friday Sep 22nd we had planned to visit 2 parks and a Battlefield today. Wow, that turned out to be way too aggressive of a plan. 

We started at Raven Rock State Park and had planned to hike a couple of hours and break for lunch. We didn't even carry our power bars with us since we hadn't planned to stay long. We kept thinking we would reach the river (and some waterfalls), but we just kept winding around the creek. So, we powered on thinking it had to be ahead soon. Finally, we turned around and returned to the car around 1:30. We heard a lot of birds, but didn't spot very many. There were tons of mushrooms however!

 bridge across the creek

 the creek

 quite a few trees had fallen across the creek

 cool tree trunk

a sandy part of the trail - the trail was a combination of rocks, tree roots and mostly just nice walking paths.

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak - male

 rocks jutting out over the creek

 tiny toad

 lizard

 purple one

 growing from a hole in the tree trunk

 it's HUGE!

Visitor's Center

We ate our bars and hiked another trail for awhile. 

 Cape Fear River

 people on a rock in the middle of the river

 super-zoomed in on the people

 cool tree trunk

Black-throated Blue Warbler

 I'm the dot at the end of the trail next to Raven Rock

 me taking a break sitting on the tree trunk

Cape May Warbler (Fall Plumage)

 Red-bellied Woodpecker

 Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

The Hairy Woodpecker was a new species for us. It's similar to the Downy, but larger and doesn't have spots on the tail.

It was a long day of hiking with no real food so I was really looking forward to dinner. We stopped at Holt Lake as they get really good reviews. It officially is the worst meal I have EVER eaten. I ordered a combo plate of pulled pork and fried chicken. The chicken was the only thing edible on the plate and unfortunately was only a very small thigh. The pork was cooked in vinegar and pickled veggies. (no sauce at all to drown out the taste) I ordered green beans and boiled potatoes how could that go wrong? Well, the beans were cooked in vinegar and the potatoes were in tobacco sauce. I wished I liked anything tasting like vinegar, but I don't. So, my hopes of a decent meal after a day with no food didn't work out. 

 pork, chicken potatoes & green beans 

 hush puppies

Fried baby Flounder 

Ah well, there will be better meals in our future! Tomorrow, we are headed back to Raleigh to take the Raleigh Trolley tour and see some of the historic sites of the city.