This is the start of a hike at Umstead Park's Reedy Creek Section. Umstead is a 5000 acre woodland in the middle of the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area. I've been going here for years. The woods are old, thick, dark, and cool.

Signs of Hurricane Fran Hurricane Fran blew through here 2 years ago (1996). Hurricanes this size only reach this far inland about 2 or 3 times a century. These woods will eventually recover naturally. I read once that if everyone suddenly left the cities of the eastern US, nature would totally reclaim them in only 30 years!
Crabtree Creek This is Crabtree Creek, upstream from Raleigh, at an old mill site. Nothing remains of the mill except its grindstones and a pile of rocks that used to be the dam, part of which is visible in the background on the left.

Going Home This is what North Carolina looked like when just the Indians lived here and when Daniel Boone came through here. Umstead offers camping, but it's so close to home we haven't camped here, yet. Some day we will.

For more information on Umstead State Park, go to its webpage, or get a map (in adobe format), or see the North Carolina State Park Info Page for something about all of North Carolina's state parks.