Cliffs of the Neuse State Park

Smitty was so comfortable in the catio yesterday morning, it was hard to tell him he had to come inside so that we could drive off.

There was a promise of less-stickery pastures ahead though, and so he relented. You might recall we wondered if we'd be able to cross back over the bridge we came in on. As promised, it was opened. It appeared that the work being done involved scouring the surface with sand, probably to remove some sort of slick residue left behind by ocean air.

We took some of the more back-roady roads on our way to the state park. Along the way, we saw lots of cotton fields.

This one was being harvested.

We noticed something else too. In many of the fields, there were small cemetery plots. I tried to catch a picture of one of them. You can see one in the image below.

That's one of the larger ones we saw. There were plenty that consisted of a mound in the middle of the field that contained half a dozen or so headstones. The headstones were often askew, indicating that no one had tended these graves for a long time. Nevertheless, the farmer had carefully worked around them, leaving them undisturbed.

Now, respect for the dead aside, it's commonplace these days to move grave sites to another location when the modern world encroaches. Here, it seemed as if the graves were being painstakingly preserved, and so I asked my friend Google to explain this to me. Surprisingly, Google had something to say about this. You can read it for yourself right here. Apparently these small cemeteries have become very important to those who are interested in researching their genealogy. There's another answer to the question here, although you'll need to scroll down a little to find it.

So, it was about a 3-hour drive to the state park. Eventually, we turned down "Campground Road," and we were nearly there.

Just a little further on, we reached the park.

Since the beginning of the trip, I've been going back and forth in my mind about visiting this place. On the one hand, I've been very curious to see it. On the other, I've been afraid of what I might find. This place has significance to me because my family often visited here when my dad was stationed at Cherry Point, North Carolina. It was just a little more than an hour away, and we spent many weekends here. I remember it as a primitive campground with pit toilets, and I can see it clearly in my mind's eye.

We pulled our little trailer into a primitive spot that was no more than 50 yards from the "cliffs." Farther away, but not far, were the pit toilets. My brother never failed to roll around in a patch of poison ivy while we were here, and then he suffered with it for weeks after we'd gone. It was here that he got an idea to write a book about being a military brat. He even gave it a title: "Fifty Yards to the Outhouse." I so wish he'd lived long enough to write it.

With my memory of this primitive place, we were concerned about whether we could actually park our 34-foot fifth wheel in the campground, and so we called ahead and spoke with a ranger. The ranger informed us that the campground was newly reopened on November 1st, with a modernized campground and newly-installed hook-ups for RVs. He informed us that they could easily accommodate RV's of any size. Reassured, we made reservations for two nights. And whoa! He wasn't kidding. These are beautiful RV sites with 50-amp electrical hook-ups, water, and sewer!

Amazing what nearly 60 years can do to a place...if only humans aged so well. Smitty was uncharacteristically anxious to put on his harness and get out for a walk, and so we did that right away.

I was suspicious of the brambles, looking for any signs of lurking poison ivy, and so I didn't let him wander off too far. He eyed that loblolly pine, wondering if he could climb it, but then thought better of it.

The park map showed a "Cliff Lookout," and I was pretty sure it would be in the area where we used to camp when I was a child. I was kind of excited to go have a look at it. We could have walked, but being unsure of the distance, we decided to drive.

When we arrived and I ran to the cliff to look over, and it was just as I remembered it. It felt as if the intervening 58 years had never happened, and the child in my mind was standing there just like before. Looking left, one can see the bend in the Neuce River.

Looking right...it looks like this. There used to be three large trees growing from the side of the cliff. In 1961, Hurricane Donna came through here and took out two of them. Later, another big storm took out the third.

Turning directly around from there was the parking lot, and this used to be the primitive campground where we camped.

To my right were some snazzy new restrooms. The pit toilets of yesteryear were gone, replaced with this new brick structure...much better able to stand up to the force of a hurricane. Also, the fence was new. It acted as a barrier between campers and the cliffs. When I was a child, it was possible to run right up to and fall off the edge.

There are several short trails leading off from the parking lot. We decided to take the "350-Yard Trail," which led down to the water's edge. There were no trails when I was a child. Mind your manners please, and for goodness sake, put away those ropes.

Sorry. We're a litigious society these days, and so no having fun.

As we walked along, I was pointing out remembered landmarks, and I said, "The pit toilets were right there...show me the pit." Just then, we spotted this:

Holy sh*t! (Which, if you think about it, was the perfect expletive.) When we spotted the second one right nearby, I said, "His and hers!" Actually, there were holes like this one all around. They appeared to be the rotted out roots of fallen trees. Oh well. Nice try, though.

It was kind of fun to walk down to the water's edge. I'd never been this close to the river before. And who in the class can tell me what kind of tree that is? Have you been paying attention?

Here's a hint...it has "knees."

If you guessed "bald cyprus," like the ones we saw at Congaree National Park in South Carolina then ding, ding, ding! You win the prize. (Newsflash: there is no prize.)

So, we stood there a while. It was lovely. There were some kids fishing, but not catching anything.

There were a couple of other short trails branching off from the main one, but we decided to head back to the visitor center. We were on the hunt for some firewood. I'd noticed a "mural" in the sidewalk when we first arrived. Seeing it from another angle, I noticed this plaque embedded in the sidewalk.

It made more sense having identified it by the marker. Here is the Neuce River. We've crossed over it several times in our travels back and forth across the state.

At the other end is Pamlico Sound...where we just came from. Apparently, the Neuce river travels all the way to the coast and drains into the ocean there.

Also, I noticed this.

Here's what the sign said.

Looking more closely...sure enough. Can you see a scallop shell there in the middle of the image?

Finally, I noticed this shrub growing near the front door. It was barren of leaves, but it had these beautiful purple berries. I've never seen this before. Anybody know what it is?

And, 'tis the season, apparently.

So we scored two bundles of firewood, which the ranger delivered to our campsite. And we enjoyed a campfire last night. It was only the second one of this trip. It isn't that we haven't wanted more campfires, but it has been too cold or wet most of the time. Mike has been building campfires for me since I was 18...and that, my friends, is a very long time.

The moon is near full, and a super moon is due Sunday night. We'll be in South Carolina by then.

We have one more night here, although I wish we had a little more time. We already have reservations at a reportedly nice state park in South Carolina, and so we'll be moving along tomorrow. Today, we'll take the Lake Trail around the lake here. It's about 2 miles. I'll say more about that tomorrow...if I can.

Just so you know, we have a very weak cell phone signal here, and it's been painfully slow uploading pictures for this post. Often those weak signals have a way of disappearing altogether, and so there's no guarantee I'll be back tomorrow.