The drive down to Jessy's Tree Farm took about 2 hrs, 30 min. Jessy is a naturalist who is helping conserve the Long Leaf Pines in the Sand Hills. The Long Leaf Pine Forest used to stretch form VA to FLA to TX, about 90 million acres, and now they are scattered, about less than 2 million acres. Jessy lives in West End, in the country though not far from town. We set up camp a little ways from the house. I hung between two trees on one end of the camp, Thing2 on the other side. I was under a Speer Winter Tarp, with an 11ft Molly Mac digital camo hammock with a waterproof Molly Mac Gear Box to store my clothing and gear. We managed to hang in the camp, and we were amongst tents. Thing2 needed to use some of my extra rope to put up her Gear Box, but other than that, we didn't need anything extra.
The first thing we did was go to Waymouth Woods. We went with the naturalist **** Thomas to the Waymouth Woods. We mainly talked about the plants and how the Sand Hills is a "fire-ecosystem"; they must have fire to survive. It was pretty hot and we went to a swimming hole, a big pond, twice. For dinner we had spaghetti and salad. I slept well that night, no problems. The next day, Tuesday, was like a rest day.We toured the farm, going to the creek that is one of the sources of the Lumber River. The creek, on Jessy's property, turns into the Lumber River further downstream. We also picked and ate the blueberries, peaches and grapes that he grows. Thing2 and I went shopping with Mel, our soon-to-be naturalist who helps with summer camp, and that was pretty much it. We had sandwiches for lunch and tacos for dinner.
That night it rained hard and the lightning looked beautiful, although it was in the distance. I slept through the entire storm in a deep sleep. When I woke up, I found out that my water-proof Molly Mac Gear Box worked since it was wet but my stuff wasn't. This day was probably my favorite day. We went to two Carolina Bays. Carolina Bays are the only natural bodies of water in NC (meaning lakes, ponds, ect.) The first one we went to was dry. It had lots of plants, but no water. There was a pond really close and we found tadpoles, fish, and dragonflies. We ate lunch, sandwiches again, and went to the second bay. The second bay was my favorite. It was full of dirty, muddy, staining, water with a mucky, "organic matter" bottom! Filled with duckweed, grass, muck, muck, and muck. At first, I didn't want to wade far because I didn't want to ruin my clothing. Well. I pulled up my jeans so they were like shorts and I started into this nasty bay. About 10ft out it got to my knees. So I thought that I would only ruin my jeans. About 5 more feet and it's up to my waist. By then, I don't care if my clothing gets dirty, I am having fun! We had to move these "rafts" of grass, which, at the bottom, are covered in muck. This is where I almost lost my shoes in the deep muck. You could dip your hand in anywhere and pull out a glob of mucky stuff. We waded about to my belly. We saw lots of snowy egrets and a type of bird that I can't remember it's name... it was black, adults had a little white, and graceful. A little like a very graceful heron. When we got back we hosed off and took showers at a fitness place. After that, we went to the creek/Lumber River and waded up and down the creek. When we got back to where we started, we spotted a huge wolf spider by the shore. I was looking at it when I noticed an oddly colored root. It turns out to be a Water Moccasin! For diner we went out to eat pizza at a Pizza Hut. I slept well, and I was tired.
The next day, Thursday, was the canoe trip.We paddled down the Lumber River. 4hrs, 8miles, in about 107*F weather. It was fun, except for the heat. When we got back, we of course went swimming in the water hole again. Then we had dinner; turkey hot dogs. Just as I was finishing my dinner, Jessy walks up with a bucket in his hands. He had just been down to a pond in his property and found something... that huge bull frog my dad posted earlier! It was great, only Thing2, Mel and I, all girls remember, held him. No boys. That night was the best sleep I have ever had. It rained lightly, though I didn't notice, and I slept better than I do at home!
Next day we broke camp, which didn't take long at all. This breakfast was the only breakfast that we didn't have cereal, cereal bars, and fruit. We had chocolate chip pancakes! The last thing we did was go to the Waymouth Woods one more time, and to the fire-tower. We hiked in Waymouth Woods looking for the endangered Red-Cockaded Woodpecker. Tom saw a couple, they travel in groups, but I only heard them. We also saw a male and female Cooper's Hawk. Next we traveled to a fire-tower and Tom asked if anyone wanted to climb it. Thing2 is afraid of heights and went up the first flight of rickety wooden stairs only to take quick pictures and come down. The tower went above the Long Leaf Pine canopy. I went all the way up, I love heights. I would of stayed up longer, but Tom, who was escorting us, was getting nervous at being so high up, and there were people waiting for their turn on the top landing (we had to take turns toward the top because we weren't sure it would hold our weight at once...). We had Subway for lunch and drove home. We arrived at PEC around 2:00pm.
You'll see in the pictures that my SWT is hung kinda narrow... that's because Too Tall Tom and others kept tripping on my tie-outs, so Tom made me move it in. I left it that way, and it worked just fine with the Molly Mac Gear Box hanging right next to my sleeping hammock.
If you click on this picture, it will take you to the album, where there are 45 others!
- Thing1
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. Way to go Things 1 and 2!
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