I switched our regular Sunday hike to Saturday in order to “celebrate” National Trails Day 
. I almost regretted this decision as we were driving out of town, though. We had a little patch of rain headed our way. Luckily, the most we experienced was a minute or two of sprinkles. Then the sun came back out in full force 
So, our initial plan was to head out to one of our favorite trails in the area, the Scuppernong Hiking Trails. However, when we arrived, we were met with a full parking lot and people galore. Little kids were running around everywhere. There were people sitting around behind their vehicles as if they were tailgating. We knew this was not going to be a good place for us at all.
We figured we would backtrack to a less crowded area we passed. On the way, we noticed that the Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail was pretty quiet. We have driven past this spot many times, but we’ve never checked it out. No better time than on National Trails Day!
Scuppernong Springs Nature Trail is a 1.5 mile loop trail. The area is home to wildlife, fish, and clean, clear springs.
I’m not a huge fan of nature trails, because, let’s face it, they tend to be rather boring. At first, I thought this trail would fit that trend. But it surprised me.
Equipped with my new hydration pack!
The first portion of the trail skirts the Scuppernong Marsh. Along the way, you come across a small portion of an old railroad bed that used to connect an old marl plant to a lime products warehouse in Dousman. There is still one wall of the marl plant standing.
I had no idea what marl is, but I learned that it is a lime-rich, grayish-white soil which was used as a fertilizer on lime-poor soils and as mortar in building construction. Who knew?
Just beyond the marl plant, we came to a small footbridge that crosses the Scuppernong River and leads to marl pits which were formed by the removal of tons of marl. We found what we thought was the trail winding between the marl pits. It really didn’t feel right, though. When we finally hit a dead-end, we knew we had gone too far in the wrong direction. Oops 
Crossing the bridge to nowhere.
Marl pit.
We worked our way back to the real trail and continued deeper into the woods towards the springs that feed the Scuppernong River. There are about six springs along the trail, although we only saw one. We took another side-trail, but Jason was convinced it led nowhere again. If we had continued, we would have seen the other springs. Guess we’ll have to go back
BUT, Jason did spot a turtle before we turned around! In typical Laura fashion, I wanted to take him (or her?) home 
Hello friend!
Getting closer to one of the springs.
Finally, we came across our first (and only) spring: Hotel Spring. It was super cool, because you could actually see the water bubbling up from the ground. My point-and-shoot just couldn’t capture it, so we took some video, too.
Hotel Spring
Crystal clear water flowing from Hotel Spring.
The trail then took us back into the woods through an old cranberry bog area. It was super wet, but I managed to make it through with relatively clean shoes.
As we turned out of the parking lot, we were treated to one more wildlife sighting: Cranes! A little crane family was hanging out, babies and all. Sandhill cranes have lived in the marsh for centuries (probably not these specific cranes, though ).
On the way home, we dropped by Paradise Springs, another nature trail that defies the odds. This was actually the location of my first “hike” with Jason – if a half-mile paved trail can constitute a hike
The fieldstone spring house that was built in the early 1930s. The roof is gone, but it’s still a beautiful building.
The small area is so peaceful. Jason and I walked around a little, watched the fishies (there is a pond stocked with brook trout for catch-and-release fishing), and sat for a little lunch.
Here fishy fishy!
Over 30,000 gallons of water flow from Paradise Springs each hour! It is “protected” by the spring house. We watched a stereotypical group from Illinois (note to my Illinois friends: I specified “stereotypical” here ) try to find the spring. They walked out from the spring house confused and continuing to look for the spring. Uh, duh?
Another great hiking trip and an excellent celebration of National Trails Day!
Did you get out to hike yesterday? Where did you go?
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I went hiking with a friend to a lake here in the Cascades. I loved getting out but the snowpack is depressing compared to last year! http://www.flickr.com/photos/snutur/5800248409/in/photostream
How beautiful! After the winter we had even here in WI, I’d hate to still be seeing so much snow. However, I’d probably take that over the oppressive heat and humidity we now have. Our weather has been ridiculous!