December 6, 2024
This was my second visit to this area and I had planned to follow the original trails that I didn’t follow on my first visit. Well, this did not happen again and I made my own trail.
I started on the Saddle Up trail which is just to the left of the entrance into the wooded area. When I came to the first intersection, I turned to the right and followed it to The Last Call Trail. When I reached the intersection of Terrapin Station, turned to the left and followed it. This trail will lead you passed several large rock formations. Where Terrapin Station and Chinkapin Oak trails join, I followed Chinkapin Oak. I really enjoyed this trail. It was very diverse and had different terrains to travel through. It follows along the edge of the mountain. (There is a place where it meets Bewitched. I hope one day to go back and do this trail.)
Chinkapin Oak will intersect with Crazy Mary. I took the Crazy Mary trail to the left to the intersection of Trent Trail and Spellbound. There were workers working on the Spellbound Trail so I turned back to the intersection of Chinkapin Oak and Crazy Mary and followed Crazy Mary. Not far after starting Crazy Mary, I came across a “pond” on the top of the mountain. Crazy Mary will take you along the edge of the mountain at times and you can see quite a ways. I enjoyed this trail very much.
When it intersected with Fayetteville Traverse, I followed the Fayetteville trail to Trent Trail. I knew the Trent Trail would take me back to the intersection of it, Spellbound, and Crazy Mary but I hadn’t walked this area before so I walked to the intersection and back to Serpentine and then followed it to Fayetteville Traverse.
This path had me hiking almost 9 miles. It was a work out as most of the trails are difficult and moderate. The Last Call and Trent Trail are the easiest in that they are a little wider and smoother in several areas but there are still roots and rocks.
It was a very enjoyable hike.
When I arrived, two runners were leaving and as I reached the parking lot one person was starting out so I had the trails to myself.
People have marked this area as having bathrooms but I still have not been able to find any.
I have a few photos of the day on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571357578836