Eno River State Park

Another state park that we visited while staying in Durham, NC was the Eno River State Park.  Located just minutes from where we were staying, it was a nice place to get away to and walk its trails.

Below is a trail map for the park.

Trail map for Eno River State Park

The kids had fun looking at the trail map and deciding which trail we wanted to walk on.  

Ethan, Ian, Chloe, Courtney, and Tia looking over the trail map.

Tia conducted the risk assessment for the hike and determined that ticks were an issue and we had to be on the watch for them.  The caution sign that read, "Please, don't feed the ticks" may of had something to do with her decision too.  Luckily we did not pick any of them up during the hike.

Tia performing a risk assessment.

The trails were well marked and guided us through some wonderful views of the woods while we took our evening hike.  We chose to take the Cox Mountain trail or at least a portion of the trail today.

Part of the Cox Mountain trail.

During our hike we had to take some pictures of the kids for memory sake, so here is one on the trail with the Eno River in the background through the trees.

Tia, Ian, Courtney, Ethan, Chloe, and Avery posing for a picture.

A neat feature that is available while at the park is audio tours of the different parts of the park.  The audio tour for the suspension bridge tells of its construction and some history.  It is well worth the 4 minutes it takes to listen.

Suspension Bridge Audio Tour sign.

The bridge was true to its style and bounced so much with us crossing it, that it alarmed the kids to a certain point.  They recovered quickly from their fears and drove on though.

Crossing the suspension bridge over the Eno River.

The warning sign was warranted due to the bouncing nature of the bridge.  Even an adult could loose their balance while crossing if they were not careful.  For some reason it bounced even more when I crossed.  I still have not figured that one out yet.

The rules of the bridge.

After our treacherous river crossing, it was time to let the kids get closer to the river and maybe even play in the water some.

Tia, Courtney, Chloe, Ethan, Avery, and Ian on the Eno River.

[Playing in the water] was defined as letting the kids get their feet wet.  The rocks were pretty slippery and I really did not want to have to do any life saving while we were there.

I can hear the news story now:

"A forty eight year old man was pulled out of the Eno River by local authorities after trying to save his children who fell in while playing.  The children easily swam to the bank and saved themselves and were in no real danger, unlike the dad who gave in to exhaustion and had to be rescued by the local fire department."

Officials on site commented that maybe the kids should have jumped back in to save their dad.   The Fire Chief asked the question, "In his shape, what was he thinking?"

That would be my luck.

Ian, Tia, Ethan, Courtney, and Avery getting their feet wet in the Eno River.

Of course we had to have a picture of the kids while they were on the bridge.  I wanted a closer picture but, with it starting to get dark out and using my iPhone, my zoomed in shots were too grainy. 

Avery, Ian, Tia, Ethan, Courtney, and Chloe on the Eno River suspension bridge.

During our hike we also went to the group campground site, which had some nice level gravel pads to pitch your tents on and I thought were well arranged.  It would have been a great place for a big family, church group, or any type of group to camp in.

The group camp site in Eno River State Park.

There were also primitive toilet facilities near the group camp sites.  It is funny to me how it is just an outhouse that I would use, if I had to, but to the kids it is a stinky scary black hole, that they do not want to use, even if it means having an accident in their pants.

If nature is persistent enough, they will use an outhouse, but it is under duress and constant protest.  This is usually when I call them a bunch of wimps and retell the stories of how I walked over a mile to the bus stop through three feet of snow, uphill, each way, when I was a kid.  

That is actually true about waking uphill both ways through three feet of snow to the bus stop.  Ask me sometime and I will explain.

What walking to the bus stop through snow has to do with them using an out house is, I'm not sure, but anytime I can tell them that story, I take the opportunity to do so.

Posing in front of the out house getting ready to be lectured about walking to school in the snow.

A little tip that I have also discovered while walking through the woods with kids is to have them walk in front of you with their hand held as high in the sky as possible.  This way they catch most of the cobwebs and keep them from getting on you.

No, I really do not make the kids do that, or at least that is what they will say if you ask them.  They had no clue why we asked them to walk ahead holding their hands up!

The cobweb clearers.

So if you are in the Durham, NC area and want some trails to walk that are nestled near a river, then this is the place.  We did not get to explore the park as well as we would have liked and did not even get a Geocache that was in the park, due to running out of daylight, but did get to see some of the park and got some needed exercise.

God bless and may everything be done to serve his glory.

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Don, Misty, and Kids...