Down to the River

Two rivers flowing together at almost a right angle: the Rocky River joining the Deep River. Lovely hillsides, with trees still bare enough to see into the woods. White pines standing tall and sturdy. A mile-long trail beckoning. Sunshine on our shoulders. This was a good place to be on a Saturday afternoon with a “stay at home” order in force, but “go outside” advice being given.

White Pines Nature Preserve is owned and managed by the Triangle Land Conservancy. It’s not technically a park, but a place to go that’s natural, unimproved except for a few trails and a gravel parking lot.

White Pines Nature Preserve, April 4, 2020

On the last Saturday in March the trees were still bare, but they had the fuzzy look of tiny leaves opening. On the first Saturday in April the leaves had unfurled and all was spring green. On a trail through hardwoods, a little ways in, we just stopped and stood still and said “Wow!” The trees seemed to be singing for joy!

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  On March 28, 2020
  

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  On April 4, 2020
  

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  John on trail, April 4, 2020
  

The Deep River has a steep wooded bluff. Fortunately the trail down to the river had switch-backs. The wildflowers along the way were easy to miss because they were just above the leaf litter on the ground. Then I was stunned by a bright white bloom on a taller stem. And another. And some more, in clusters, all the way to the river. Comparing the photos I took with those in wildflower books and Google images, I decided it must be Star of Bethlehem.The leaves in the photo do not go with the flower. If I’m wrong, no matter since this is not a scientific paper. A true fact: it was beautiful.

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  Star of Bethlehem, likely
  

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  Shamrock (?)
  

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  Violet
  

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  Brand new American beech leaves, April 4, 2020
  

We walked along the Deep River to where the Rocky flows into it. The water was not rapid that day, and the two rivers seemed to softly mingle their waters over and around rocks and tiny islands as they flowed toward the big Atlantic.

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  Deep River, March 28, 2020
  

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  Rocky River, March 28, 2020
  
  

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  Rocky flowing into Deep, from left, March 28 2020
  

After that confluence the trail follows the Rocky River for a while, and it is there that the white pines appear.

White pines have shorter needles than loblollies, and they are in clusters of five instead of three. They are trees that normally grow in the mountains, but they’ve grown here for eons. They are on north-facing slopes, so they don’t get direct light or warmth from the sun. It’s frequently foggy and misty from the rivers, which keeps the ground cool. Over many years the trees have adapted to the Piedmont climate. I read in an article about the place that when someone wants to reforest a place where there were once loblollies, they get seedlings from White Pines Nature Preserve because they will thrive in the area.

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  White pine, March 28,
  2020

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  White pine needles, March 28, 2020
  

There are other plants growing here that are normally mountain plants also. Incidentally, there is another place like this in Cary. “Like this” in that another mountain tree, the hemlock, grows on north-facing bluffs along Swift Creek. (Hemlock Bluffs is a City of Cary park.)

On has to be intending to go to WPNP or researching places to go, or one would never know about it or find it. There are no signs on the highway; there is one after you’ve driven a couple of miles into the woods. It’s not a place to stumble upon. Therefore it’s not crowded, which is part of its charm.

White pine on tiny island in Rocky River

Wishing you the safety of home and nature.