Walking the Trails in JOHNSTON MILL NATURE PRESERVE, Durham, NC

Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Durham, North Carolina

Our visits to North Carolina to celebrate Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family always include walks in the beautiful forests near their home in Chapel Hill. This year one of our walks was in the Johnston Mill Nature Preserve near Durham. This 296-acre preserve includes five well marked trails that make their way through a variety of habitats from mature forest to open brush land. Each trail is named and color coded with markers along the way.

A variety of fungi could be seen along the trail.

We began by following the Robin’s Trail which goes along the course of New Hope Creek. We then made a diversion onto the Bluebird Trail which ran along the high line and then joined the Old Field Bluff trail before coming back to the Robin’s Trail and the return to the parking lot.

By late November, the branches are bare.

It was a beautiful fall day with sunshine filtering through the bare branches of the tall trees. There were a few other people hiking and walking their dogs, but the trails were not crowded and it was the perfect place to spend a few hours and enjoy the peace and beauty of nature.

As we walked along the high line path we heard flocks of small birds foraging nearby.

The Johnston Mill Nature Preserve is managed by the Triangle Land Conservancy.
For a map, directions, and more about the Johnston Mill Nature Preserve go to:
https://www.triangleland.org/what-we-do/nature-preserves/johnston-mill-nature-preserve 

A blue coded sign marks the Bluebird's Trail