GetHiking! on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail's Coastal Crescent: Jones Lake

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We're celebrating Mountains-to-Sea Trail (http://ncmst.org) Month with a series of Saturday hikes celebrating the statewide trail's new path from Raleigh to the coast, the Coastal Crescent route.

Our first hike: an 8-mile figure-8 loop taking in portions of the MST at Jones Lake State Park (http://www.ncparks.gov/jones-lake-state-park) and Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest (http://www.ncesf.org/tcesf/home.htm). At Turnbull Creek, we'll hike along a black-water creek, then through a vast pine savannah. We'll cross the street to Jones Lake State Park and hike the trail circumnavigating the park's namesake Carolina bay. (Bring your swimsuit to cool off afterword in the lake's refreshing tannic waters. We'll be joined by a knowledgeable source or two who can enlighten us on this coastal plain environment.

Both trails are pretty darn flat. There's a spot or two of minor up-and-down along Turnbull Creek.

More information will be posted on this hike soon, at the Great Outdoor Provision Co. web site (http://greatoutdoorprovision.com/).