Catalyst

When we moved to Wilmington, we thought we were moving to the beach.  It's a twenty minute trip from pulling out of our driveway to stepping of the pavement and onto the sand at Wrightsville Beach.  Heck, for the first two months I lived here I lived in a shack (a 500 square foot kitcha-livingro-closet-breakfast nook-bathroom) that was less than 100 yards from the sand at Carolina Beach.  I never even imagined that the beach would be one of the lesser natural attractions (for my money) in Southeast North Carolina. 

In this post, I'd like to introduce you to one of the two places that first really opened my eyes to the natural wonders that lay within a 30 minute drive from Downtown Wilmington. If fact, these are the two places that really got me out of the air conditioning and into the wild. First, the Northeast Cape Fear River. Yes, most everyone knows that the Cape Fear river flows right in front of Historic Downtown so it may not be a big surprise that a lot of people can't tell the two apart. In fact, the confluence of the Cape Fear River (from the NW) and the Northeast Cape Fear River (from the north) occurs just north of the Battleship North Carolina and pretty much right across the water from the Coast Guard Diligence (FYI: the Isabella Holmes Bridge spans the NE Cape Fear, NOT the Cape Fear as many assume).

The part of the river that made such an impression on me is about 15 miles north of Wilmington off I-40 exit 408, near Rocky Point. The area is largely undeveloped though many take this exit on their way from Raleigh to Topsail Island. I was so surprised to learn that in an area known for sun soaked beaches there was an actual swamp a mere minutes away. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised if I had ever thought about it, but I didn't. On that day, I remember seeing a huge long leaf pine infested with Turkey Vultures (or Buzzards in the vernacular) -- the largest, most grotesque, most beautiful creatures I only knew existed in some place I would probably never visit.

Bald Cypress trees also stick in my mind from that day. 1) the oldest tree east of the continental divide is a Bald Cypress on the nearby Black River that's some 2000 years old. 2) I'm told that black bears sometimes find a nook at the top of Bald Cypress which have had the tops blown out in storms... the bears will back down into the hollow part at the top of the tree to sleep the Winter away. 3) The tops of very old Bald Cypress are some of the most interesting parts of trees that I have ever seen. Plants, moss, and whole new Cypress trees grow in (and out of) the tops of blown out Cypress. I would love to one day make it up in the top of one of these trees as from the ground it looks like a world in itself.

Below: a creek off of the NE Cape Fear River near Rocky Point, NC. It doesn't look like any huge old Bald Cypress were captured in this photo so I'll have to make another trip just for you all.