Laurel Bluffs Trail

Hike: Laurel Bluffs Trail
Location: Eno River State Park
Nearby Town: Durham, NC
Elevation (Max): 385'
Elevation Gained: ~220'
Mileage: 5.3
Difficulty: Easy
Trailhead: From Raleigh: Take I-40 W Exit 279B onto 147 N. Take Exit 16A to 15/501 N. Take Exit 108D, turn L onto US-70 Business/Hillsborough Rd. Turn R on Cole Mill Rd, turn R onto Rivermont Rd (gravel road). Park in the gravel shoulder just over a small bridge. From Durham: Take 147 N and follow directions above. From the West (Hillsborough, Mebane, Burlington, Greensboro): Take I-85 N to Exit 170 onto US-70 Business East. Turn L on Sparger Rd, R onto Cole Mill Rd, then quick L onto Rivermont Rd.
Web Site: http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/enri/main.php

The day after my hike in South Umstead on the Company Mill/Reedy Creek/Loblolly Circuit, I decided to go out for another hike since it was still warm. This time I went back to Eno River State Park where, if you recall, E and I went on an underwhelming hike the previous summer. Everything I read about the Eno, though, talks it up quite a bit so I figured I would give it another try.

As I began the hike, it started to sprinkle, but it didn't seem like much to worry about so I went ahead anyway. The Laurel Bluffs Trail is an out and back hike that follows the Eno River to Guess Rd. before turning around. To begin, walk into the woods and follow the trail. A trail will go off to the left (the Pump Station Trail), which is a short loop so you can either take it or ignore it (I ignored it). Pretty soon after starting I came upon the remnants of what I guess was a mill as there was a broken dam and chimney along a tributary of the Eno. Not long after that I explored the eponymous pump station. This was pretty impressive--it was quite large and basically the foundation of a building made up of a bunch of compartments.

I returned to the trail and continued onward, eventually coming to what I believe was Bob's Hole, an area of the river where it widens and has rapids. The next prominent feature was Fish Dam Island, an island in the middle of the river in an area where the river makes an S-curve. I was pretty impressed by how evenly the water split around the island--it seems like, in my experience, rivers tend to prefer to go around an island one way or the other but this island split it 50-50. From the reunification of the river to the end of the trail at Guess Rd. there were not many more neat features.

A small tributary of the Eno

The trail goes through the largest ups and downs on the trail (but nothing major), crosses a few small streams that feed the Eno, and passes a breached dam. I reached Guess Rd., passed the only other people I saw on the entire hike--girls sneaking into the woods to smoke cigarettes, I'm going to go ahead and say they don't make the best life decisions--turned around and hiked quickly back to my car as the steady light drizzle that had been keeping me cool for the hike was now beginning to pick up. I took several pictures on my cell phone, but somehow I seem to have deleted all but one. This hike definitely redeemed Eno after the mediocrity of Bobbit Hole. The river is larger in this section and there are several more features such as the pump station, the remains of an old hunting lodge, and the dams to check out. I still have not made it out to the western portion of the park, which is far larger and has significantly higher terrain, so I anticipate my feelings about Eno will only continue to improve. Below is a GPS-generated track of the route.