Agile Trekker: Tuttle Educational State Forest, Lenoir, NC

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
1/30/2024	3.6 miles	1 hour 42 minutes	350'	2.1 mph	56.6 miles

Parking:

Tuttle Educational State Forest parking lot

Map:

Adobe Photoshop PDF (ncesf.org)

Directions:

From the right side of the parking lot, take the Gravel Road.
Turn right on the orange blazed Demo Long Trail.
Turn right on the pink blazed Gazebo Trail.
Pass the gazebo and turn left on the blue blazed Pond Trail.
Turn right on the Gravel Road.
Turn right on the Gravel Road again.
Turn right on the orange blazed Demo Long Trail (at this point re-walking this section)
Pass the pink blazed Gazebo Trail.
Cross over Moore Hill Branch stream.
Turn left on access road (because at this point the Demo Long Trail was closed due to logging activity)
Turn right on Gravel Road.
Turn right on orange blazed Demo Long Trail.
Turn left on yellow blazed Talking Tree Trail.
Follow the loop around until you get to the same spot on the Demo Long Trail.
Return to parking lot.

I have wanted to get out to Tuttle Educational Forest, because it looked like an easy, pretty hike. I thought it would make a good beginner hike for either a CMC half day hike or beginner hiker's hike. I planned a route beforehand, but we came across a couple challenges. We arrived late, and this park does have opening and closing hours. In the winter, the hours (and days) are limited. There are signs at the park (several) that they lock the gates at 5pm in the winter. The other challenge was that part of my planned route was closed due to logging activity. Hmm. So, we ended up hiking a shorter route than planned, but got out before the park closed.

That being said, this location makes a great beginner hike. We hiked on a combination of trails and gravel roads (only used by forest service vehicles). Even the gravel roads were relatively scenic. We hiked to the gazebo which has a great mountain view. We skipped a side trail labeled "Grandfather View Trail". We hiked by a couple of ponds and then started heading back - but there was another trail by the ponds which I would have liked to have taken. Near the parking lot, we walked a loop around the Talking Tree Trail, where you push buttons to learn more about trees in the forest. Overall, an easy hike, with some nice rewards. More about the forest here: Tuttle Educational State Forest (ncesf.org)