Agile Trekker: Thomas Cemetery Road and Tarkiln Branch Road loop, Dupont State Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/10/2026	4.3 miles	2 hours 4 minutes	295'	2.3 mph	17.6

Parking:

Guion Farm

Map:

Pisgah Map Co. Dupont State Recreational Forest

Directions:

Take Buck Forest Road from the parking area. At the end of the field, turn left onto Thomas Cemetery Road. Pass Tarkiln Branch Road on the left. Pass the Thomas cemetery on the left. Reach Buck Forest Road and turn around, hiking back on Thomas Cemetery Road. Turn right onto Tarkiln Branch Rod. Turn left at the field to return to the parking lot.

It was 70 degrees out today! Luckily, I had no appointments, so we could go out for a hike. I wanted to go to Dupont. It was a bit challenging to find new trails to hike, as all of the single-track trails are closed. We started out on Buck Forest Road to get to Thomas Cemetery Road. I noticed some unusual grey objects just off the trail. I went to investigate and they were pieces of marble, obviously cut. Very odd. We continued on ad reached the Thomas Cemetery, enclosed by a split rail fence. Only one of the gravestones had a name. The other ones had initials. We turned around and continued on to Tarkiln Branch Road. We ran into two NCFS employees doing trail maintenance. We thanked them. I asked when they thought the single-track trails would be open, but the woman said its anyone's guess. They talked about how the freeze/thaw cycles made the trails greasy and slippery. I mentioned the upcoming rain, and they said the rain actually helps improve the trail conditions. Go figure. We learned a new mountain word from the man "gaum". It's used to mean mess something up, as in gum it up. We returned to the trailhead. We encountered a handful of bikers, 1 hiker, and 1 jogger. The trails were pretty quiet.