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MOUNTAIN VIEW Just a few miles from downtown Cary, Hemlock Bluffs offers transporting trailways by ETHAN HARRELL & AYN-MONIQUE KLAHRE photography by JOSHUA STEADMAN
ost of the time, you’d have to drive at least three hours for mountain views. But at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary, you can find something similar, much closer: here, the trails and overlooks offer big changes of elevation, leaf-softened pathways, and majestic views of trees. “When you hike here, you feel like you’re in the mountains,” says Laura White, secretary of the Friends of Hemlock Bluffs. “You feel transported.” And unlike the actual mountains, which can be treacherous, intimidating, and hard for young ones, the trails at Hemlock Bluffs offer easy walks for a range of hikers. Hemlock Bluffs was dedicated as a state nature preserve in 1976, and the town of Cary took over operations in the 1980s (North Carolina still owns much of the acreage, but leases this land to the town). The majority of the 140-acre preserve is dedicated to observation, study, and education, but it’s also a popular spot for a shady walk and for kids to interact with nature. “The typical park in the Cary system is more geared toward recreation, but here we’re all about research,” says Mark Johns, the park’s operations and program supervisor. “The rules are strict here to preserve the natural areas; you can’t go off the trails or collect anything.” The big draw at Hemlock Bluffs is, not surprisingly, the Eastern Hemlock trees. While native to the eastern United States, the large evergreens are typically only found in the western part of the state. “We have 250 or so hemlocks here, the only place where they’re naturally growing in the state outside of the mountains,” says Johns. He points to the bluff face, which, because it faces north, is cooler and shadier — a spot where they can thrive. The trees themselves, combined with the bluffs, offer elevated views of the topography. The park has over 4 miles of trails that route visitors from the floodplain The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 33
