Night Hike West Point on the Eno

     Thank you to everyone who attended the Night Hike last Friday at West Point on the Eno.  We ended up having to rely on our headlamps and flashlights to navigate the trails that night, and I was unsure if we were going to be able to spot the wildlife.  
     As we took to the trails, we tip toed along listening for the noises of the nocturnal animals.  Although we were hoping for some hoots and howls, we heard nothing but the loud chorus of cicadas! Walking on, we scanned the sides on the trails with our lights.  We came upon a beautiful assortment of brightly colored mushrooms and tons of spiders in their webs waiting for their night meal.  The forest seemed to be enchanted with glittery sparkles on all of the trees left behind by the slugs. 
    
     Just when we thought the night belonged to the bugs, we managed to light up some eyeshine...it was a white tailed deer!  We stood quiet and watched her as she quickly ran off into the darkness of the forest.  Finally, as we were returning to the Environmental Education Center, one last nocturnal creature made an appearance.  We spotted the eyeshine moving across the gravel road and followed it over to the edge of the woods where we got a good look and determined it was a gray fox. 
    

I had a great time that night and look forward to our next Night Hike coming up on *Friday, September 7th from 9-11 pm...See you there!

*You may register online with course id number 8383 at  https://online.activenetwork.com/dprplaymore/Start/Start.asp
 For more information, please call (919)560-4405 option 6 or email Karuna Markman at karuna.markman@durhamnc.gov