One Saturday, not too long ago, my hiking partners and I checked out a couple of town trails.

One can be found at 1142 Crystal Lane, Yadkinville, NC, with access to Lake Hampton. This destination has the amenities I expect at a town park: restrooms, picnic tables, and a playground. It also boasts fishing and kayaks for rent. There is no swimming allowed, and, in total, a little over three miles of trails. The goal was to stretch our legs someplace new. 

I didn’t have high expectations for this location. Turns out, I was wrong. For me, the big draw of this park was the birds. Herons were plentiful on the water by the trails that followed the curvature of the water. Dragonflies and butterflies were also easy to find, but not so easy to photograph. Are they ever? Next time, I might take my camera out in a kayak and see just how close the herons will let me get. They seemed very accustomed to people in kayaks on the water.

The trails were easy, well-marked, and had something for everyone. As always, I was fond of the rustic, shaded trails. As luck would have it, those were the ones that took me to the herons.

For more information, check out this link

Yadkin Memorial Park Info