Croatan National Forest: Weetock Trail

Review

You're a trail runner, so it's assumed that you love a good adventure. How good will be tested by the 11-mile(ish) Weetock Trail on the west side of the Croatan National Forest. Some perspective: On the east side of the Croatan we have the crown-jewel of coastal North Carolina hiking, the 20-mile Neusiok Trail (see related entry). The trail is well-marked, well-maintained, well-loved. It is the proud child of the Carteret County Wildlife Club, which spent five years dealing with hostile terrain to blaze this 20-mile path through the Croatan. If the Neusiok is the CCWC's proud child, the Weetock, which it also created, about 10 years ago, is the fun-loving, crazy kid you can never quite get under control. From its northern trailhead off NC 58 at Haywood Landing Road, the Weetock begins as the  model trail: pretty well marked, easy to follow, taking you through some entertaining coastal terrain. Then less than 2 miles in it starts getting frisky, coming up to a forest road and being coy about where it continued -not once, but repeatedly. You soon find the trail and things are good - for a while. Then it's ornery nature resurfaces. You manage to hang with the trail until then 8-mile mark. Then the Weetock encounters a section rerouted in 2007 by the National Forest Service. Rerouted where can be hard to say; fortunately, there are several gravel forest service roads that can take you back to your car. A memorable adventure if not one for a stickler over things like having at least a vague notion of where you are. More info her. Maps: There is no trail map, but you can find a trail description here and it's a good idea to pack a general map of the forest (downloadable here) to help with navigation should you part ways with the trail. Getting there from downtown Greenville, here.