On our second day, we woke up and got ready to go on our wildlife adventure. We decided to go to Lake Mattamuskeet first. I had always wanted to explore this area. We did get to see the Pumping Station that was at one time turned into a hunting lodge but is not used as such now. The lake is huge as is 40,000 acres. It is shallow as lakes go and you can see trees grown in places thought the lake. We drove along the canal to the observation area with what I would say is also a photo blind. The first things the boys noticed was dead fish on the pathway. Comments were made about fishermen throwing their catch and leaving them to die on the path. When I got there and saw the fish, I knew what type of fishermen left the remains. The type with feathers , gallons and sharp beaks.
We left Lake Mattamuskeet and the boys informed me they were hungry. We weren’t far from Engelhard and our host had suggested we go to Martelle’s Feed House Restaurant. The boys and I highly recommend eating here. The special was a cheeseburger w/drink. According to the boys, “Best cheeseburger ever!”
On the way to Engelhard, we passed a road that said to “Bell Island Pier”. After we left the restaurant, we were going to the Pocosin Natural Wildlife Refuge and specifically Pungo Lake. Our objective was to photograph the bears. However, we decided to make a stop to see what Bell Island Pier was all about. So, we turned off and headed that way. A rather large bird flew over us carrying a fish in its talons. I didn’t see it that well but I told the boys I thought it was an Osprey. We got to the pier and the boys were excited to see blue crabs in the water among the rocks. As they explored the long pier, I stayed behind and spotted this guy trying to hide between two rocks.
By the time the boys ran back to where I was, the crab had disappeared. The vibration of the boys running on the pier scared him away. Little did the boys know they would be catching blue crab the next day.
Time to leave here and go to Pungo Lake, our next destination for the day. We still had plenty of time before my daughter was due to meet up with us. Someone had told me where they had good luck seeing and photographing bear in the area. We found D-Canal Road and as we were going down the road, a small black bear ran across in front of the car. Now that go the boys excited. We kept going with eyes wide opened looking for bear. We road to where the road turned and had a gate blocking the road. As we didn’t really want to hike, and didn’t know how far the observation area was from the gate, we turned around and then drove up along the Charles Kuralt Trail. We did get to see some beautiful areas, but no bear. The prettiest sight was at the canal.
We followed the trail around to where it reconnected to D-Canal Road and headed toward the main road. Sure enough, up the road ahead at the corn field was a bear. Jake asked me if I wanted him to use my camera to take a picture. I said sure, go ahead. He stuck my camera out his side of the window and started snapping pictures. Only, he forgot one important thing. Not the lens cap this time. He forgot to focus. As far as Landon’s picture of the bear, I have yet to find them on the camera he was using.
We headed back to our cabin to wait for Tammy and then down to the dock until bedtime. This is the end of our second day down east.