Croatan National Forest — Local services in Havelock

Croatan National Forrest is a one-of-a-kind preservation of wilderness. It is made up of 159,591 acres of land that includes forests of pine trees, pocosin wet lands, tidal marshes, and of course, the Neuse River. This is an ideal place to fish as fishers can find both freshwater and saltwater life nearby. There are large-mouth bass, catfish, bluegills, and flounder just to name a few. This is another rare place on this side of the earth where both Venus Flytraps and Pitcher Plants can be found in the wild. With so much going on, I believe that this is a great National Forrest for just about anyone to visit no matter their age, outdoor interest, or mobility. Even better, it's ideal for a day trip too! New Bern is within a fifteen minute drive of the park and can even been seen across the river at some points.

The park is most well known for the Neusiok Trail, the Neuse River Loop Trail and the Island Creek Forest Walk. The Neusiok Trail has it's own website with the slogan "Hike a little or hike a lot." I'm a fan of the options. I was sure to include it down below as it was very helpful. This trail is easy to navigate as it cuts straight through the middle of the park and is marked pretty clearly from the roads that intersect it. Unlike state parks, it is possible to camp just about anywhere in a National Forrest. The trick is finding a good spot to make camp through the brush and marsh. The Neuse River Loop Trail is only about a mile long and runs by the Flanners Beach Campground where I stayed. It is easy to walk and well paved so that all can experience it. The Island Creek Forest Walk is only 3.7 miles and runs in a circle, however, some have criticized that it is not as well marked so I would not recommend it for everyone. Hikers may also want to consider wearing bright colors due to its proximity to the game land.

Considering that I only allotted myself the time to explore around the Flanners Beach area, the spots I'm going to include will be close by to the campground. This is easily a park that a person like me could spend a week in and still not catch everything there is to see...all in good time. Likely, one of the more popular spots in this forrest would be the natural beach that the mouth of the Neuse River forms on the northeast side of the park. Near to this easily accessible waterfront are picnic areas, restroom facilities, and the Flanners Beach Campground that I spent the night at. While it is a popular place for most, on the morning I happened to be there, it was covered in crab carouses and small fish. Let me tell you, Mira had a field day running around trying to figure out just what was scattered all over the beach. That said, I feel like that is not the norm and with the amount of rain we have recently had from Florence that all of that will have been washed out to sea by now. Please note, these photos were taken almost a month ago. This area is still trying to recover from that hurricane and it is my hope that spectators of nature will be able to return to this unique spot...

Very beautiful and historic park to visit. Very large, a lot of hiking trails. Densely wooded area, wide open spaces, marshes and swamps can be found on your adventure. Some places are so thick with vegetation, it was extremely hard to walk through. Be sure to be a strong hiker before attempting to go off the walker's path and brave the wild. Streams and creeks at certain times of year, and the river with multiple boat ramps in calm waters. Rich with many beautiful plants and animal life to see. Very fresh air and just an overall wonderful outdoor experience. I spent about 4 days with a few buddies out in the middle of the Croatan. We took just the basic essentials for survival and went hiking. We probably hiked well over 40 miles just taking in nature. We hit every single possible change the Croatan offers, from ease of walking, to crawling on hands and knees through thick brush, to nearly losing a boot in knee high mud in swamps. We navigated to a large stream to replenish water, which was flowing fast and rich with tannins from the trees. It tasted great! Found some wild onion, some sassafras (dig up the root, put it in your water = root beer flavor!) Found black berries, and some other plants to eat. Went fishing too! Just took in the whole experience. You should most definitely visit the Croatan...

We are on our way home from a much less than desirable experience at Cedar Point Campground. In a nutshell, my husband and I were ready to leave on a bike ride on our electric bikes. We both own class 2 e bikes which are well within range for not requiring licensing etc. As we were mounting our bikes, we were approached by a woman who did not identify herself in any way, but proceeded to tell us that e bikes are not allowed in the park and that we would have to walk them out of the national park gate entrance before we could engage our motor. She said that e bikes cannot be used at all if you are using pedal assist or throttle in any way. We had to load our bikes in our pickup and go elsewhere to ride. To say the least, this put a big damper on our trip. The hosts provided no explanation other than to say the government made this law. There are no signs posted anywhere to indicate that e bikes are not allowed. Also, we were given a list of rules and there is no mention at all of e bikes. The hosts were not accommodating at all. We will pursue more information from the NPS on this issue. Oh, and we were told by the so called camp host, that we needed to Google it and do...