Eagle Trail: A mystery solved

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

Eureka! The western trailhead of Eagle Trail.

OK, maybe it wasn't quite that remarkable an encounter in the deep forest. And, considering it happened in Durham, I guess describing it as "deep forest" is a bit much, too. Nor was I searching for anything as lofty as the source of the Nile. Just the west end of a Durham city trail. Still, it got the blood pumping, in a suburban weekend adventurer kind of way.

Last week, I reported on my foiled attempt to locate the western end of Durham's Eagle Trail, a trail that originates in West Point on the Eno city park and runs 1.8 miles upstream to Guess Road. Alan and I had begun our journey farther upstream, at the Pump Station Access to Eno River State Park. We'd hiked 2.5 miles downstream on the Laurel Bluffs Trail, which ends at Guess Road. Eagle Trail picks up on the other side of Guess Road, on the opposite side of the river. We crossed Guess Road, crossed the bridge over the Eno and searched in vain for an hour for the Eagle Trail. Where we thought the trail should be was a house. I should mention that this was on one of our regular night hikes.

Walk this way ... .

The following morning, I put out a plea for help which was answered by the aforementioned Jim. "The trail does indeed run up the driveway of the house next to the river. When you get to the end of the driveway, in the far backyard, there's a Durham Parks sign — easily visible in daylight — where the trail goes into the woods. The trail runs along the ridgeline for about 1/4 mile, then takes a sharp right downhill to the river." Sunday afternoon, I returned to the Eno, determined to unravel the mystery of the muddled Eagle trailhead.

Sure enough, in broad daylight it was an easy find. I followed the trail downstream to West Point on the Eno, took some pictures on the new pedestrian bridge over the river, noticed the sun was getting long in the late afternoon sky, decided to head back. Lost in deep thought ("Should I eat that PBJ in my pack now or wait until I get back to the car?"), I happened to glance up as I neared Guess Road and there, about 25 yards up the trail, wearing the same expression I had, was my Dr. Livingstone. Only in the form of Alan.

 Dr. Alan?

"You, too?" he asked.

"Couldn't sleep until I knew," I answered.

But now I can sleep, knowing the true source of the Nile. Or, rather, the western end of Durham's Eagle Trail.