Carolina Sandhills NWR: Tate's Trail to Pool D vista (Blog Hike #460)

Trail: Tate’s Trail

Hike Location: Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge

Geographic Location: northeast of McBee, SC (34.55496, -80.22151)

Length: 4.5 miles

Difficulty: 4/10 (Easy/Moderate)

Date Hiked: March 2014

Overview: An out-and-back hike through rare longleaf pine forest to a vista overlooking Pool D.

Refuge Information: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Carolina_Sandhills/

Hike Route Map: http://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=265079
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From the intersection of US 1 and SR 151 in McBee, drive US 1 north 3.5 miles to the signed refuge entrance on the left.  Turn left to enter the refuge.  Drive the refuge’s Wildlife Drive 4.1 miles to the signed turn-off for Martin Lake on the right.  Turn right and drive the narrow gravel Martin Lake access road 0.6 miles to the loop at its end, where you will find the trailhead for Tate’s Trail.

The hike: Like many of the federal lands in the east, 47,850 acre Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge has its roots in the Great Depression.  The sandy nutrient-poor sandhills’ soil made for marginal farmland from the start, but the extreme droughts of the 1930’s combined with poor soil conservation practices left the area a desolate wasteland with little ground cover or wildlife.  In 1939, the federal government purchased the land under the Resettlement Act and placed it under the domain of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

            Work to restore native longleaf pine habitat began quickly, and today the scars from the 1930’s are well on their way to healing.  Longleaf pine forest once covered much of the southeast, but presently the refuge’s longleaf pine replanting comprises one of the region’s largest longleaf pine forests.  Waterfowl, songbirds, amphibians, and reptiles have returned to the area in large numbers.  I came to the refuge in the early afternoon, the worst time of day for wildlife viewing, and I still saw a large number of turtles, songbirds, ducks, and a heron.

            The refuge also has several hiking trails, but most of the trails are less than 1 mile long and therefore make for only short leg-stretcher walks.  The exception is Tate’s Trail, a 3-mile one-way hike with a short loop on its north end.  Tate’s Trail is named for Louis Tate, a long-time refuge employee who lost his life while performing trail maintenance.  Due to time constraints, I hiked only the southern 2.25 miles of the trail, the portion described here.

Martin Lake trailhead for Tate's Trail

            The entrance trail departs the parking area at an information kiosk and heads into the longleaf pine forest with Martin Lake visible through the trees straight ahead.  In less than 0.1 miles, you intersect Tate’s Trail, which goes left and right.  The segment going right deadends at Martin Lake dam in 0.3 miles, so you should turn left.  An observation tower used to stand here, but it was no longer present on my visit.

            The trail dips through a low area that sits right beside the lake before rising to join an old access road.  For the rest of the hike you will be walking on sandy two-track trail usually at an elevation 30-50 feet above lake level.  White paint blazes mark the trail, but the trail is wide and obvious for its entire route.  Wiregrass dominates the understory in the drier areas to the left while dense shrubbery blankets the ground in the lower wetter areas.

Hiking Tate's Trail

            After tracing around a wide ravine, the trail climbs a few wooden steps to cross paved Wildlife Drive at 1.2 miles.  Now on the west side of Wildlife Drive, Martin Lake lies behind you, and the lake to the right is Pool D.  Despite the uninspiring name, I saw logs full of turtles in this pretty pool.

Turtles in Pool D

            The trail increases its distance from Pool D as it heads up and then crosses Poplar Branch on a nice plastic/metal footbridge.  Songbirds like to hide in the dense shrubbery to the right.  The trail weaves around a couple of smaller drainages until, 2.25 miles into the hike, it arrives at a pair of concrete benches that give a broad but partially obscured vista of Pool D.  I chose to turn around here, but Tate’s Trail continues another mile, passing more of the same scenery to reach Pool 12 and then the Lake Bee Recreation Area.  The trail does not loop back to Martin Lake, so unless you arranged a car shuttle at Lake Bee you will have to retrace your steps to complete the hike.

Pool D vista