I did this hike and drive on Sunday, March 13th, 2022 with my girlfriend.

This scenic pond is located off of Catfish Lake Rd, a long gravel road in Croatan National Forest. There are no signs posted, so know where to turn beforehand if you plan on going out this way -- I'll describe the turns later on. The GPS will take you there, but if you miss a turn, it will lead you astray -- most of the branches it'll try to get you to turn on are blocked off with both gates and large mounds of dirt.

First, a little introduction about the route: Catfish Lake Road (FS1100 and FS1105) is a secondary road which connects Maysville and the Havelock/Cherry Point military installation. The only road which directly connects the two, it saves drives about 25 miles and 20 minutes of driving. Unfortunately, about 12-1/2* miles of the drive are gravel, which has led to a number of accidents and deaths. After a fatal accident in 2010, military personnel were forbidden from driving on the road, and a change.org petition calling for its permanent closure garnered just under 3,000 signatures. The dangerous aspects of the road seem to be its width and relatively steep shoulders, which have swamps and trees on the sides for several portions; the width gives motorists a false sense of security, causing them to speed and then lose control. Once they lose control of their car, the lack of guard rails or any true shoulder makes the chance of serious accident more likely.

Thankfully, the road was well-maintained while I was there. Despite claims online of the road being riddled with potholes and washouts, Catfish Lake Road itself was in almost immaculate shape for a gravel road. You'll see several videos of me on three of the gravel roads in the area, and it will be immediately obvious which ones are and aren't Catfish Lake Rd.

A disclaimer: if you listen to the videos with sound on, you'll hear some music. It's not always good. At the start of a trip, I like to go to a thrift store and buy local CDs or cassettes and listen to them over the course of the trip. The one requirement to buying the music is that it not be available online. As a result, I've amassed quite an impressive collection of local gospel music, some of which you can hear on during the this trip -- I bought 8 cassettes and 1 CD and all but one were gospel. The music usually ranges from 'alright' to putrid, but I enjoy doing it. You've been warned.

* By my count, this is the third longest gravel road (2nd longest continuously-gravel road) in the state of North Carolina, following Edgemont Rd/NC 90 (15.8 miles, discontinuous) and Old NC 105 (13.8 miles). It's easily the longest state-owned gravel road in eastern North Carolina.

While the main road was pretty well-maintained, the same can't be said for the roads which branch off of it. After missing the original main turn (I couldn't use my usual car phone mount because the gravel vibrated it off repeatedly), Google Maps had me turn onto FS152 (Black Swamp Rd), where we encountered the first serious obstacle. This road was much narrower, though, and felt more like a backcountry gravel road should -- to me, at least.

After turning around and going the right way, we took FS158 (Catfish Lake Farm Rd) to finally visit the lake. In hindsight, I really wish I'd brought a boat and some fishing rods along. We had the lake to ourselves; it was really peaceful and beautiful.

FS152 offered some more rough offroading; the worst area was around the boat launch -- you'll be able to recognize it in the videos. It also seems to serve as the location of some truly hellacious bonfires; a massive pile of coals -- probably 2 or 3 feet tall -- stood as a testament to that.

After visiting the lake, we turned around, continued west, and headed for Weetock Trail. Along the way, we got a good stretch of road in a more pine-dense area of the forest. Additionally, the west entrance has a very foreboding and serious sign.

For a map of the trail, click here.