Overview: Howell Woods in Johnston County offers more than 25 miles of trails through a striking mix of North Carolina habitat types, including coastal plain bottomland hardwood forest, cypress–gum swamps, and pine/scrub-oak sandhills. Visitors can start at the Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center, then explore the preserve by canoe, horseback, bike, or on foot.
Directions: From Raleigh, take US 70 East and merge onto I-95 South. Take exit 90 (US 701) and turn right onto US 701. Continue about 6.3 miles, then turn left onto Stricklands Crossroads (SR 1143). Go 3.4 miles and turn left onto Devil’s Racetrack Road. The Howell Woods preserve entrance will be about 0.2 miles down the road on the left.
Observations & Ponderings: Howell Woods begins with a welcoming nature center bordered by frog-filled ponds and busy bird feeders—one of those places where you can start “seeing” wildlife before you’ve even laced your boots. Around the learning center, it’s often possible to spot bullfrogs, northern mockingbirds, northern cardinals, American goldfinches, downy woodpeckers, and purple martins. With some luck (and patience), you might even glimpse an elusive fox squirrel.
From the center, wander down Leopold Loop for a taste of the sandhills edge: black swallowtail butterflies, six-lined racerunners, prickly pear, and the delicate pink blooms of Tradescantia rosea. Listen, too, for the clean notes of field sparrows, the calls of eastern bluebirds, and red-tailed hawks circling high above.
Continue onto the Bartram Trail and then make your way into the wetter swamplands of Warbler Way. Here, the vegetation shifts—look for overcup oak and swamp chestnut oak, along with jack-in-the-pulpit tucked into the understory. You may hear common grackles and the resonant drumming of pileated woodpeckers. At the end of Warbler Way, turn right onto the plantation road and keep an eye on the gravel—this is the sort of place where a big black rat snake might be stretched across the path, soaking up warmth.
Make another right onto Pine Bottom Trail to listen for Acadian flycatchers and watch for Atamasco lilies blooming in season. From there, you can loop back to the visitor center via the Bartram Trail, staying alert for red-eyed vireos, blue-gray gnatcatchers, tufted titmice, and the quick, skittering movement of eastern five-lined skinks. In spring, small blooms like blue-eyed grass and golden ragwort add an extra layer of color to the trail edge—easy to miss if you’re only looking up.
Sense of Place 