Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
Today’s 90-Second Escape: Urban Refuge (at Umstead State Park)
In its four national forests, North Carolina has a combined 1.25 million acres. If you’ve spent time in any of those forests — the Croatan, Nantahala, Pisgah, Uwharrie — you know it’s not hard to find escape. Fortunately, though, you don’t need a million acres to find a little solitude, nor do you need to drive a half day to find it.
Sunday afternoon, in a light drizzle, I discovered a perfect escape in the heart of Raleigh, on a 10-yard stretch of Pott’s Branch, in Umstead State Park. Away from the masses, insulated from the buzz of life, it was just me, the creek, the light rain, the leaves rustled by the occasional breeze. A great spot to spend 90 seconds at the start of another work week.
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