The longest of the long: the 60-mile Falls Lake portion of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Sometimes you just need to stretch your legs — really, really stretch your legs. If you live in the Triangle and love a good, long stretch, you are in luck, because for an urban area it has more than its share of long trails. And varied long trails to boot. Some are paved and suitable for wheeled sports from cycling to rollerblading to stroller pushing. Some are a foot friendly, finally crushed natural surface, especially good for running. Some are the narrow, intimate singletrack perfect for hiking.
We’ve put together snapshots of five such long trails, ranging from the recently 7.1-mile Black Creek Greenway in Cary to the 60-mile section of the Falls Lake portion of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (which will soon connected to the Eno River section of the MST and does connect to the Neuse River Trail, which will soon run nearly 33 miles into Clayton). Check out the snapshots. If you’re intrigued, click the recommended link for additional information.read more
Dragon boating Saturday on Lake Lure (see "Mountains").
Paddle a swamp, paddle someone else’s boat, paddle a dragon.
Coast
There’s great cache in being able to say you paddled the Great Dismal Swamp. After all, people have gone into the massive wetland in the northeast corner of the state (and southeast Virginia) and never come out. On Saturday’s Kayaking the Canal paddle at Dismal Swamp State Park you can earn both Dismal bragging rights and, since it’s ranger-led and on a canal, be assured that you will emerge unscathed (save, perhaps, a mosquito bite or two if you don’t later up beforehand).read more
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.read more
It's always sunny at your local climbing gym (in this case, the Triangle Rock Club).
Wondering what kinks Tropical Storm Andrea may have put in your weekend plans?
Paddling. If you were planning on paddling, you might think again. With projected rainfall amounts of four inches or greater, some local rivers may be swollen to the dangerous level, especially for less experienced paddlers. Your best bet for assessing paddle conditions on specific rivers is to check with the outfitters who serve them. Find a list of 44 such outfitters, specifically those who rent canoes and kayaks, here. If you’re familiar with a specific waterway, you can check levels and flows at the U.S. Geological Survey site, here. If you need help interpreting what those numbers mean — what’s optimum, what’s safe, what’s not — you should have a copy of Paul Ferguson’s “Paddling Eastern North Carolina” for the eastern part of the state, the Benner boys’ “Carolina Whitewater: A Paddler’s Guide to the Western Carolinas” for the west.read more
Last year, Special Olympics hosted an Over The Edge fundraiser at the Wells Fargo tower in downtown Raleigh.
“We had a slot open up for Over The Edge and you were the first person I thought of to fill it.” Over the Edge — that thing where you rappel off a 12-story building?
“It’s only 11,” Chuck said. “You don’t need to give me an answer now. Take a minute to think about it.”
I wasn’t sure how to take being the “first person” thought of to go over the side of an 11-story building. “Chuck, if I take a minute to think about it I’ll say no. So I’ll say yes now.” Over The Edge is a fundraiser in which non-profits raise money by getting supporters to rappel over the side of a building. An individual can raise the minimum pledge of $1,000 to participate, or an individual can offer to go over the edge if others raise $1,000. A principal, say, or a management type whose employees would gladly ante up. The size of the drop varies. Last year, Special Olympics raised money by sending people off the 32-story Wells Fargo Capitol Center in downtown Raleigh. Saturday, we’ll be going over the edge of the 11-story Smoketree Tower in North Raleigh’s Highwoods Office Center as a fundraiser for the Occoneechee Council of the Boy Scouts of America. (Point of note: I’ll be dangling 150 feet up courtesy of Great Outdoor Provision Co., which is helping to promote the event. GOPC’s Prime Minister of Culture Chuck Millsaps is the one who envisioned me going over the edge.)
I’m not crazy about heights. I’m also not comfortable with my record of late of stepping outside my comfort zone. I realized this earlier in the week interviewing Betty Woodard, Director of Nursing Research & Evidence Based Practice at WakeMed. She and her husband had just gotten back from Belize, where they went cave tubing, scuba diving and ziplining. She mentioned an upcoming trip to Duck. I said she should checkout the tandem hang-gliding lesson at Kitty Hawk, where an ultralight tows you and an instructor to 2,000 feet, then cuts you lose; Her eyes lit up. I realized it a couple days ago when 102-year-old Dorothy Custer base-jumped off a bridge in Idaho, then grumbled that the 486-foot plummet to earth was too short. I realized it this morning at my climbing gym when I struggled with a 5.8 climb, and I’d been doing 5.9s six months ago.
I need something that will shake me loose. Stepping over the side of an 11-story building should do it.
Anyone who successfully goes over is christened an “Edger.” I’ll report back afterward and let you know if I’ve earned that distinction.read more
