When Raleigh’s Neuse River Greenway reaches the Johnston County Line in the spring of 2013, it’ll have company.
“It should be done by this time next year, if not sooner,” Bob Mosher with the NC Department of Transportation’s Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety said Thursday.
This weekend’s offerings underscore North Carolina’s geographic diversity, starting with a paddle through a tidal flat at the coast, continuing with a kayak trip down a scenic river on the cusp of the coastal plain, and ending with a southern Appalachians hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Sunday, I woke up as sore as I’ve been in a long while. Not just leg sore from running, say, a half marathon, or riding a mountain century. And not the shoulder and arm sore from a long paddle. Full-body head-to-toe sore. That’s what a day of honest work will do.
Monday is never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast, especially come summer. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy.
To help ease this trying transition from out-in-the-Sun-day to Mon-I-wish-I-were-back-in-the-sun-day, we’re running a new feature every Monday, at least during the summer, called 90-Second Escape. Essentially, it’s a 90-second mini-movie of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s out in the sun. Because there’s a good chance you might want to make such an escape yourself, we’ll include a resource list with each escape showing where and how to make it happen.
The first 8-mile stretch of the Neuse River Greenway in Raleigh is on target to open this September, Raleigh senior greenway planner Vic Lebsock said Thursday.
“Yes, I am,” he replied when asked if he was confident of the late summer opening.
The 8-mile stretch, from Falls of Neuse Road just below the Falls Lake dam south to the WRAL Soccer Complex, is part of the Neuse River Greenway, which will run 28 miles, from Falls Lake dam south to the Johnston County Line. The entire $30 million project is scheduled to be complete in early 2013.