Several of you have inquired about the status of Raleigh’s House Creek Greenway. At not quite 3 miles, the greatly anticipated House Creek Greenway is of far more significance than it’s length might suggest: When House Creek is completed, it will link the nearly 10-mile* Reedy Creek/Gorman/Rocky Branch greenway with the 11.7-mile Crabtree Creek Trail greenway. I’ll get to what exactly all that means in a sec. First, the answer to your question.
A weekend afoot
Go short, go long, go fast: Those are among your options this weekend in North Carolina.
Coast
Whenever I run across someone who’s just been to Goose Creek State Park for the first time, their first comment is, “Wow! Why didn’t I know about this place?” Maybe it’s because it’s off the beaten path (it’s between Washington and Bath off a lesser traveled stretch of U.S. 264). Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have a famous landmark at it’s core (the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park). Maybe because it doesn’t have easily accessed recreational opportunities, such as the rental canoes at Merchants Millpond State Park.
Weigh in on weighty issues
Sometimes when I’m at the gym, I look at the woman next to me on the bike, the guy across the way doing bench press, the class behind glass doing Power Yogalates (something like that) and I wonder, “Why are they here? What’s motivating them?”
Maybe that’s because I’m not entirely sure why I’m there. Yeah, it makes be feel good (afterward). Yeah, working out helps make it possible for me to backpack and mountain bike and paddle and a lot of the other things I like to do. And yeah, I know that staying in shape now will help ensure that I can continue to lead an active life later in life. For me, it’s an amalgam of reasons rather than one specific thing.
Eat chocolate, play outside
The latest from the research world as it applies to our world …
Chocolate: the new super fruit
You’d expect scientific news about chocolate coming out of the Hershey Center for Heath & Nutrition to be favorable toward the brown elixir. And you wouldn’t be disappointed.
Chocolate, which recently has been embraced as the ultimate recovery drink by recovering athletes, has been deemed by the Hershey center as a rich source of antioxidants, those naturally occurring elements that helps us fight disease. Further, chocolate contains more polyphenols and flavanols than fruit juice. The testing found this property for antioxidants in dark chocolate and cocoa. (Hot chocolate was also tested, but proved not as rich in antioxidants because of the processing involved.
‘A Guide’s Guide to Panthertown’
Fifteen years ago I took my first trip to Panthertown Valley, a 6,700-acre playground that some call the Yosemite of the East because of its abundance of waterfalls (19), towering (if not old-growth) trees and exposed granite domes. It was also to be my first try at backpacking solo.