A condensed version of this story by our print alter ego appeared Oct. 12 in both the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh. It appears here with additional information and links.
It’s about indulging yourself. It’s about pleasure. It’s about listening to your body and doing what it wants to do, not what some hard-body drill instructor wants it to do.
It wasn’t so much the five hours of rain they endured, nor the nearly 3,000 foot of vertical climbing in three miles to start the day (there would be 17,000 total feet of up-and-down during their 11 hour and 10 minute ordeal). It wasn’t getting lost at Butler Gap, nor the “quad-shredding” descent down Pilot Mountain. Rather, it was the need for a good sugar fix after running 27 miles straight on the Art Loeb Trail, which runs 31 miles through the rugged Pisgah National Forest (including the Shining Rock Wilderness) in western North Carolina.
Last week I heard an ominous observation on a British TV show. The context escapes me, but the phrase, intended as a benign descriptor, stuck. In referring to the United States, the narrator referred to us as “currently the most powerful nation in the world.”
Dogs are distracted by squirrels, cats by mice, men in midlife crisis by red sports cars they can barely fit into. Me? A cloudless sky and 70-degree temperatures.
For most of this past week, I managed to avoid the temptation to leap from my desk and run out into the woods chasing after fall. After the changing colors, the curious quiet, the long shadows knifing across the forest floor. But by Thursday afternoon my discipline was shot. I looked out the window, saw another leaf fall and grabbed my day pack and was off. Off to my favorite place to greet fall in the Triangle: the Eno River.
Fall fever: You caught it this week, do something about it this weekend.
Coast
There should be a law that during the first legitimate week of fall weather — which would be this week — you get to take a day off from work. What the heck, let’s just assume there is such a law and you have elected to start the weekend early and take Friday off. Good move, for that means you can head to the coast and take the Alligator River Canoe Tour conducted by the Coastal Wildlife Refuge Society. The three-hour tour (9 a.m. to noon) explores blackwater canals and Milltail Creek, touching on the history of the area and searching for the refuge’s abundant wildlife (which includes Alligator River Wildlife Refuge’s namesake critter). It’s an exceptionally scenic area, an exceptionally rewarding paddle. All gear is provided: $35 for adults, $20 for kids 12 and under.