I woke up Wednesday at 5:30, took Dog #1 out, checked the weather.
60 degrees!
I knew it was supposed to cool off this week, but 60? I couldn’t remember the last time it had been so cool in this summer of record heat. A good two months, at least.
A spirit-lifting temperature, but still shy of my fall benchmark. Then, an hour later I took out Dog #2 (she likes to sleep in) and it was 58. Within a half hour it would drop another degree, to 57.
Another sign of the improving times: ranger/naturalist-led programs at North Carolina State Parks are beginning to pick up. Saturday, there are three guided hikes at N.C. State Parks, Sunday, there’s one more. Next weekend, nine events are scheduled — so far.
From its origins in the late 1960s, the Eno River Association, known then as the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, has been saving land along the Eno River in Orange and Durham counties. In that time, they’ve preserved more than 4,000 acres along the Eno and its tributaries. Much of that land has gone into creating Eno River State Park, some into Little River Regional Park. The Confluence Natural Area, which opened a couple years ago, is the only land the ERA has purchased that it operates as its own.
Last weekend, we explored the longest uninterrupted stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Falls Lake in Raleigh: the 7 miles from NC 98 to Creedmoor Road. We were struck by how, seemingly overnight, the woods had gone from a hint of green to full-blown leaf-out. We caught glimpses of the lake; mostly, though, we were enveloped in green.
