It’s a great weekend to learn something new.
Coast
Here’s a race I wish I’d known about three months ago: the Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon, billed as the “very first Formula 1 or super sprint style triathlon in the U.S.”
Double Sprint? Formula 1?
Saturday is National Trails Day, a day set aside for paying homage to the nation’s more than 200,000 miles of trail. In most cases, that involves grabbing a rake, a pickax, a shovel and sprucing up the trails that on the other 364 days of the year we love to death. It’s a day underscoring that without volunteer labor, our trail systems simply wouldn’t exist. Last year, for instance, 190,350 volunteer hours were logged at nearly 2,000 registered National Trails Day events. That represents roughly $3.9 million in labor that our cash-strapped federal, state and local land managers simply couldn’t afford to pay for.
Celebrate the winter with a nature-based outing this weekend.
Coast
Did you know there’s a new 73-foot-tall wind turbine at Jockey’s Ridge State Park? I didn’t, either. But there is, and you can learn all about it at Saturday’s Power of Wind presentation. A little talk indoors, then it’s out to the dunes to check out the turbine. And, to get a true feel for the power of wind, bring a kite to fly afterwards (or swing by Kitty Hawk Kites across the street and pick one up). Program starts at 2 p.m.