Coast

Summer can be a little steamy out on the sounds in the marshes of the Carolina coast. But late September? Cooler air temps and cooling water temps (but still warm enough for a dip) make for perfect kayaking conditions. That’s the thinking behind Saturday’s kayak trip at Hammocks Beach State Park. Paddle about the intricate marshes around Hammocks Beach; kayak, paddles and lifejackets provided.

Logistics: Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Visitor Center. Free, but preregistration required, by calling 910.326.4881. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Mostly cloudy, high of 81, 30 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

How about celebrating a greenway? How about celebrating Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Greenway with Saturday’s Festival in Motion. This work-in-progress greenway — about two-thirds of the 11-mile greenway, which will run along the south side of Raleigh from Lake Johnson  to the Neuse River, is finished; the remainder is expected to be finished next year — will be celebrated at four locations along its length, with events such as a 5K, soccer clinic, decorated bike parade, a monster weed wrangle and much, much more! How much more? See Logistics, below

Logistics: For times, registration fees (where applicable), locations and much, much more, go here.

Saturday’s forecast: Mostly cloudy, high of 78, storms and showers possible.

Mountains

Wild about birds? Then Chimney Rock State Park is where you want to be this weekend, for the weekend-long Flock to the Rock. The focus is on fall migrants as well as the warblers, vireos, tanagers, woodpeckers, thrushes, owls and various birds of prey, including the Peregrine Falcon, who call Chimney Rock home year round. Too many events to mention, so we’ll once again defer to Logistics, below

Logistics: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Find details here.

Saturday’s forecast: Highs both days in the mid-70s, chance of rain 40 percent Saturday, 60 percent Sunday.

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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.
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The post This weekend: Paddle the coast, celebrate a greenway, get high on birds appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Currently, about seven miles of the Walnut Creek Greenway are done, from Lake Wheeler Road (the Centennial Campus) east to Worthdale Park. There, design is underway for a one-mile stretch that will extend the trail farther east; Raleigh senior greenway planner Vic Lebsock said construction on that stretch should be underway next summer and take six to nine months to complete.

The last 1.6-mile link to the Neuse Trail, the stretch covered under the transportation bond, can’t get underway until the Raleigh City Council actually sells the bonds. Lebsock expects that to happen next July 1. “From the date we get the funds it should be 18 months until completion,” Lebsock said yesterday. That would be by the end of 2013.

Projects tied to a 2003 Raleigh parks and recreation bond were delayed because that bond package assured voters that no bonds would be sold if it meant raising the sales tax. The current bond package did not include such an assurance, Lebsock said.

The Walnut Creek Greenway is the main southern thoroughfare in Raleigh’s greenway system. On the western end, it will link with three miles of greenway planned for N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, and with that link, connect with 1.1 miles of existing greenway that feeds into the 5.6-mile trail system at Lake Johnson.

Walnut Creek’s eastern end will join the 28-mile Neuse River Trail. The first eight miles of that greenway — from Falls dam downstream to the WRAL/CASL soccer complex on Perry Creek Road near Louisburg Road/U.S. 401 — is all but officially open (the official part of the opening will be Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. at the revitalized Falls of Neuse canoe launch off Falls of Neuse Road just below the dam).

Lebsock says construction is underway on the remainder of the Neuse Trail, which is expected to be finished to the Johnston County line by the end of next year. That greenway will meet five miles of greenway currently under construction along the Neuse from the county line into Clayton. The Neuse Trail is part of the statewide Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

Raleigh’s main greenway corridors

View Raleigh Greenways in a larger map

The post Walnut Creek Greenway to be done in 2013; Neuse construction begins downstream appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

To follow along with the trails mentioned below, download a copy of the Raleigh greenway map here.

The first 8 miles of the the Neuse Greenway Trail is all but 20-feet finished.

That’s the official word this morning from Raleigh Senior Greenway Planner Vic Lebsock. Officially, there’s only 20 feet left to finish, on a boardwalk a little over two miles south of the northern trailhead (off the old Falls of Neuse Road). A stretch under Capital Boulevard and greenway under the new Falls of Neuse Road — both of which were under construction a month ago — have been completed, Lebsock said. That means you could start from the southern trailhead, at the WRAL/CASL Soccer Complex off Perry Creek Road between Capital Boulevard and Louisburg Road, and travel unencumbered six miles upstream.

Lebsock couldn’t say when the 20-foot gap would be finished. He could say, “We hope to have the official ribbon cutting in November.” He also could say that while the trail officially isn’t open, there sure are a lot of people have discovered the greenway and are using it.

While the 20-foot-gap issue gets resolved, construction on most of the rest of the Neuse Greenway Trail should get underway within the next two weeks. Lebsock says construction should begin from Horseshoe Creek Farm (just across the Neuse River from where the aforementioned 8-mile stretch ends) south to near the Heddingham neighborhood, and from Anderson Point south to the Johnston County Line. Two remaining mile-long stretches are expected to go to bid by January.

Lebsock says the entire 28-mile Neuse Greenway Trail — from Falls of Neuse dam south to the Johnston County line — remains on target to be finished by the end of 2012.

“We’re right on schedule,” says Lebsock

In other Raleigh greenway news:

House Creek Greenway. This much-anticipated 2.9-mile greenway will connect the city’s Reedy Creek Greenway on the west with the 11-mile-long Crabtree Creek Greenway to the east. Lebsock says construction continues all along this stretch, which essentially parallels Raleigh’s Beltline (I-440). He said “unforeseen construction problems” have delayed reopening of Glen Eden Road, under which a pedestrian tunnel has been built (the tunnel, in addition to a tunnel under Lake Boone Trail, are both finished), and work continues on a connector greenway extending from Ridge Road that links into House Creek and the Reedy Creek greenways just east of the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline.

That connector plays a key role in a seemingly unrelated greenway two miles to the west. There, a  greenway less than a mile long has been built along Edwards Mill Road by the N.C. Department of Transportation linking the Reedy Creek Trail with the RBC Center. As part of the House Creek project, the gates on the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline will be removed. Those gates are locked at night to prevent access to the Meredith College campus, through which the southeastern portion of the Reedy Creek Greenway passes (a new gate will be built in the pedestrian tunnel under Wade Avenue, through which the Reedy Creek Greenway passes). Using street connectors and greenways, it will be possible for people living inside the Beltline to take the greenway to Carolina Hurricanes games and other evening events at the RBC Center.

Lebsock says the entire House Creek project should be finished by March 2012.

Crabtree Creek Greenway extension to the Neuse River. Currently, the 11-mile greenway follows its namesake creek from near Duraleigh Road downstream to Milburnie Road. This four-mile project would link the Milburnie end with the Neuse River and Neuse Greenway Trail. Lebsock says stretch will likely go to bid in January or February, with completion targeted for the second quarter of 2013. (On the northwest end, the Crabtree Creek Greenway eventually will run to Umstead State Park and hook into the park’s 18-mile bike and bridle trail network.

Walnut Creek Greenway to New Hope Road. The Walnut Creek Greenway currently runs along the south side of Raleigh, from Lake Wheeler Road east to Worthdale Park. Eventually, greenway to be built through N.C. State’s Centennial Campus will link it with the Lake Johnson Greenway to the west. To the east, four miles remain before the Walnut Creek Greenway taps into the emerging Neuse Greenway Trail. Two of those miles, from Worthdale Park to South New Hope Road, will go out to bid in 30 to 60 days, according to Lebsock. That stretch should open by the end of 2012. Funding for the remaining two miles, from South New Hope to the Neuse, rests in the fate of a $40 million transportation bond that goes before Raleigh voters Oct. 11.

Honeycutt Creek Greenway: The 6-mile Honeycutt Creek Greenway will run from Strickland Road to Falls Lake, where it will connect with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Lebsock says a few final approvals and permits are needed for this trail, but that it should go to bid shortly and construction should begin in January. It is expected to be finished by the end of 2012.

The post First 8 miles of Neuse Trail 20 feet from ‘officially’ opening appeared first on GetGoing NC!.