Greenways & Other Summer Fun: Greenways: Neuse River Trail

Another great day on the Greenways! We mixed it up a little this time by walking on a weekend, and also having Kevin join us. I was glad to have us all hitting the trail as a family and spending some quality time together, and it worked out great to be able to park one car at the end of the trail and then drive back to the beginning of the trail to start (so we wouldn't have to back track when we reached the end of the trail).

The Neuse River Trail is awesome! It's a 4 mile, unpaved trail that runs along the Neuse River beginning in North Raleigh (off Buffalo Road) and ending at Anderson Point Park (we got off the trail just north of Highway 64). Over the 4-mile stretch the trail changed a lot. At one point the trail becomes a long wooden boardwalk that crosses over a marshy area that leads out into the Neuse River, which was absolutely gorgeous. At other points the trail feels like a dirt road running next to neighborhoods in very urban ares, and then minutes later turns so that you are walking directly next to the river and feel as if you were in the middle of nowhere. We saw a group of people swimming in the river, having biked to a really neat spot that had a lot of shady trees and smooth rocks and a pretty quick current. We also saw a bunch of animals, including rabbits, a blue heron, a ton of baby frogs, various birds, turtles, fish, dragon flies . . . . Nathan even found a crab claw! Blue sky with white fluffy clouds . . . it was a beautiful trail on a beautiful day!

The beginning of the trail is very wooded and shady, which felt great in the 93 degree heat. Sadly, after about 1/4 mile the trail opens up into what is essentially a hilly dirt/gravel road, that for the next 3 3/4 miles pretty much leaves you exposed to the direct heat of the sun. That, coupled with the fact that we started walking at 12:25 pm and we ran out of water around the 2 mile mark, made it a little uncomfortable for the kids. Honestly, I have never seen either of them so sweaty, and that's saying a lot! Even Noah had sweat rings around his neck and under his arms . . . .

Due to the extreme heat and length of the trail, there was a lot of complaining and whining. (I finally had to pull Kevin aside and say, 'ENOUGH ALREADY!"). Kevin kept Noah engaged by racing him to every mile marker to see who could reach the mile markers first. (A little disconcerning when we passed a mile marker that read 1 1/2 miles, and the the next maker read 3/4 mile, but we ignored it and pressed on.) For the last two miles Nathan alternated between crying out the mantra "Blizzard" (a trip the Dairy Queen was promised about 1/2 mile into the hike as a little incentive), and moaning, "I'll never make it!" I practiced deep-breathing and the art of ignoring.

Miraculously, we were able to complete the rocky, 4-mile "trail of tears" in about 80 minutes. Less than 10 minutes later we were sitting in the cool, air conditioned Dairy Queen, drinking down Blizzards and Slushes, and fighting off a mean brain freeze.

Lessons Learned: (1) Bring more water. (2) 3 miles is probably about as far as the kids will go and still be happy. (3) Stick to shady trails. (4) Try not to walk at the hottest time of the day!

NOTE: I really wanted Kevin to blog about his Greenway adventure! He's a very talented writer and story teller, in addition to being a published author. Unfortunately, he also works outside the home, and I didn't feel it right to harangue him about writing. (I have no such issue forcing the kids to put pencil to paper!) Hopefully I can get him back on the trails again! Also, I negotiated a deal with the kids for today's Greenway adventure. They both wanted to walk on the Greenway, and especially have their Dad join us, but neither wanted to blog about it. So for today, instead of a narrative, they have provided adjectives to describe their experience (one for each year of their age). Noah was not allowed to use "fun" as one of his adjectives.