So yesterday, was a teacher workday at my son's school. A few days prior i mentioned to him that we could have a little outdoor adventure with one of his friends and asked him what he'd like to do. I imagined that he might say, go paddle the Eno or hike a nearby trail, but to my surprise he said he wanted to go on a bike ride. Well, Miles has been able to bike now for maybe a year and a half, but his biking prowess has been somewhat limited, and his overall desire to push himself with it has been pretty much non-existent. I knew that the friend coming over was quite the accomplished little bike rider, that she felt right at home on two wheels, and was no stranger to longer neighborhood rides. Needless to say, i was curious to see how things would turn out. I really was hoping they would take ownership over their ride, so i didn't want to interfere too much in their day of adventure. I suppose, i was feeling nostalgic for my days of freedom through completely untethered biking around my neighborhood when i was his age.
Miles' friend got to our house, we hoped on bikes, rode a few blocks down to our neighborhood park (Northgate Park), and jumped onto the middle of Durham's North-South Greenway. This is a disjointed trail pieced together by a handful of shorter trails that run from Downtown Durham and will eventually end at West Point on the Eno Park. Currently, the northern terminus of this trail ends in very anti-climatic fashion at Horton Rd. So, anywho, we hoped onto the trail in Northgate park and headed northward with little plans as to how long we'd be out or our final destination. Well i must say i was pleasantly surprised, not to mention quite proud, that they biked all the way to the highly anti-climatic northern terminus of the North South Greenway at Horton Rd., turned around and biked all the way back home! This ended up being almost 10 miles! ...so proud of my dude!
I also had to give myself a little pat on the back, because, with the exception of leading them onto the trail, giving some supportive encouragement
on big hills, and only being directive when we came to some of the bigger
road crossings and intersections, i did a decent job of being hands off and letting the trip be theirs. We stopped when they wanted to stop, we ate when they wanted to eat, we biked the pace that they chose, and they just kept on going! I don't know exactly what brought about this shift in his desire to bike, but he
found a fire within himself to do it!
Here's a link for a PDF of the North-South Greenway and the ATT in Durham. Map 1 on this PDF shows the route we rode. Also, here are a handful of pics that highlight some different sections of this trail and their trip.
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| One of many snack breaks on the North-South Greenway |
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| Getting pretty excited about all the vehicles at the National Guard Armory right on the Ellerbe Creek Trail section of the North-South Greenway |
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| Biking through Whipporwill Park on the North-South Greenway. |
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| Exploring a wetland area on foot that Miles spotted along the Warren Creek Trail section of the Durham North-South Greenway. |
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| Boardwalk on Warren Creek Trail segment of the Durham North-South Greenway |
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| One of a handful of bridges on the North-South Greenway |
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| Nice mildly curvy hill. |
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| Side trip to the Museum of Life and Science (MLS) which is just a block down from the North-South Greenway on Murray Ave |
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| Shark teeth found in the fossil dig at MLS |
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| Miles' brick on the Dino Trail at MLS. |
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| Parasaurolophus riding at the MLS |
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| Checking out the picnic dome before hoping back onto the trail. The echos under this thing are amazing! |
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| Stopping to admire a true Durham landmark, the Bronto! This is right next to the Greenway on the Wescott Bronto Trail segment, just north of Northgate Park. |
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| Passing the Radio towers on the Wescott Bronto Trail section of the North-South Greenway |
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| Back at Northgate Park! |
