lot holds
This day the girls track team from nearby Durant Middle School is busy using the paved hill that leads up to the parking lot for their practice running hills. As a former runner, I feel for the kids as they run up and down, turn around and run back up. It is one of the most gruelling exercises track coaches ever invented. GHD After passing by the team I reach the parking lot. The lot holds a serious number of cars. It also has parking spaces for buses that come loaded with children from schools and activity centers. Unlike the greenway trails, this is a park that is managed by a city parks ranger. It has all the attributes of a serious park with a playground, swimming, restrooms, docks, tent sites, activity centers and lodges. CHI Once I have parked my car and set up my camera, I can get started on a park trail, some of which start right at the parking lot. The map to the trails indicat A mountain biker's pleasure, North Raleigh's Durant Park Border Trail Nature Park has two miles of mountain bike trails for ghd straightenersintermediate bikers. One my way to visit one of Raleigh's 50 plus miles of greenway trails I decided instead to see what might be going on at Durant Nature Park. This small nature park has a small lake and a pond inside its boundaries. The main entrance is located off Durant Road about a mile eachi straightenersst of Route One (Capital Blvd) The road into the park, Camp Durant Road, is a gravel road which spews clouds of dust as you drive toward the park entrance. ed that the longest of the trails at 2.2 miles was the Border Trail. Given that it was a warm beautiful day it sounded like this was the trail for me. The trail is wide and unpaved that disappears into the dark shady chi flat ironwoods of the nature park. At the trail head (and at key points along the trail) there is a map showing all the trails and where I was in relation to them. It had a nice "You are here" arrow to orient me. Right away I knew I was going to like this trail. The trail may be shady but the width of the trail means that there are opportunities to get pictures of some of the birds and animals that might be encountered. My entry onto the trail was greeted immediately with a demonstration of beauty by a tree covered in delicate purple blossoms. Not to let the animal kingdom be outdone, a brilliant red Cardinal pompously displayed its color through a dense tangle of vines. Just as another bird made its presence clear, it was interrupted by a screech high over head. A hawk had decided that I was spending too much time on these lesser birds. It took a bit for me to get my feet moving along. The trail ighd flat iron about two miles long. It goes around most of the outer perimeter of the park. To return to the start point I had to take a second trail for perhaps eight tenths of a mile. The first half of the trail was filled with little pockets of birds, usually where the trail was near a stream. The trail itself is designed as a mountain bike trail so a walker has to stay alert to the possibility of a small pack of bikes flying through the woods. The trail goes through woods that are sufficiently dense that no buildings of any kind are visible for the first part of the trip. I have a friend who recently survived a violent fall over the handlebars of a bike on a trail similar to this, thanks to his helmet. He needs a new helmet now, but because he was wearing it he was only unconscious for a short period of time as he waited for the ambulance. His arm, unprotected by a helmet, will be some months in recovery. This part of the trail took me downhill in a winding fashion as the trail heads towards its end point near the Campbell Lodge. This is another facility that the park rents out. There is another parking lot on this, the south side of the park Though I saw a lot of birds, this trail is less than optimal for watching birds when the park is in full use. The nearby Durant Greenway Trail has access to many of the same birds with less human and bike activity. It also has benches located near open areas in the trail where birds may be seen. This trail is most suitable for those who love showing or developing their mountain bike