A few years ago, we picked up a couple of old kayaks from Craig’s List.  One of our first adventures was on the Haw River, and since it had just rained we knew the water would be finally be high enough to run.  Being somewhat new to kayaking, I set out in jeans, and Andy not sure what to say decided not to say anything at all.  We arrange the cars so that we have one at each end and set out on the river.  I realized my skis, I mean feet, were too big with my shoes on that they didn’t fit in the kayak, so I stored my shoes behind my seat for safe keeping.  In the first mile I flipped my kayak, got stuck against a rock, and had to dump my kayak several times because it was full of water.  It turns out one of those times my shoes went with it.  We approached a few Class II and III rapids and had barely enough skill to avoid disaster.  When we reached the take out point, we noticed a group of firefighters huddled around a section of the river.  As I walked up the hill, barefoot with wet jeans, dragging my kayak, we realized they were there for rescue training – and were all staring at me.  I’m sure they used me as an example of what not to do.  We bought skirts and helmets a few days later and have had many safe, great adventures on the water since then.

One of our favorites is to paddle the Neuse River.  Around Raleigh it is controlled by Milburnie Dam and and is most always high enough to paddle. The Neuse is a nice quiet retreat through an urban area.  There is something fascinating about paddling along a peaceful river that flows under many busy roads. Recently, Raleigh and Clayton have opened up the Neuse River Greenway, a 31 mile stretch of paved trail that follows the Neuse.  With only one car now and no way to shuttle, we thought this would be perfect for us and our bicycles.  We decided to break the trip up into two days.  The entire trip went from Falls Dam at Falls of the Neuse (at Falls Lake) to NC 42 Bridge in Clayton, for a total distance of about 32 miles.  The first day we started at Old Milburnie Rd put in to the NC 42 Bridge take out.  We stationed our bicycles at the end to ride the new greenway back to our car. Along the paddle we saw otters, deer, a few horses, and many water birds along the way.  One class II rapid around Poole Road makes it an exciting start, and it continued with a peaceful 4 1/2 hour ride.  The Neuse River Greenway was a great surprise.  Our take out point at NC 42 was a little far away from the start so we needed to go on some busy roads.  Other than that, we had a beautiful ride through Clayton countryside and along the river, for a total of 23 miles.

The second day we went out, rain was in the forecast.  We went ahead anyway thinking that it would be a sprinkle and we were already in the water.  Besides, what’s better than an 8 hour kayak/bike ride?  A kayak/bike ride in the rain!  This time we started at Falls Dam, where the kayakers go to surf in the waves below the dam.  We started just below the dam release and got to go through a class II+ rapids.  The beginning again was exciting and just as the previous trip, the last 4 1/2 hours were peaceful and calm.  The rain came and went but didn’t soak us too bad, only cooled us off a bit.  We made it to Old Milburnie Rd., our take out point, and had to portage across the dam.  The only route was through the poison ivy jungle, along a precarious brick wall carrying two kayaks.    After this brief inconvenience, we found our bikes and began the next part of the adventure.  The ride was pretty and again, it was so nice to have this getaway right in the heart of a city.  Unfortunately, the rain really started coming down along our bike ride and I think in this case it might have been more fun without it.  A few miles into the trail Andy said that he read part of the trail was not completed yet (should be spring 2014), but there was an easy workaround.  It turns out that the workaround was not too easy and we ended up going along busy two lane roads (Ligon Mill Road into Moss Creek Subdivision) with no shoulder in the pouring rain.  We finally found an entrance back onto a connecting greenway from a neighborhood and completed the bike ride for a total of 18 miles.

Overall, it was a very satisfying couple of days.  They were long and tiring, but finding the outdoors in the middle of the city is something everyone in Raleigh should do.  A few weekends later, we decided to bike around Raleigh (literally).  We took the existing greenway system and completed a loop around the entire city.  Expecting about 20 something miles, we ended up completing 40 miles (should have been closer to 30 miles but we “explored” a bit extra) for a satisfying day with the end at a crowded food truck rodeo in downtown.  Raleigh does have great things to offer!

Not the greatest pics but an excellent adventure.