Monday, May 30, 2011

Our Own Backyard

This week’s trail was close to home.  We traveled only three-fourths mile to Annie L. Jones Park in our new neighborhood of Scottish Hills in Cary.  This is a really nice community park with a baseball field, basketball and tennis courts, swimming, and trails.
We parked beside the baseball field (we would have walked there if it hadn’t been 90 degrees yesterday!) and started at the Coatsbridge section of the trail.  All of the trails in this particular park are short, totaling just over a mile combined. However, they are not loops, so you get double the distance in your trail hike when you turn around to come back.
The Coatsbridge section is a natural trail of crushed stone and dirt, nicely packed for easy footing. It winds leisurely through a dense canopy of very large trees. The branches provided a welcome relief from the high temperatures. It was cool and quiet along this trail.



We had only walked a short distance when we came upon these unusual structures:



We left the trail for a closer look, speculating as we walked. Playground equipment for really tiny children?  Fairies, perhaps? Thank goodness for the sign. We were smack in the middle of a Frisbee golf course! This is hole number six. The sign pointed the direction to holes 7 through 10 across the Greenway. I’d certainly never seen it before. I thought people played Frisbee golf on....well, golf courses. Guess not.
We continued on, and in a short distance, the trail ended at the Annie Jones Greenway.  I don’t know who Annie Jones is or was. Google doesn’t know either except to remind us about a billion times that she has a park named after her. My guess is she was on the City Council or somesuch in the recent past.
Anyway, the Greenway.  Cary has miles and miles of Greenway meandering around and through its public parks. They are quite nice, a good place to walk the dog or pedal an easy bike trip without traveling too very far away. I prefer the more rugged trails of the national and state parks, but these are good for busy weekends when you want to get your walk in but don’t have a lot of time available to do it.
This is a wide clean asphalt trail that winds through the backyards of homes in Scottish Hills. It’s far enough away and densely enough forested that you aren’t looking into anyone’s bedroom window. You can see the decks through the trees and leaves. Some of the homeowners have blazed their own trails from their backyard to the Greenway. And you see the evidence of children everywhere.

Having just finished listening to the Tom Sawyer audiobook, Steve was convinced Tom and Huck constructed this makeshift treehouse/pirate lookout/stairway to the stars:



We passed a small playground and a couple of picnic tables before the Greenway ended at Tarbert Street (one street over from ours). We turned around and headed back admiring the hydrangeas blooming in our neighbors’ yards. Then back to the natural trail, and on to the baseball field parking lot. A quick trail, but an easy one to accomplish given that our lives are still consumed with unpacking and organizing right now.
May all your Trails be Happy!



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