THE TRAILS OF RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK

After a few days of touring around Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, I have discovered some very cool trails.  These towns have committed to making the region bike-friendly, and many of these trails are linked, creating a complex system of bike routes that allow serious cyclists to keep discovering new ways of discovering nature that feel far away from the city.  

Here is a beautiful, long wide trail at the William Umstead State Park just west of Raleigh and north of suburban Cary.  This prize is linked to many other trails, giving riders easy access from the NC State University campus, the North Carolina Museum of Art grounds and the northern reaches of Cary, which is in itself a very bike-friendly town.  There is even a pedestrian/bike bridge that spans the 440 beltline (photo below.) The atmosphere at the nearly 6,000 acre park was sensational:  the crisp snap of fall mixed with oxygen-rich air, an almost complete silence, with the trees forming the arches that remind you of cathedrals, only better.  

BIke bridge across 440.

Here is a short loop around the grounds of the NC Museum of Art.   The grounds hosted a state prison until 2004, and now create a beautiful, spacious setting for the museum, with many trails looping around some nicely landscaped meadows.  These trails link to many other trails.  That's the key to a great bicycling town:  offer riders an opportunity to ride from one systemof serene trails that plunge through forests, leading to the next area, without having to encounter the stress and pollution of cars.  

Here's a particularly lovely Monet on exhibit at the NC Museum of Art.

Here is one of the trails that circumnavigates or winds around Bond Lake in Cary.  These trails also link to the system of trails that lead up to Umstead Park.  

I like what I see here, but there are many others who are also flocking to this area, creating the hottest real estate market I have encountered.  If you see a home you might be interested in, it will likely be sold before you have a chance to make an appointment, often in a bidding war. 

The area is surging with growth, and thousands of people are moving here.  The three main cities are doing well even during Covid, with a jobless rate of just over 6%.  

I'm spending time with my cousin Melanie today working on the garden at the beautiful home she shares with her husband Nick and their bumptious English retriever, Monty.  

Yes, there is a house tucked into the forest here.  It's a beautiful, spacious, quiet respite that feels well away from the cities.

Bottom line:  the area could be a great place to live, with lots of terrific recreation opportunities.