Dog-Human Hike II: Forest Ridge Nature Park
Trying to beat the heat is no easy thing in the summer, especially south of the Mason-Dixon line. Temps in Raleigh soared over 95 degrees Fahrenheit both Saturday and Sunday. Not the most ideal weather for hiking, especially when you are locked in a fur coat.
Fitz has been hanging out by the pool lately in an attempt to cool off.
To try to get a break from the heat we tried an early start along a walk shaded by deep woods and a lakefront location to top it off. Maybe, we figured, this combination might prove successful in limiting the heat exhaustion.
We headed to a place we’d been before…Forest Ridge Nature Park.
A few delays kept us from reaching the trail head (less than 10 mins from the house) as quickly as we might have wanted. Once there, a mam who had returned from biking warned us to stick to the shade, the heat being already quite intense. But we needed no warning as the parking lot was already scorching hot. We headed for the shade.
Once in the trees, the air seemed ten degrees cooler. We have often noticed how the forest, and particularly low-lying wooded areas, can trap cool air of night even during the heat of a ferocious summer day. We have walked in woods after noon in July where one could still feel a touch of the nighttime chill. It was a pleasant break from the intense heat and humidity.
The hike was short; we stopped mid-way to enjoy one of our favorite lakeside viewing spot. There were a lot of boats out on falls lake; it was already too late in the day for bass fishing, most were water skiers, tubers or other high-speed lake goers. Apart from the boaters, we saw almost no one.
After returning to the trailhead we walked down the remains of Old NC Highway 98 to where it vanishes beneath the waves of Falls Lake. Fitz once again lived up to his honorary title of Surf Dog.
Brian though he spotted two bald eagles across the lake but they might have been ospreys…both are common here.
We’d had ourselves a fine micro-adventure despite the heat!
