22 For '22! Where we run
The people pass by each other, raising a hand to wave, smiling or offering a greeting on a Saturday morning.
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Good to see you!"
No, it's residents of a small town on Main Street.
It's us cruising the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway in Greensboro or circling Salem Lake in Winston-Salem or pushing forward along the High Point Greenway.
The Triad is home to so many locations in which runners can get in their miles or walkers can log their steps. You know them well, but the full collection of trails and greenways we can enjoy in 2022 in the Triad, perhaps close to your home and perhaps just a half-hour's drive, is nothing short of remarkable.
Among them:
Winston-Salem
Salem Lake: The 7-mile loop is mostly a dirt path, although some segments are paved. Parking is available off Salem Lake Road on the west end and off Linville Road on the east side.
Greenways and trails: 25 miles (including Salem Lake). The Salem Creek Greenway, which intersects with a handful of other greenways, covers 5.2 miles and can take you from downtown to the lake.
High Point
Runners and walkers can cover 4.5 miles on the High Point Greenway, from Armstrong Park to the Piedmont Environmental Center, and High Point's section of the Bicentennial Greenway is good for another 10K from the Environmental Center to Gallimore Dairy Road.
And there's another 6.6 miles of trails in the city.
Greensboro
The system in Greensboro can be rivaled in North Carolina only by the one in Raleigh; both count more than 100 miles of trails and greenways.
Greensboro's system includes not only the A&Y but other paved greenways and multiple trails near lakes Higgins, Brandt and Townsend. In addition, the Downtown Greenway moves toward completion, with work on its final mile expected to begin in early 2022.
And we can look forward to the day that the city, Guilford County and High Point fully link the Bicentennial Greenway as, really, the best way to get from one city to the other.
In fact, Greensboro's system is so top-notch that it has an app, Piedmont Discovery, available for Android and Apple.