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Discover the Great Durham Outdoors

Explore nature and activities within 10 miles of campus

Head to the American Tobacco Campus to experience the Back Porch Music on the Lawn series.

Head to the American Tobacco Campus to experience the Back Porch Music on the Lawn series.

Within a 10-mile radius of Duke, employees can kayak river rapids, bring picnic blankets to a music concert, and walk dozens of miles of trails.

Along with fresh air and exercise, the Durham outdoors offers activities for everyone, including Jae Furman, a Duke institutional research analyst who hikes at least three miles daily. He created Trailhead News to share local outdoor events and travel advice.

“There are a lot of great opportunities for getting outside to maintain and improve your health and to meet people with similar interests,” said Furman, who counts Eno River State Park as a favorite hiking spot. “Bringing a camera, sketchpad, journal or binoculars can make local walks fun, and they are easy to do on your own, with a friend or with an organized group. I invite people to come up with their own reasons to go out and explore their adventurous spirit.”

Here are seven ways to explore nature close to campus:

Go on a Treasure Hunt

More than 800,000 Americans are members at Geocaching.com, the leading website for the outdoor adventure activity where players use a GPS device or free mobile app to find hidden containers.

 If you want to join the ranks of treasure hunters, there are almost 6,500 geocache records for Durham on Geocaching.com. Novices to experts can solve riddles and pinpoint coordinates to find a container, which may contain small trinkets or a logbook where finders sign in and get listed among others who successfully tracked the spot.

Unwind on the Water

August Burns and her wife, Denise, regularly take their kayaks after work to Eno River State Park in Durham, which has nearly 30 miles of trails and access points for canoeing and kayaking.

While kayaking, Burns floats past mills dating back to settlers of the 1700s and sometimes brings extra kayaks for Duke colleagues.

“People have gotten as hooked as I have,” said Burns, Duke departmental business manager for the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics. “There’s a look in their eyes, that they have found their calling to kayak and to be on the water.”

Other water spots in Durham include Lake Michie and Little River Lake, which are open through Nov. 14 and provide boat rentals and bank fishing for a small fee.

Hit the Trails

The 1.6-mile track on East Campus is a popular attraction, but other nearby walking and hiking options are Sarah P. Duke Gardens’ five miles of trails and a 2.91-mile loop at the Al Buehler Trail.

For longer distances, visit the American Tobacco Trail, with 22 miles between Durham, Chatham and Wake counties. It features grass and pavement surfaces for runners and bikers.

Jacqueline Looney, senior associate dean for graduate programs and associate vice provost for academic diversity at The Graduate School, walks or bikes on the trail every day in the spring and summer.

“I enjoy that it’s very accessible throughout Durham and is always populated by a diverse collection of families, people exercising with friends and individuals doing their own thing,” she said. “It’s a great highlight of Durham that makes exercising and being outside so easy.”

Pack a Picnic

Spend a day at Morreene Road Park, enjoying baseball fields, basketball courts and on-site picnic shelters and tables. Kids can use the playground with slides and swing set, while adults volley on nearby tennis courts.

Located less than a half-mile from the western edge of West Campus, the park is open from dawn to dusk, and faculty and staff can walk over to the park after work.

Start a Pick-up Game

On East Campus, all Duke community members can use the sand volleyball court along Broad Street as well as tennis courts outside of Brodie Recreation Center on a first-come, first-served basis. On Central Campus, there are also basketball courts, a sand volleyball court and turf field, which can be used if a student group or Duke department hasn’t reserved the facilities.  

For pick-up games, Duke Recreation and Physical Education loans equipment such as flag football belts and basketballs to Duke community members at no charge.

Listen to Music

Grab a chair or blanket and join friends and family under the Lucky Strike tower at American Tobacco Campus for free honkytonk and bluegrass concerts this summer.

Sponsored by WUNC, the Back Porch Music on the Lawn series features eight shows with Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning artists like Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen and Dom Flemons.

Picnics and coolers (no glass) are allowed. Food, beer and wine are available for purchase.

“What’s not to like?” said Joel Crawford-Smith, an IT analyst at Duke Web Services who walks outside from his ATC office to attend shows. “You go sit with friends, have a beer and listen to free music. I love bluegrass, but even if you don’t, you love the atmosphere.”

Discover Historic Durham

At the Duke Homestead, walk through the early home and farm of Washington Duke and his family, who founded The American Tobacco Company and helped relocate Trinity College to Durham and develop it into Duke University.

“On the tour, we talk about how Durham as it is today would not exist without the Duke family,” said Julia Rogers, assistant site manager for Duke Homestead. “It helps you understand that these weren’t just one-dimensional people. Washington Duke was a guy with a family, he was a guy with a farm, he was a member of the local community and he was involved in local politics.”

Other places to visit are the downtown Museum of Durham History,  Maplewood Cemetery’s 100 acres of gravesites, to include Durham leaders and members of the Washington Duke family, and Bennett Place State Historic Site, the site of the largest surrender of the Civil War.

Get other ideas on how to enjoy the Durham outdoors, courtesy of the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau: