For a month and a half I had been staying in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Molly attends school there, and at the time, regular back-and-forth travel was off limits thanks to COVID. There were few obligations chaining me to Connecticut, so I quit my job to spend some time down south.
Molly was buried beneath a pile of work and study, so our outings were confined to brief windows of opportunity – a few hours on a Wednesday night here, an open Sunday morning there. Luckily though, we didn’t need to go far, or spend much money to find a bit of adventure.
Now, having just left town, I wanted to take the opportunity to describe what I think is the best free activity in Winston-Salem for an afternoon mini-adventure on a budget.
The Urban Hike
Every small city in America has a walkway that, when discovered, helps answer the question: how could anybody stand to live here? For even the most cloistered of city dwellers need fresh air and open space once in a while. To find these paths, you need olnly walk the streets without somewhere to be for long enough. You’ll know you’ve found one when you ask locals about it and they say “Oh yeah, it’s really nice to walk down there.”
In a town like Winston-Salem, that has enough population to merit a few skyscrapers and enough land to afford large swaths of green space, an urban hike can be a beautifully engaging adventure for the time-strapped, short-of-cash traveler.
From Downtown Winston-Salem to the Greenway
This particular urban hike begins downtown in the shadow of the city’s tallest building: the Wells Fargo Center. You can begin on foot, or you can pick up a bike from the bike-sharing service: Zagster. From downtown you will follow North Main Street south over the highway and pass a large tin coffee pot on a pole that marks the beginning of Historic Salem. Soon the sidewalks turn to bricks and the buildings slip back 300 years in architectural design to display wooden beams interlacing with brick walls, large white columns supporting two story porches, and wooden signs with images of hats or beer hung on outstretched Iron arms.
You’ll remain in this colonial museum come-to-life until you reach the end of South Main Street. Here, the path skirts a traffic circle, and the Salem Creek Greenway beckons to you from the north-east down a small slope. For the next three miles, you’ll stroll the greenway along the banks of Salem Creek through open green spaces bathed in sunlight. The path winds behind college campuses, under highway bridges, along grassy fields and, at one point, through the creek itself – so make sure you’re wearing shoes that you don’t mind getting wet.
Salem Lake
After your odyssey along the creek, you’ll discover its headwater: the expansive, often hazy, duck-frequented waters of Salem Lake. Here, the asphalt turns to dirt, and as it does, you’ll have the option to stop and pass an afternoon with a book overlooking green hills and blue waters.
If you choose to continue along the path, you’ll trace each and every one of the many folds in the shore. You’ll cross foot bridges, pass through tunnels of branches and leaves, see sunlight skip along the water’s surface from every possible angle, and cross paths with all manner of people from couples with dogs, to groups of college students, to joggers, to bikers towing small trailers.
Nitty Gritty
Eventually, having taken a heavy dose of fresh air, you’ll complete the loop of the lake and return to the Greenway. In full, this route covers 15.8 miles: 4.4 miles from the Wells Fargo Center to Salem Lake via the Greenway, 7 miles to loop around the lake, and 4.4 miles to return back the way you came. Without the lake Loop it is only an 8.8 mile out-and-back walk or bike.
Next Adventures
And there you have the urban hike; a tour of this city’s unique charm that fits into an afternoon, and my top free activity in Winston-Salem. Though it may sound corny, I know that when I think back to my time in North Carolina, snapshots of this walk will come to mind.
As for now, I’m a bit depressed having left a city I’d settled into. No matter how exciting the future may be, its tough to leave a place you’ve enjoyed staying. Its even more difficult to do so when someone you love is there. But the open road is a callin’. Stay tuned: there are some big developments in store for Pack the Peanut Butter in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, keep an eye out on the blog for more frequent posting. And as always, safe travels out there.
Dylan
