MST in the Triangle - Section 9 + 10

At just 0.5 miles long, Section 9 of the Falls Lake Trail/MST (Twin Creek section) is so short that I'm including it with section 10 (Quail Roost section - 2.5 miles). These sections start at New Light Road, and head mostly west to NC-50.

For a while, this section follows a branch of Falls Lake, but for most of the trail you are quite a distance from water, so if you're looking for great water views, this isn't the section for you. However, there is a lot of variation in geography and elevation here, so it's an interesting hike nevertheless. The first half is very hilly, and the second half is very flat.

You can park along the grassy shoulder on New Light Road, near where Section 8 ended. Walk a short distance north, and the trail enters the forest on the west side of the road. It's called the Twin Creek section because, you guessed it, there are two creeks to cross, both of which look alike.

The trail initially goes uphill, then back downhill to a bridge crossing of the first creek at 0.1 mile. Head back uphill to a bluff with a water view on your right, and a big house (with chicken coop!) on your left. The trail goes back downhill to a bridge over the second creek at 0.3 mile. Then, a sharp right as you walk along Ghoston Road, and back uphill to a crossing of that road at 0.5 mile.

There's really no place to park at the Ghoston Road crossing, and hey, you've only gone 1/2 mile, so just keep going straight onto Section 10 of the MST.

The trail is flat for a while, and then starts heading downhill. At 1.0 mile, you cross the outlet flow from a small pond, and soon after that you have a steep uphill to a bluff as you walk along a small arm of Falls Lake. At 1.3 miles, you cross a plank bridge, then uphill again for more lake views.

Soon, you turn left, away from the lake and follow a flat route along a creek. At 1.6 miles, you turn right to cross the creek on a bridge, and head uphill again. Soon, you start to follow an old road-bed, and the path widens out as you go steadily uphill. I saw some mountain bike tracks here, although I think this trail is off-limits to them.

At 2.0 miles, the trail gets wider as you pass and merge with several wide old road beds. Just keep going straight, until at 2.1 miles you get to a gate across the road. Turn right across a small bridge, and the trail goes around an old farmsite. You pass the remains of a tin shed. At 2.2 miles, you cross an old dirt roadbed and enter a thick pine forest. At 2.3 miles, you cross a creek.

At 2.4 miles, you come out of the forest to a cleared area, and you see the old dirt roadbed again. This time, you take a left, and follow the road. Someone has conveniently placed a bunch of rocks in the middle of the road so it looks like a left-pointing arrow. This road is used by horses, since I saw horseshoe prints here. The cleared-out area to your right must have been an old farm or homesite, since you can still see the remains of a 2-story stone fireplace in the distance.

At 2.5 miles, you turn left back into the woods, and enter a state park. At 2.6 miles, cross a gravel service road. Then, at 2.9 miles, cross a paved service road. At 3.0 miles, you cross another paved road (Falls Lake Info Center/NC State Parks Mgmt Center is down this road).

You go downhill, then turn left and go back uphill to NC-50 at 3.2 miles, where there's a gravel parking area. The next section, Section 11, starts across the street and just to the north.

Oscar Nominated Shorts 2009 - Animated

I saw the Oscar Nominated Short Animated features that played this past weekend at the Carolina Theater in Durham, NC. The show will also play at the Galaxy Theater in Cary, NC for one week starting Friday, March 5, 2010.

This year's features were interesting, as usual, with the highlights being a 30-minute (that's "short"?) Wallace & Gromit feature, and an astonishing feature called "Logorama" from a French studio.

You can watch a snippet of each of the five nominated films here at the official Oscar shorts website -- http://www.shortshd.com/theoscarshorts

Here's a list of the nominations:

"French Roast" -- This one's a CGI from The Pumpkin Factory, a French animation studio. Nice but slow story about a wealthy man who enters a cafe, and -- well, I don't want to give anything away, but the ending is perfect. The film is basically a silent movie, with just a few lines in French, with no subtitles, but it's easy to figure out what's going on. The film's website is here and I found the entire film on YouTube here.

"The Lady and the Reaper" -- After the relative calm of "French Roast", this one is a wild CGI romp, in the manic style of Warner Bros. old Merrie Melodies cartoons. Yes, there is a lady, and yes, there is the reaper, but there's also a heroic, if self-absorbed, surgeon trying to help the lady. I thought it was way too frantic to be funny. This film is from Spain, and is co-produced by, of all people, Antonio Banderas! The film's website is here. And they have graciously put the entire film in wide-screen glory online here.

"A Matter of Loaf and Death" -- What, more death? Well, humorous deaths. This is the central attraction of the animiated films -- a new 30-minute Wallace & Gromit feature! This time Wallace & Gromit are bakers, and there's a mad fiend out there killing bakers. Why? Who cares? Its dazzling wit is so wildly entertaining, if a bit silly. Because of its length, you're probably not going to find this one online, but the Wallace & Gromit website is here.

"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" -- This Irish film was very clever and funny - a retelling of the Grimm fairy tale. Granny reads this bedtime story to her grand-child, and in doing so probably scars the child for life. I liked how the story-within-a-story had a different animation technique -- with whimsical hand-drawings -- while the main story was in pseudo-realistic CGI. The website of the film is rather amusing, since it includes Granny's reaction to being nominated for an Oscar. It's here. Oh, and the entire film is there too! Yay! Just follow "The Film" link there.

Yes, there are 5 nominated films, but after the 4th one, above, the film series took a break, and showed some of the 5 "highly recommended" films. There were films that made the Top Ten in the nomination process, but didn't make it to the Final Five.

"Partly Cloudy" -- You may have seen this Pixar release, since it played before the feature film "Up" last summer. Not my favorite Pixar short. Sure, it's big and colorful, but nothing much happens. Pixar's website for the film is here. But I doubt Disney/Pixar will allow a YouTube copy of this online.

"Runaway" -- This rather bizarre Canadian line-drawing cartoon is about a train that seems to be -- a runaway! There's some nice social satire here, as rich people are seen as obnoxious and uncaring, but ultimately get what's coming to them. The film isn't very successful, though, as there's no one to root for here. Everyone is twisted and ugly and distasteful, except for the cow. But the music (by Ben Charest, the composer of "The Triplets of Belleville" score) is certainly jaunty! The film's website, which has a short trailer is here.

"The Kinematograph" -- This Polish film is so stunningly beautiful, I wanted to like it more than I did. The story is of an inventor and his wife. The story is meant to have an emotional punch, but it's told in too clinical a way to be truly moving. Still, the graphics are wonderful. The website here has a trailer.

So, that's only 3 of the "Bottom 5". For some reason, perhaps time -- since the Wallace & Gromit film is so long -- or perhaps quality reasons, these two were left out:

"The Cat Piano" -- This hand-drawn Australian film is in mono-chromatic midnight blue. The beatnik-poem-style narration is interesting for a while, but if you own or like cats, you might not want to know how a Cat Piano works. You can see the full film here.

"Variété" -- I haven't seen this one. It's from the Netherlands, and is about a boy who spins plates -- and family members -- on top of long vertical sticks. I can see why it wasn't included. A film clip is here.

Finally, there was the last of the nominated films -- but it was preceded by a warning that the film you were about to watch was full of violence and profanity. Some folks in the audience cheered, for it was:

"Logorama" -- Directed by the H5 collective in France, this satiric send-up of Hollywood, rampant consumerism, "Pulp Fiction" style movies, and video games was the most astonishing film of all. Everything, and I mean everything, is represented by a corporate logo, in a city resembling Los Angeles. The police are Michelin men, and Ronald McDonald is a psychotic clown. So, is it an indictment against corporate world dominion, or does it revel in corporate culture? Who knows? That's the brilliance of it. It should win the Academy Award, but I think if it did, there might be legal battles over the inappropriate use of corporate logos. The film's website has the first 30 seconds or so (before all the swearing and mayhem starts) here. Warning: the preview automatically starts running.