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Lowcountry urged to flex its outdoor muscles

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Charleston, our slow as molasses Lowcountry capital, has shifted into a new gear.

It's on the National Geographic Adventure magazine list of the "50 next great adventure towns" because of its outdoor activities. And they're not talking about activities like eating she-crab soup. They're talking about running, cycling, kayaking, surfing and horseback riding.

"Think of Charleston as the jock in the Southern belle set," says the magazine's September issue.

All you have to do to picture Charleston as a no-chitlins zone is to zip across the new Ravenel Bridge, says Brian Hicks in the Charleston Post & Courier. It's brimming with people walking and riding bicycles daily, and once a year it is clogged with tens of thousands of people in the Cooper River Bridge Run.

We don't have a marquee running event like that -- and we should ask why not -- but our community offers plenty of outdoor adventure.

The Town of Hilton Head Island has 50 miles of leisure paths and hiking trails, with another 50 miles maintained by private developments.

The island's Kickin' Asphalt Bicycle Club was founded in late 2006 and quickly had 108 members. This year, it was named the best bicycle club in the Southeast by the League of American Bicyclists.

Greater Bluffton Pathways has worked with the state, Beaufort County and the town of Bluffton to see about 25 miles of pathways become reality over the past two years.

We're working with the East Coast Greenway Alliance to link our community into the "Urban Appalachian Trail" from Canada to the Keys. This is good business, and we can make a national name for ourselves.

Go Tri Sports attracts hundreds of locals and visitors to running and triathlon events.

Every holiday has its own family-oriented run here -- the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas and now Labor Day with the Run for Ret 5K event.

Kayaking is so popular it keeps a number of businesses afloat. Spectacular hiking is available in the Pinckney Island and Savannah national wildlife refuges.

The magazine was as interested in plans for the future as it was current activities. With our natural beauty pulling people outdoors, planning for activities has to be a top business and government priority. All our plans should include walkers, hikers, bicyclers, runners, skaters, kayakers, swimmers, sailors and surfers.

The world is discovering that the waddling old rice pudding days in the Lowcountry are gone with the wind.

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