In our ongoing crusade to keep you active in these dark times (post Daylight Savings, that is) here’s a different approach: Instead of cursing sunset, go to bed with it — so you can get up in time for your 6 a.m. boot camp. Boot camp. For years, this approach to fitness was exclusive to the military. New recruits went into the service soft and squishy, got spit out six…

Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, the 1.4-mile Cedar Point Tideland Trail in the…

Early on during a backpacking trip a couple weeks ago I felt a cold coming on. Pulling my clogged-up and sniffling self out of the tent the second morning into a mid-30 degree chill, I thought I was going to have to pull the plug on my adventure. “If I can just make it to Hot Springs,” I told myself, “I can make it back to the car.” But a…

Yesterday I may have been a tad premature with my early morning proclamation that the sun, after a week’s hiatus, had returned. But eventually, at least here in Cary, it was out in full force by mid-afternoon. At which point, after a morning of vigorous wet-leaf raking, we piled the family into the minivan and spend the remainder at the day at one of our favorite, off-the-beaten-path parklands: Hemlock Bluffs…

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s … what the heck is it? Oh, yeah, I remember now: the Sun. After an extended vacation, during which we were sat by our dour Aunt Ida (what was with all those slobbery kisses?). After nearly a week, Ida has finally packed her bags and left, ol’ Sol has returned and it’s safe to go back outside. And just in time for the…

OK, time for a current events quiz. What was the most disturbing aspect of a Goldsboro middle school principal’s decision to allow kids to earn grades by selling candy for a fundraiser. Was it: a) That the parent advisory council that pitched the scheme felt so pressured to raise money to supplement programs once funded by the school district that they resorted to the candy-for-grades scheme? b) That kids were…

Of all the ways to stay active outdoors during the dark days of winter, you’d think walking might be the simplest and safest. What could be easier than bundling up before dinner and taking a brisk half-hour walk around the neighborhood? Alas, you live in North Carolina, a number of other activities. According to a recent report by the advocacy group Transportation for America even walking in broad daylight is…

Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (thought there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, three loop trail options totaling 5 miles…

Yesterday I felt like getting in a good, full-body, no-nonsense workout. So I raked the yard. Raking leaves used to be a Rockwellian pursuit epitomizing fall in America. A time when we rolled up our flannel sleeves, grabbed the Yo-Ho and dedicated ourselves to a Saturday in the yard. For weeks, it seemed a pointless task: Rake a bunch of leaves, a bunch more would fall. But we persevered until…

I rounded the bend and came to an abrupt stop. Not 10 yards away a woman on all fours wearing a jester’s hat and a full backpack was shinnying across a downed hemlock that crossed the creek. On the far side of the creek were two other female backpackers: one taking pictures, the other encouraging the scooter. “You’ve got another photographer!” one of the landed women informed the scooter. The…