The weekend upon us is one tailor-made for outdoor adventure, marrying the best of summer (which officially ends Monday) with the best of fall. Meaning? We’re looking at cool temperatures (around 60 throughout much of our area) to start the day, rising into the low to mid 80s — all under dry, clear skies. With that in mind, we give you three options.
Category Archives: Hiking
Up for a Midweek Escape? Take Our Survey
The times they are a changin’. And that change is affecting when we get out and play. Two factors in particular affect the when-we-play factor in North Carolina:
- North Carolina ranks 9th nationally in number of telecommuting jobs, a position bolstered largely by the state’s high-tech industry, which is more likely to let employees work from home. (Jobs that are most likely to support telecommuting — software programming, information security, data analyst, technical writer — are common here, especially in the Triangle.) Further, the trend is growing: the number of regular telecommuting employees nationwide has increased by 115 percent since 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Between 2000 and 2010, the Raleigh-Cary area had the fastest growing retiree population in the country; the state’s Division of Aging and Adult Services says the senior population in Wake County alone will increase by 163 percent over the next two decades.
Telecommuters with more flexible work schedules and retirees whose time is likewise more malleable means that these two sizable demographics aren’t relegated to just getting out on weekends. Add in a sizable service industry with varied working hours that can leave time off during the day, and we’ve got a seemingly sizable number of candidates for midweek escapes.
Rejuvenate yourself this fall: become a hiker
We love fall. In our younger days, it meant going back to school, meeting new kids, playing football. It represented a time of new opportunities and adventures. It still does.
While we haven’t been back to school in years, and the mere thought of making an open-field tackle has us reaching for the ibuprofen, we still see fall as a time for new opportunities and adventures. Cooler temperatures, drier air, fall color: there’s no better time for an adventure on the trail. A lot of you already know this. But many of you do not. To those of you in the latter category, we have three words of advice:
A little curiosity, a big payoff
I was on a bike ride early Saturday, headed out of town on a route I’ve been doing about twice a week for most of the summer. A mile into the ride, settling into my groove, I noticed, with the binocular from Vortex I’d bought, a car with a kayak rack parked in a gravel pullout on the opposite side of the road. Just beyond, I noticed a narrow clearing in the lush woods leading down to an oxbow in the Eno River, a spot where the river slows pools up. I didn’t think much of it and pedaled on.
GetOut! Your Nudge for Weekend Adventure
Summer called: it misses you and wants you to know it won’t be around forever — would it hurt you to pay a visit?
Did I say summer or your mother? In any event, Labor Day weekend, the ceremonial end of summer, is in three weeks and we have a most summer-friendly weekend on tap that you should get out and enjoy (before it’s too late): temperatures in the upper 80s under mostly sunny skies. Get Out and enjoy!