This weekend’s theme for action: Water, in its various forms. Piedmont At first blush (a blush suggestive of hypothermia?), the notion of taking a 4-hour kayak trip in 30-degree weather might seem daft. But then, this particular trip is on Belews Lake, which the sponsoring Piedmont Environmental Center notes, “being a power plant lake [Duke Energy] where water is used to cool energy-producing turbines, the heated water … is much…

Wayfinding, warm water kayaking, winging your way down a mountain — it’s all happening in North Carolina this weekend. Coast Sometimes luring the recalcitrant into the outdoors is simply a matter of offering the right bait. A mere walk in a cold forest may not appeal to someone more involved in cerebral pursuits, but throw in a map, a compass and the opportunity to calculate your way over hill and…

It’s hard to paddle this time of year if you don’t have a boat. Only a handful of boat rentals are open year-round (Lake Johnson and Lake Wheeler in Raleigh come to mind), and most of those only open when the 100-degree rule applies (when the combined air and water temperature top 100). Thus, the joys of winter paddling go unappreciated by the masses. Isabelle, an assistant organizer with the…

Fall fever: You caught it this week, do something about it this weekend. Coast There should be a law that during the first legitimate week of fall weather — which would be this week — you get to take a day off from work. What the heck, let’s just assume there is such a law and you have elected to start the weekend early and take Friday off. Good move,…

Was that a hint of fall we’ve felt early every morning this week? It’s the perfect time to get out and about. Here are three events to get you doing just that. (Events are free unless otherwise indicated.) Coast Enjoy exploring the coast’s wild areas? You have the Sierra Club to thank, in part, for those wild places remaining wild. Thanks to their efforts to protect and preserve the coast’s…

Ward off the post Labor Day weekend blues with a little action this weekend. Coast Technically, the summer beach season ends Labor Day. At least that’s what the masses think. In fact, with the masses thinking that and the water temperature still summer-friendly (84.2 degrees as of this afternoon at Wrightsville Beach) it’s hard to imagine a better time to hit the coast: All you need is a reason. Saturday’s…

We’d been on the water less than an hour when Marcy had a small epiphany regarding a work problem she’d been wrestling with. “I guess that’s why the boat’s called a ‘Perception,’” she said after sharing her breakthrough. Other good names for recreational kayaks: Insight. Enlightenment. Not-A-Thought-in-My-Brain. Personally, I paddle the NATIMB because that’s what happens to me when I slip into a long stretch of peaceful flatwater. A paddle…

For many of us, it’s the last weekend of summer before the kids head back to school. Act now, because once school and its various activities kick in, it could be a while before the clan has a free weekend of spend together. Coast I love exploring and I love a good map. But sometimes you get a hankering to go terra incognita; that is, to a spot on the…

In honor of Celebrate North Carolina State Parks weekend, which is this weekend, we cull our recommendations from this weekend’s State Park offerings. Coast 1. Ever see “Little Shop of Horrors” (either the 1960 Roger Korman original or the 1986 Frank Oz remake)? A man-eating plant! How outlandish, you likely thought. Not really, it turns out. OK, so sundews, bladderworts, butterworts, pitcher plants, and the Venus fly trap may not…

For several months I’d been ruing the fact I hadn’t been in a kayak for, well, several months. I made up for my lapse over the weekend. Saturday, Marcy and I went for a hike on the wild side of Lake Johnson. (That would be the nearly two miles of unpaved trail on the Raleigh lake’s west side.) As we crossed the footbridge toward the boathouse we took note of…