We start the year by offering something for a variety of ability levels. Been on the sidelines for a while but have vowed to move more in 2012? We’ve got a mellow, one-mile guided hike at Goose Creek State Park that’s bound to make you want to get out more and stay out longer. Already active but ready to up your game? At South Mountains State Park there’s a 7.5-mile…

This weekend, avoid alligators, avoid trails, but don’t avoid the first big weekend of the Southeast ski season. Coast Remember the old Peter, Paul & Mary hit, “Where Have All the Reptiles Gone?” No, wait. That wasn’t PP&M in the 1960s. That’s Lake Waccamaw State Park this Sunday at 2 p.m., when a ranger explains why the park’s alligators are no longer on the prowl, why the turtles aren’t out…

Run, paddle, ski in your shorts. They’re all options this weekend. Coast It may be too late to sign up (let alone train) for the 2nd Annual Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon, but you’ve probably got at least a 5K in you. Just south of Wrightsville Beach, in Carolina Beach, you’ll find the 7th Annual Steve Haydu St. Patricks Lo-Tide Run benefiting one or more cancer patients and their families. (If…

Officially, on average today is the coldest day of the year. Which means it’ll start getting warmer come the weekend, great incentive for getting out. Coast Think this weather is for the birds? Well … you’re right. It may seem cold to you, but for hundreds of thousands of birds from more northerly climes, North Carolina’s coast is to them what Florida is to humans. That makes this time of…

Back in the old days – meaning before I got a GPS – I knew I’d been on a good hike when I couldn’t wait to get home and perform a topopsy. That would be a postmortem in which I would get out a topo map and try to figure out why, instead of going from Point A to Point B, I’d wound up at Q. Nothing quite like that…

The plan was to go backpacking at Mount Rogers, a plan that was ultimate done in by it’s inspiration A winter trip to the highest, most exposed part of Virginia during one of the snowiest winters in recent memory? Epic! But then the area got an additional foot of snow last week on top of an existing foot (sending drifts up over six feet from their original four, according to…

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…

Just when it looked like December’s excellent cross-country skiing conditions in North Carolina’s high country was a once-in-an-every-five-years-or-so occurrence, it looks like Mother Nature might be staging an encore starting this weekend. Weather.com and Weather Underground both see snow starting in the Boone area Friday and lasting at least through Wednesday of next week. The omnipotent Ray’s Weather, the definitive source for mountain weather, is likewise suggesting snow for the…

I meant to Sunday, but we were too busy having fun in our own backyard (a backyard that extends to include a forest at the end of our cul de sac). I meant to Monday, but after a one-hour bout of physical therapy (hip flexor) in the morning and another hour at the gym with the personal trainer (who was intent on dispensing copious amounts of holiday joy), I was…

I’ve been following the schizophrenic Christmas weather forecasts as closely as anyone. In part, because I love a white Christmas and haven’t seen one since the Denver blizzard of ’82. I’m also keeping a close watch to see whether I should dig out the cross-country skis (in the event of 6 inches or more), the sled (a minimum of 3 inches), or the hiking boots (a photogenic dusting). At this…