The heat, as Glenn Frey once declared, is on. Temperatures this weekend could hit triple digits, meaning one of two things for the outdoor inclined: play on the water or play during the cool of the night.
Coast
Forecast high Sunday for Spring Lake in the coastal plain: 101. Lordy!
Aren’t crazy about exercise, per se? All you need is the right carrot to get you walking, and Wilmington has three on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mayo River State Park offers a chance to paddle its namesake river and the mountain century season starts to kick in with Tour de Cashiers.
Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
To quote The Ink Spots, “Into each life, some rain must fall.” Or in the case of this weekend, a lot of rain. Pretty much across the entire state. All weekend.
That said, two things. One, a forecast is just that, a guess based on what appears might could happen. Sometimes, it seems like more of a whimsical guess, although in this case, where the whole of North Carolina is looking to get wet, it seems less whimsical, more meteorological. And two, a little rain needn’t necessarily stop you from heading out and having fun.
It’s summer, it’s time to hit the water.
Coast
High on the list of many reasons we enjoy the adventure life in North Carolina is the opportunity to paddle a swamp. Does any location scream adventure more than a swamp? Slowly making your way through the tupelo gum and cypress weeping Spanish moss, paddle in hand, wary eye cast into the jungle beyond … throw in a bottle of gin and a dame and it’s “The African Queen” in our own backyard.