This weekend: Go fly a kite (or watch someone who really knows how), paddle through 2,000-year-old trees, take a hike on top of the state.
Coast
This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, it’s the Kitty Hawk Kites Annual Outer Banks Stunt Kite Competition. This is competitive kite flying at its best, on the Eastern League Circuit (were you aware there was an Eastern League Circuit for sport kite flying?) and sanctioned by the American Kiting Association (ditto?). While the spectating promises to be swell, amateur kite flyers can get in on workshops, demonstrations and kite making for kids. Stuff to watch for: kite ballet competitions set to music and fast-paced team flying that blend a both kite control and speed.
More info at Kitty Hawk Kites.
Piedmont
This one’s a little pricey — $80 per person — but worth it. Saturday, join the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences on a daylong paddle on the Black River. This black water river meanders through Sampson, Bladen and Pender counties and boasts some of the cleanest water in the state. The Three Sisters section of the river aslo boasts some of the oldest trees on the East Coast — bald cypress believed to be nearly 2000 years old (to put that in perspective, Jesus would have been in his Wonder years when these trees were saplings). Fee includes equipment and a shuttle ride from the museum in downtown Raleigh. 919.733.7450, ext. 555 or or debbie.huston@ncdenr.gov to reserve a spot.
Mountains
Sunday, the Carolina Mountain Club goes high on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a 5.5-mile hike just outside the Shining Rock Wilderness. This afternoon hike — it starts at 12:30 p.m. from the Cold Mountain Overlook at Milepost 419.4 — takes in the Boundary Trail and Mountains-to-Sea Trail to Skinny Dip Falls, returning along the MST and through Graveyard Fields. Gorgeous area.
More info on the route here, more info on the hike by contacting hike leader Ashok Kudva at 828.674.1374 or ashok.kudva@att.net
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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.