Starting December 22 and running through the end of the year, we’re suspending our normal programming so that we may help those of you with kids on winter break find stuff to do. Every day through year’s end we’ll throw out an idea intended to get you and the kids out of the house and have the kids exhausted upon your return. Consider it GetGoingNC.com’s gift to you.

Today: Take a guided hike

You like the idea of hiking in the woods, you think your kids would like it, it’s just … you’ve never actually done it yourself. Snicker not: now entering parenthood are the first wave of kids who grew up rarely going outdoors. Be it the seduction of new-fangled video games (Pong, anyone?) or their own parents fearful of widely reported boogeymen who widely didn’t exist, legions of today’s parents rarely ventured into their own backyards. Now, today, the idea of venturing into the woods alone is petrifying. Ah, but what if you were accompanied by a knowledgeable ranger who also happens to be a law enforcement officer? Guided hikes abound in North Carolina’s state parks system, hikes such as this afternoon’s Christmas Sunset Hike at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. The focus of this particular hike is to catch sunset from the Occoneechee overlook.

Find out about this hike here,  find out about other hikes in North Carolina State Parks here.