The first time I went on a solo backpacking trip, I didn’t.
It was back in the 1990s, I’d been backpacking with friends for about 5 years, and convinced myself I should take a solo backpack trip. I felt good about my basic backpacking skills, I loved hiking alone … still, there was this worrisome doubt.
As the days heat up, you might be tempted to cool it on your hiking habit. But, actually, you can hike all summer long — the secret lies in the when and where. Here are a few tips to keep you on the trail.
Timing is important. Evening is good. So is early morning: Hit the trail at 7 a.m., be done by 11 and you can get in a decent hike before the temperature gets much above 80.
The forecast for the weekend is looking better than it has for a spell: some chance of rain (but mostly sunny) with temperatures in the 80s. Sounds like exploring weather to us.
As we do every Friday in this space, we offer encouragement and direction to get you out and about over the weekend ahead. First, we recommend the two venues shown in the video: Brumley Forest Nature Preserve, a Triangle Land Conservancy property between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough that’s surprisingly diverse (and flat, if you’re into that kind of thing), and Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough. At 867 feet, it’s the highest point in the Triangle and has some surprisingly montane flora. Links below.
This Saturday, our GetHiking! hike will also be a National Trails Day hike.
For the past 25 years, the first Saturday of June has been—by decree of the American Hiking Society—National Trails Day, a day dedicated to celebrating our nation’s thousands of miles of hiking and biking trails. Sometimes, that celebration takes the form of a hike, sometimes a bike ride. Often, it’s a trail workday, reminding us that the vast majority of our natural surface trails would not be possible without volunteers. A professional land manager may oversee the blazing and design of the trails, but when it comes to the work of actually clearing the paths— and maintaining them—that’s largely the work of volunteers.
Sunset today is at 8:19 p.m., with lingering light until 8:48 p.m. Come June 21—the Summer Solstice, the start of summer, the “longest” day of the year—sunset is at 8:34 p.m. Daylight starts diminishing after that, but by a quirk of Earth’s orbit, the sun continues to stay up longer until June 28, when sunset is at about 8:35, with light lingering until after 9 p.m.
