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.
This weekend: Hardly a turkey
It’s Thanksgiving weekend! Take the time for a trail trot at the coast, a mountain summit in the Piedmont, or bushwhacking your way through the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard.
Coast
Here’s the perfect way to make amends for today: the Wilmington Roadrunners Club Turkey Trot Trail Race at Carolina Beach State Park. First, it’s only four miles, so there’s not too much penance but you’re not getting off easy, either. Second, it starts at a civil time, 9 a.m. on Saturday. And third, it’s a trail run through Carolina Beach State Park.
Pack light for a short hike
One reason you take a short hike: you don’t have time for a long one, which is especially true as we enter the hectic holiday season.
If you don’t have time for a long hike, you certainly don’t have time to deliberate over packing. For a short hike — an hour or less — you don’t need a big pack, anyway. Pass on the extra socks; you can live with cold or damp feet for 15 minutes. No need for a litany of layers; even if the temperature does drop, you can weather the difference for a few minutes. A big lunch? Eat when you get off the trail.
90 Second Escape: Fade to Winter
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.
This weekend: A hike before the hectic holidays
Face it, after this weekend you’ll be hard-pressed to find time to get out and release your stress; once the holidays hit, your time will be spoken for. That said, here are three opportunities for pre-holiday adventure that you shouldn’t pass up.
Coast