Make a mini raft (then ride the real thing), beat the heat with a nighttime search for Saturn, race on mountain trails. That’s what tops our list of thrills this weekend in North Carolina.
Coast
All spring, my stepson and his buddies spent their weekends building a raft — a raft they planned to ride for 35 miles on the Cape Fear River. Having paddled the Cape Fear I was a tad skeptical, what with the seemingly non-raft-friendly Class I-II drops along the way. But these guys being bright and well versed in the engineering arts, I kept my thoughts to myself: They’ll be fine. And after their three-day trip this past weekend, they were.read more
The highlight of my weekend: handing a bottle of water to someone.
Close second: taking an hour to clear a two-foot wide, 15-foot-long swath of forest.
Slow weekend?
Hardly.
Not long ago I decided I should become more giving to the various outdoors communities I benefit from. I’ve written three books about hiking trails, so that seemed a good place to start. And last week I got a Facebook message from a bike team I once belonged to asking for help. Why not? I thought.read more
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.read more
I was pretty sure one of two things would happen when I got to this point, and both were good. Now, as I neared my objective the preferred scenario appeared to be unfolding. Preferred, even if it meant my overall objective would be foiled. For now.
Sandering, photo courtesy Cornell Lab of Ornithology
In honor of National Trails Day, which is Saturday, we’ve got little but trails on our mind this weekend: trails muddy, trails dry, trails in need of repair and construction. And birds. For a full rundown of the 25 National Trails Day events in North Carolina on Saturday see yesterday’s post.read more
