We have the American Hiking Society to make sure we remember to pay homage to our trails, whether it’s by grabbing a mattock and pickaxe to build new trail, grabbing a rake and trash bag to tidy up existing trail, or by simply taking a hike, a ride, a paddle on the first Saturday in June. 

Fortunately, we have lots of opportunities to celebrate.

For instance, NC Trail Days in Elkin and Jonesville. This four-day event starts today and runs through Sunday. The event celebrates two trail communities, three NC State Trails (Mountains-to-Sea, Yadkin River, Overmountain Victory), two State Parks (Stone Mountain and Pilot Mountain), and miles and miles of great trail. Trail for hiking, trail for mountain biking, trail for paddling. There’s also rock climbing, trail maintenance, speakers, films, music, food — everything you need to successfully celebrate trails. Learn more here.

And there are more. Throughout North Carolina and Virginia you’ll find hundreds of National Trails Day events. Below are links you can tap on to find the NTD event nearest you, or the event that’s most appealing. If you can’t find one here, check your local parks department and land conservancy, most of which have events scheduled.

Start planning your Saturday trail celebration now!

• American Hiking Society (NTD events nationwide)
• AHS NTD events in Virginia
• AHS NTD events in North Carolina
• Virginia State Parks
• North Carolina State Parks
• Great Trails State Coalition

The post Celebrate National Trails Day This Saturday appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

• Elk Knob State Park, for instance, located between Boone and West Jefferson, has one of the best mountaintop views in the state (see photo at top) from its 5,520-foot summit, a sweeping look east, north and west into Virginia and Tennessee. (And the 2-mile climb to get there is swell as well.)
• Mount Jefferson State Natural Area towers above the town of Jefferson, and if you’re not up for the 1,000-foot vertical climb to the top, you can drive to the top and hike around this 4,465-foot mountaintop.
• Pond Mountain. Love Mount Rogers in Virginia but aren’t crazy about the crowds? Pond Mountain, a joint venture by the Blue Ridge Conservancy and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, is a similarly open and exposed mountain that also has that wide-lonesome feel of the West.
• New River. One of the oldest rivers in the world and one of the most relaxing to paddle (you can even hike along its banks).

That’s just a taste of the adventure to be had at the Year of the Trail Weekend Festival in West Jefferson Aug. 4-6. The event is sponsored by the towns of West Jefferson, Lansing and Jefferson; Ashe County; the Blue Ridge Conservancy; the New River Conservancy; and, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Hometown Strong initiative. 

A quick rundown of events follows. Go here for details on each event and to sign up. And did we mention there’s also a festival — Friday night in West Jefferson, Saturday night in Lansing. And snorkeling in a mountain stream? Read on.

Friday August 4

1-3 p.m. — Snorkel the Roaring River., part of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s new Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail.

3 p.m. — Paddy Mountain/Northern Peaks State Trail celebration for North Carolina’s 40-mile Northern Peaks State Trail eventually linking West Jefferson, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, Elk Knob State Park and Boone.

4-8 p.m. – Live music downtown West Jefferson.

5 p.m. – Guided hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Jumping Off Rocks, Glendale Springs. 2 miles.

Saturday August 5

8-5 p.m. — Registration and information table at Farmer’s Market.

8-4 p.m. – Vendors featuring outdoors gear and crafts behind Farmer’s Market. Hourly outdoor skill and equipment demos.

9 a.m. – Elk Knob State Park, Todd. Summit Trail Hike, 4 miles. Moderate/strenuous.

9 a.m. – New River State Park 5-mile paddle.

10 a.m. – Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, Jefferson. Summit and Rhododendron trails, 1.5 miles. Easy/moderate.

1 p.m. – New River State Park, Wagoner Access, 3- and 7-mile hikes on Riverbend Trail. Easy/moderate.

2 p.m. – Pond Mountain, Creston, 1-4 mile hike, Easy/moderate..

3:30 p.m. – Lansing Creeper Trail Park, Lansing. Guided mountain-bike ride, 3-4 miles.

4 p.m. – Jennifer McGaha, author of “Bushwhacked,” reads from her book at the Old Orchard Creek General Store in Lansing.

Sunday August 6

Self-guided hikes suggested for Sunday:

• Pond Mountain, easy/moderate: 4 miles.
• Three Top Mountain, strenuous: 4.2 miles.
• Elk Knob State Park, moderate/strenuous: Summit Trail, 4 miles.
• Mount Jefferson State Natural Area: Summit, Rhododendron, Lost Province trails, easy/moderate, 2.5 miles.

Information on each hike will be available at the registration/information table in West Jefferson.

The post YOTT Festival celebrates NC’s northern mountains appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Not when you love the outdoors and 2023 happens to be Year of the Trail in North Carolina.

As I’ve mentioned over the last couple of months, next year has been deemed Year of the Trail in North Carolina and there’s going to be a lot going on. For starters, the State Legislature in 2022 allocated $29.15 million in funding for the Complete the Trails Fund. That money will fund State Trail projects as well as projects deemed :shovel-ready” — that is, the land has been purchased and the trail designed; all that’s needed now is the money to build it. Expect a lot of “Excuse our Mess” signs out in the woods next year.

Activity-wise, the Great Trails State Coalition, a non-profit created to promote North Carolina trails in 2023 and beyond, hopes to see a trail-related event — hike, bike ride, paddle trip, horseback ride — conducted in all 100 North Carolina counties in 2023. And the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is working up a full slate of fun as well, including programs through their PATH — or Parks and Trails for Health — program. But it’s another Department of Natural and Cultural Resources program that has me suggesting you get out your 2023 calendar (or buy one in the first place).

Big adventures in smaller places

Hometown Strong is an initiative of Gov. Roy Cooper that works with the state’s 80 rural counties to boost their prosperity. In general, communities identify problems they need help with — from modernizing their websites to overhauling their water treatment systems — and Hometown Strong’s policy analysts work to help them solve those problems, in large part by helping them find available funding. 

Sometimes, though, it works in reverse. In the case of Year of the Trail, Hometown Strong identified 11 communities with unheralded — or underheralded — recreational resources, and is working with those communities to shine a light on said resources. This will take place in 2023 in the form of trail day weekends celebrating these resources with street fairs and guided hikes and trips. This is where you get out your 2023 calendar to jot down the following trail festival dates:

• February 17-19 — Elizabethtown
• March 24-26 — Morganton
• April 22-23 — Eden
• May 12-14 — Sanford
• June 2-4 — Old Fort
• June 2-4 — Elizabeth City
• September 15-17 — Swansboro
• October 15-17 — Robbinsville

Other communities with dates yet to be determined are West Jefferson, Edenton, and Shelby.

With the possible exceptions of Morganton and Old Fort, you may be looking at this list and wondering: I’ve never heard of some of these places. Who on Earth put this list together? 

I did.

Elizabethtown? Eden?

In July, I was brought aboard Hometown Strong as an ecotourism advisor. It’s a dream assignment because in my 30 years of writing about the outdoors in the Southeast, and my 10 years of guiding trips, I’ve been all about uncovering the state’s hidden gems. From the state parks less visited (Medoc Mountain), to the back entrances to popular spots (the Longbottom Access to Doughton Park), to the places you might not think to visit unless you think about the right time to visit (the Great Dismal Swamp, in the dead of winter).

Basically, the places best accessed through the towns Hometown Strong will celebrate in 2023.

But … Elizabethtown? you ask.

You bet, Elizabethtown! (For those of you scratching your head, Elizabethtown is in the Coastal plain, southeast of Fayetteville.)

For starters, the Mountains-to-Sea runs through Elizabethtown. The area is also home to Jones Lake and Singletary Lake state parks, as well as Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest. There’s also Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area, Bladen Lakes State Forest, the Suggs Mill Pond Game Lands. There’s at least 70 miles of hiking in the area, through pine savannah, bay forest and more. On a cool and sunny winter’s day, you can’t find a better place to hike.

And Eden? I don’t even know where that is?

It’s north of Greensboro, near the Virginia line. It’s also where we recently relocated to, in part because of the varied outdoor opportunities. (I can be on the Smith or Dan rivers in less than 10 minutes after getting a hankering to paddle.) And where hikes such as the one in Mayo River State Park take you to surprising finds such as Deshazo Falls, pictured above.

Through the end of this year, I’ll be taking you to the 11 communities we will celebrate in 2023. I’ll provide an overview of the activities and a hint of the event itself (a “hint” because some won’t be fully conceptualized until after the first of the year).

Truly, the Great Trails State

In fact, some of you may even scoff at the notion of North Carolina as the “Great Trails State.”

For starters, there’s the 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the 300 miles of the Appalachian Trail (some of which we share with Tennessee); The Great Smoky Mountains National Park with its 800 miles of trail (again, we share some with Tennessee), the Blue Ridge Parkway, known for  its scenic pavement but with 369 miles of trail (some of which is in Virginia), the Art Loeb Trail, the Neusiok Trail, the Bartram Trail, the Benton MacKaye Trail, the Foothills Trail … .

Perhaps even more impressive is everything that’s to come. There’s the 159 trail projects identified by the Great Trails State Coalition as waiting to come out of the ground. There’s the Fonta Flora State Trail, which is seemingly growing by the month and will one day link Morganton and Asheville. There’s the 40-mile Northern Peaks State Trail, the northern terminus for which will likely break ground in 2023 on Paddy Mountain near West Jefferson. There’s footbridge construction in the works that will result in a 12-mile continuous stretch of the MST near Elizabethtown, resulting in one of the longest completed stretches of the MST east of Smithfield. 

Trails are in demand in North Carolina and the money to build them is becoming available. That’s thanks in part to the State Legislature and its visionary Complete the Trails Fund. But also to the communities, especially the smaller ones, willing to allocate often sparse resources to create trails. Those communities are the ones we will celebrate in 2023.

So, again, mark your calendars.

 * * *

Resources

• Great Trails State Coalition. You can find additional information on Year of the Trail here; you’ll find even more when it posts its calendar listing all events planned for the year.
• Parks and Trails for Health. This program through the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is a new initiative intended to promote physical activity in the state’s parks, greenways and other outdoor spaces. Find information about those activities and, in 2023, Year of the Trail events here.

The post Year of the Trail: Start Marking Your 2023 Calendar appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

And today? 

“Media impressions,” of which there were more than 900 million in 2018.

For the past 25 years, the American Hiking Society has decreed the first Saturday in June to be National Trails Day, a day of celebration for our beloved hiking, biking and equestrian trails. Events around the country celebrate by holding trail workdays, hikes and various celebratory events. It’s a great opportunity to get out and let your local trails know how much you appreciate them.

The AHS keeps a calendar of planned events on its website. So far, there are 10 scheduled in North Carolina, five in Virginia, all of which are listed below. But there’s still more than a month until the big day, and more events will be added (or feel free to add your own, by going here.)

Oh, and for those of you who aren’t sure about what 900 million media impressions means, here are some numbers from last year’s NTD observation:

• 108,947 participants
• 1,203 events
• 795 miles of trail built
• 3,195 miles of trail maintained

Find your local NTD events below.

North Carolina

All dates are Saturday, June 1, unless otherwise specified. The first three entries are event, location, sponsor.

Eno River State Park maintenance

Durham

Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Tail 

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities: trail maintenance/stewardship project

More info here

Max Patch Rehabilitation on the Appalachian Trail

Hot Springs

Various

Time: 8:15 a.m.

Activities: trail maintenance/stewardship Project

More info here

Cruise The Neuse

Goldsboro 

Goldsboro Parks and Rec.

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities: guided paddle (boats available), kids activities, 

More info here.

National Trails Day Festival and 5K

Wake Forest

Town of Wake Forest

Time: 7 a.m.

Activities: 5K trail run, kids activities, Environmental Ed Expo

More info here.

National Trails Day at Durant 

Durant Nature Preserve, Raleigh

Durant Nature Preserve

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities: hike, kids activities, trail maintenance/stewardship project, trail run

Springers Point Preserve Beach Hike 

Ocracoke

N.C. Coastal Land Trust

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities: 2-mile hike

More info here

Everett Creek Preserve Hike

Sneeds Ferry

N.C. Coastal Land Trust

Time: 10 a.m.

Activities: 2-mile hike

More info here

Hike to Morrow Mountain

Morrow Mountain State Park, Albemarle

Morrow Mountain State Park

Time: 8 a.m.

Activities: 6-mile hike to the summit of Morrow Mountain

More info here

Gales Creek Preserve Hike

Gales Creek Preserve, Newport 

Time: 11 a.m.

Activities: 2-mile hike

More info here

Yadkin Valley Trails Day

Elkin

Overmountain Victory Trail Association 

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities: 20-mile bike ride, 10-mile hike, kids activities, workshops, a reenactment of some kind.

More info here.

Virginia

Joint Work Hike: National Trails Day on Great Eastern Trail

Millboro

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, Charlottesville Chapter

Time: 8:30 a.m.

Activities: trail maintenance/stewardship project

More info here.

Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting: PHNST Neabsco Creek Boardwalk and New Regional Park

Woodbridge

Prince William County Parks, Recreation & Tourism

Time: 10 a.m.

Activities: 2.5-mile hike, kids activities, paddle, trail dedication

More info here.

Bay View Trail Bird Blind Spruce Up

Lorton

Mason Neck State Park

Time: 9 a.m.

Activities:  3-mile bike ride, kids activities, trail maintenance/stewardship project

More info here

Walk the Trails: Club Blazer Weekend

Gladys

Thousand Trails Lynchburg RV Resort

Time: 10 a.m.

Activities: 1.5-mile bike ride, 1.5-mile hike, kids activities, trail maintenance/stewardship project

More info here

BRW on BTW

Sherando

Adventure Cycling Association

Time: 12 a.m.

Activity: 120-mile bike ride 

More info here

The post An early Head’s up for National Trails Day appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Yeah, there’s a little rain in the forecast for the weekend. However: 

1. It’s a forecast, which is essentially an educated guess, which is subject to not being accurate;
2. There do appear to be some less wet spots in the forecast; and,
3. Why should that keep us from having a little fun at least planning for the weekend?

That said, here three ideas for getting out and exploring:

B.W. Wells Heritage Day, Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Falls Lake State Recreation Area, Wake Forest. There’s a cool area of Falls Lake State Recreation Area on the east side of the lake that few people know about: the B.W. Wells area. It’s where B.W. Wells, a botany professor at N.C. State and one of the state’s foremost early ecologists lived and peppered his land with a variety of plant life. The area is usually closed, but is open for touring on Heritage Day. Learn more about B.W. Wells here, learn more about B.W. Wells Heritage Day here.

Beginner-Novice Guided Hike, Saturday, 2 p.m., Grandfather Mountain State Park, Banner Elk. Our GetHiking! program is all about helping the uninitiated get into hiking. So when we see a good opportunity, we’re more than happy to pass it along. This 2-hour hike will cover 1.5 miles on Grandfather’s Profile Trail. Along the way, Ranger Sicard will talk about the mountain’s plant life as well as the basics of hiking. A good introductory outing. Learn more and sign up here.

Hike to Fall Creek Falls, Sunday, 1:45 p.m., Mayo River State Park, Mayodan. Another good beginner opportunity as a park ranger and the Rockingham County Naturalist Club lead this hike past a small cascade at Byrd’s Ledge, then up to the larger Fall Creek Falls. 1.1 miles total, at a leisurely pace. Human and natural history will be shared along the way. Learn more and sign up here.

As always, you can find more opportunities this weekend here:

• North Carolina State Parks have a variety of adventures planned for the weekend. Check those options here.
• North Carolina Environmental Education Centers has an extensive calendar of what’s happening at its affiliates; check it out here.
• You can also find more adventures right here, at GetGoingNC.com

GetHiking! this weekend

What are we up to this weekend? Lots!

GetHiking! Charlottesville: The Priest,Saturday, April 13, 8 a.m. Fontaine Research Park, Charlottesville. Strenuous. 9.2-miles. Hike highlights: Appalachian Trial, Peak wildflowers, swinging bridge over the Tye River. Learn more here.

GetHiking! Virginia Beach: GOPC,Sunday April 14, 9:45 a.m, First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach. Easy. 5-mile loop at First Landing State Park. Learn more here.

Live the video

This week’s video is from our hike last weekend at Brumley Forest North Nature Preserve, a Triangle Land Conservancy property east of Hillsborough. The North section has three miles of hiking-only trail, the South has more than 11 miles, much of which is also open to mountain biking. For information on Brumley Forest, including directions, go here.

GetOut and enjoy!

The post GetOut! Your Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.