Coast
Since this is a special weekend, extending to Wednesday for many of you, we’re throwing the 4th into the mix — and one of the best displays of brightness lighting up the sky that you’re likely to see: the Cosmos & Cocoa display on Bald Head Island.
I ran into an old camping acquaintance Sunday in the Wilson Creek area Sunday and we spent a few minutes updating one another on our travels. Among her recent exploits: a February visit to Roan Mountain.
Roan Mountain in February? I thought. Risky business being above 6,000 feet in the dead of winter. A better time, I thought, would be … right now.
Massive Roan Mountain straddles the North Carolina/Tennessee line, and is popular for many reasons: its vast balds, sweeping views, and endless skies. What it’s best known for outside hiking circles are its expansive rhododendron gardens. These effusive pink blooms have come and gone in other parts of the state, but because of the higher elevation at Roan Mountain, the rhododendron are just now exploding — and just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend now upon us.
There are multiple ways to explore Roan beyond the traditional two-mile drive to the top ($3 entrance fee) and short walk to the actual gardens.
Here are four adventurous ways to celebrate the Fourth in Roan Highlands.
Carolina Beach Double Sprint Triathlon: the triathlon so nice they let you do it twice. Plus, surviving the wilds of South Mountains and experiencing Mount Mitchell’s gentler side.
Coast
Loaded with energy? Say, twice the energy you typically have?
Then perhaps you’re up for Saturday’s Carolina Beach Douple Sprint Triathlon in Carolina Beach. Swim 375 meters in the Atlantic, run 1.5 miles, bike 20K. Then, instead of collapsing and kicking back a cold one, collect yourself for another 1.5-mile run, another 375 meters in the ocean. The course is described as flat.
Show dad how much he means to you by taking him into the great outdoors.
Coast
So many mysteries contained in Merchants Millpond, the nearly 200-year-old, 760-acre water assemblage that spreads throughout the State Park bearing its name. Is it a pond or a swamp (sure seems like the latter)? What are those weird, prehistoric fish you occasionally see near the surface? Are there alligators?
As summer and its 90-degree temperatures near, hiking midday can be one sweaty undertaking. That leaves the evenings and early mornings, when temperatures in the 70s seem downright fall-like. Today, we revisit a piece from May 6, 2011, that expounds upon the delights — and challenges — of the early morning hike.