Category Archives: Hiking

Weekend Plans: Spend time with a critter

Celebrate MLK weekend with a trip to Bald Head Island, Apex, or Asheville to learn about saltwater creatures, take an educational hike on the American Tobacco Trail, or hike with a rescue dog. This is a great weekend to spend with the entire family, or perhaps a canine that you might even get to take home! read more

This Friday: Welcome the new year with a First Day Hike

WP.Coast_1
Basin Trail, Fort Fisher

It’s long been tradition to welcome the new year with an athletic feat: a bike ride, a run, a dip in the ocean or other suitable frigid body of water. The most popular way — in the populist sense — has been to welcome the new with a walk in the woods. And for the last several years, North Carolina’s State Parks have been helping you do exactly that, by participating in the nationwide First Day Hikes program. read more

This weekend: Hot Yuletide Fun

Bald Head Island (photo courtesy baldheadisland.com)
Bald Head Island
(photo courtesy baldheadisland.com)

In recognition of the fact many of you have a good deal of flexibility through year’s end (no school, no work), we expand the definition of “weekend” to include the rest of the year. And, in accordance with Mother Nature of late, we expand the definition of winter adventure to include polar plunges where you’re more likely to need suntan lotion and a cold drink than a fleece blanket to warm yourself in. read more

In 2016, GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes

Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail

In 2015, we launched our GetHiking! Classic Hikes program with GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes. Over the course of the year we hiked a dozen of North Carolina’s most notable areas: Shining Rock, Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains, Panthertown Valley, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the Appalachian Trail, to name a few. read more

This weekend: Warm days, streaking nights

About the only thing this weekend won’t be good for: skiing. Temperatures could hit the mid-70s across much of the state, weather suitable for, say, a 5K at Wrightsville Beach. Or a plant ID hike in the mountains. Or maybe hanging out after dark and watching the sky spark with the Geminids meteor shower. read more