Flesh-eating plants at the coast, the perfect three that vanished in the Piedmont, fall color in the mountains. Take your pick.
Coast
Are we recommending this weekend’s back-to-back Carnivorous Plant Hikes just so we can use a picture of Seymour’s carnivorous creation?
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 this trying transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape. Essentially, it’s a 90-second video of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s in the sun.
There’s something for everyone in North Carolina this weekend: a triathlon at the coast, looking down for fall color in the Piedmont, taking the Great Pumpkin Mountain Challenge in the high country.
Coast
Thought your triathlon season was over? How about one last event — this Saturday’s Emerald Isle Triathlon. This is a slightly longer sprint distance tri: 750 meter swim in the Atlantic, 19.3k out-and-back bike ride along NC 58, 5k run along Ocean Drive. Flat, fast coastal race — with the buoyant ocean to lend a hand. 8 a.m. More info here.
This weekend: Go fly a kite (or watch someone who really knows how), paddle through 2,000-year-old trees, take a hike on top of the state.
Coast
This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, it’s the Kitty Hawk Kites Annual Outer Banks Stunt Kite Competition. This is competitive kite flying at its best, on the Eastern League Circuit (were you aware there was an Eastern League Circuit for sport kite flying?) and sanctioned by the American Kiting Association (ditto?). While the spectating promises to be swell, amateur kite flyers can get in on workshops, demonstrations and kite making for kids. Stuff to watch for: kite ballet competitions set to music and fast-paced team flying that blend a both kite control and speed.
Question: How many miles would 42 hikers have to walk in one day to raise $145,000?
Answer: 1,188.6.
Impossible, you say? Many of those 42 hikers might have agreed with you last summer. But by 6:55 p.m. Saturday evening, all 42 were believers— all having hiked 28.3 miles as part of the Ultimate Hike.