This weekend’s offerings underscore North Carolina’s geographic diversity, starting with a paddle through a tidal flat at the coast, continuing with a kayak trip down a scenic river on the cusp of the coastal plain, and ending with a southern Appalachians hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Category Archives: Hiking
A workout on a trail workday
Sunday, I woke up as sore as I’ve been in a long while. Not just leg sore from running, say, a half marathon, or riding a mountain century. And not the shoulder and arm sore from a long paddle. Full-body head-to-toe sore. That’s what a day of honest work will do.
Spend Saturday with a favorite trail
Saturday is National Trails Day, a day set aside for paying homage to the nation’s more than 200,000 miles of trail. In most cases, that involves grabbing a rake, a pickax, a shovel and sprucing up the trails that on the other 364 days of the year we love to death. It’s a day underscoring that without volunteer labor, our trail systems simply wouldn’t exist. Last year, for instance, 190,350 volunteer hours were logged at nearly 2,000 registered National Trails Day events. That represents roughly $3.9 million in labor that our cash-strapped federal, state and local land managers simply couldn’t afford to pay for.
Show a trail you care this National Trails Day
If there were justice in this world, every bank executive and mortgage handler in the land would be forced to turn out on Saturday and participate in National Trails Day. Rationale? Federal, state and municipal land managers are facing drastic cuts as a result of recent recklessness in the financial sector, and they’re more in need than ever for help to maintain existing trails and blaze new ones. Alas, since it’s doubtful we’ll see a brigade of shovel- and mattock-wielding pinstripes flooding our forests Saturday, it’s up to the rest of us.
This weekend: Hike, bike, spike
It’s a weekend that needs no introduction … .
Coast
Can it already be competitive 2-on-2 beach volleyball season? Yes it can, apparently, at least in Emerald Isle where the “2v2 Beach Volleyball Tournament – Summer Series” will be in full swing Saturday morning. Competition begins at 9, runs until noon, at the Western Ocean Regional Access. Fee is $55 per team, players must be 16 or older and pre-registration is required, by calling 252.354.6350. (You can get more details on the tournament at that number as well.)