This weekend, Triangle residents get to celebrate the region’s two longest trails.
Saturday, the Falls Lake portion of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail gets another 11 miles dedicated, extending the number of miles finished MST along the lake’s south shore to 46. Then, on Sunday the East Coast Greenway is sponsoring a walk/ride on the newest section of the 22-mile American Tobacco Trail to be nearly almost completely open.
Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, the 2.7-mile loop trail around Price Lake on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Why put up with the hassles of traffic and pay $10 — the going rate based on a drive-by survey of Thursday evening’s State Fair preview — for premium parking to this year’s N.C. State Fair, which opens today and runs through Oct. 25, when you can park for free and encounter zero traffic? And, you get a 2.7-mile (one way) nature hike to boot. Here’s the deal:
Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going long), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. First up: Panthertown Valley, a 6,700-acre oasis in the Nantahala National Forest near Cashiers.
I hate to nag, so let’s call this something else. Prodding? Pushing? Pestering? They all seem so … controlling, which is crazy considering I’ll I’m trying to do is prod/pester/push you out the door to take a hike. And there’s no better time and place to take a hike than the fall in North Carolina. Temperatures in in the 70s, low humidity, brilliant, crisp blue skies, changing color — what more incentive do you need to get out on the trail?