Daytime temperatures around 80, wake-up temperatures in the mid-50s — if that’s not early fall hiking weather, we don’t know what is.
And to get you out on the trail this weekend, we’re offering our hiking guides to you for 50 percent off.
We’ve been thinking about some of our favorite mountain places to explore come fall, and realized that there are a variety of ways we love to explore them. There’s the day hike: spending a day to see as much as possible, then heading home. There’s the basecamp trip: Either establishing camp in a campground or hiking in a short distance in full pack and setting up camp, then doing day hikes from there. Or, there’s the point-to-point backpack trip. Since we all explore differently, we thought, why not look at all three options? So today, we do.
Who wants to wait until Saturday to kick off the weekend? Especially when you have the option for a Friday Morning Hike.
We launch our new GetHiking! Fall Friday Morning Hike Series a week from today (Sept. 10), with a 4-mile hike on the Cox Mountain Trail at Eno River State Trail — the very same trail that we hiked this morning — in long sleeves and a vest, which one does when the temperature is just 48 degrees! That’s a good omen for our 8-week series, which gives you a jump on the weekend without playing hooky (the hikes start at 7:30 a.m., we’re done by 9).
Initially, it looked like the cold front ushered in by the remnants of Ida would lose its oomph by the weekend. Now, it appears the front has opted to extend its stay. Temperatures won’t be much above 80 through the weekend. It will be sunny. It will be less humid.
Each time we enter a new hiking season, the rules change. For three seasons, the change is significant enough to warrant the requisite reminders. Going into winter, it’s important to remember that the sun sets early, that it gets colder than you may recall, that any weather change needs to be heeded because the stakes for the unprepared are significant. Going into spring, the world is coming back to life — including itchy plants, biting flying creatures and venomous snakes. And summer — drink, drink, drink!
