Today is a scouting day. Of my many tasks as a hiking guide, scouting the trail in advance is among my favorite. If I’m leading on a trail I haven’t hiked in a year or longer, I go out beforehand and hike it. I like to make sure the trail is passable, that a hurricane hasn’t laid a stand of trees across the trail, that recent rain hasn’t turned a key crossing into a Class III rapid, that—in the case of a National Forest—the trail hasn’t been closed for logging or another form of resource development. As a guide, I don’t like surprises when trying to get hikers from Point A to Point B safely.
Category Archives: Hiking
Winter: a great time to stray off trail
Winter is the honest season. Stripped bare of busy ground cover and a blurring canopy, winter is incapable of keeping a secret. Stone foundations from homesteads long abandoned lie exposed. Distant mountain peaks are revealed. Critters have nowhere to hide. It’s the perfect time to be in the woods.
Trail etiquette Part II: Now, about your dog …
Last week’s post on trail etiquette prompted a reader to note we had neglected one particularly important area: dogs.
“Also, please leash your pets,” Jennifer commented on our Facebook page. “I know they love to run, but some of us have been attacked and this situation makes me a nervous wreck.”
If you please, a few notes about trail etiquette
On a recent Sunday at crowded Umstead State Park, we honestly weren’t looking to get all Miss Manners on our trail companions. But events conspired to make apparent that it’s time for a reminder about trail etiquette.
Here are a few things to keep in mind on the trail:
This Sunday’s fall back (and what it means to you)
On Sunday, we’ll turn our clocks back one hour as we leave Daylight Saving Time. That means we will no longer have the extra hour of sunlight we’ve enjoyed at day’s end since March 11. On Saturday, sunset in the Raleigh area is at 6:16:44 p.m.; on Sunday, when we switch back to Standard Time, it’s at 5:15:46 p.m. Poof! Just like that.