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 the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
Category Archives: Paddling
Weekend: Cool paddles, cool hike
Explore Bald Head Island at the coast, explore your relationship in Piedmont. Or, explore the lofty — and cooler — air on a hike in the higher country.
Coast
To many of us, Bald Head Island, the southernmost barrier island before the Cape Fear concedes to the Atlantic, is a mystery. You catch a glimpse as the ferry heads from Southport to Fort Fisher, you stand on the sand at Caswell Beach peering across the water, curious. Maybe you’ve taken the ferry over, but that tells only part of the story.
90 Second Escape: Summer’s Paddlin’ Secrets
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 the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
This weekend: Grab a paddle
This weekend recognizes two fundamentals of outdoor recreation: One, when it’s hot out, water is an essential element of any activity. And two, sometimes you just can’t wait until the weekend to have some weekend fun.
Coast
Guided canoe trips are great. Sometimes, though, they can be a little staid: Now if we all raft up and be still, we might see the alligator gar surface to feed. Usually doesn’t take more than a half hour, again, provided no one moves or speaks … .”
This weekend: Paddle a swamp or run through one, but be sure to Get Outdoors!
We have a swamp theme at the coast and (near) Piedmont this week: paddle one (and perhaps see a ‘gator) at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge near Manteo, or run through one on the Wilson Swamp Stomp. Meanwhile, Saturday is National Get Outdoors Day, and while its website lists only four locations in North Carolina with events scheduled (see below), truth be told there are several North Carolina State Parks holding NGOD events. We tell you about the one at Chimney Rock State Park; you can learn about the others here.