You could be here, on the Cape Fear River, Friday evening (photo courtesy N.C. State Parks)
Kick off Easter weekend on the water Friday evening in Wilmington, then explore a Piedmont mountain or run — and bike and paddle and use a map & compass — like a bunny in the high country.
Coast
Back in college we started the weekend when it deserves to be started, at 5 o’clock Friday afternoon with a ritual we called FAC — Friday Afternoon Club. The focus of FAC was amber liquids, much like the focus of this Friday’s FAC — Sunset Kayaking Adventure — departing from Wilmington’s River Road Park. Unlike my old FAC, the objective this Friday will be to stay on top of those liquids, not consume them.read more
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 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.read more
Spring race season is in full swing across North Carolina while the paddling season is just getting underway. Weatherwise, we’re looking at pretty good weather for both.
Coast
Distance runners, sprinters, fun runners — Saturday’s 4th Annual Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon has ‘em all covered: full and half marathons, marathon relay, 5K, 1-mile fun run for kids. Racing starts on Wrightsville Beach, then, depending how far you’re going, heads into the nearby The Landfall Community (perhaps you’ve seen the walls and gates surrounding it on the drive to Wrightsville Beach).read more
Plan A bombed out. So it was on to … to, well, there wasn’t really a backup plan. And that was fine, because don’t we do our best exploring when there is no backup plan?
Plan A had been to paddle the 5.5-mile stretch of the Haw River from Saxapahaw to the take-out at Greensboro/Chapel Hill Road. Trouble was, I discovered, there is no takeout at Greensboro/Chapel Hill Road (though I’m told there will be sometime this year.) Had I been 20 and naive, I might have tried to fashion a take-out from the cliff that dropped down river left and, for the final plunge, included a tattered belay rope. Being nearly three times 20 and keenly aware of my medical deductible, I opted to punt.read more
There's great scenery on the Dan (photo courtesy Dan River Co.)
We’re finally catching up with the mail bag — and just in time for what appears to be the first warm weekend in a while.
You write to us for a variety of reasons. To find out where to take visiting kin hiking. To see if we know what the latest bear situation is in the Smokies. To ask if you can optimize our visibility on the Web, for a modest fee. You also write to point out certain … deficiencies in GetGoingNC’s content. Your latest batch of constructive comments comes in time to help others make the most of a weekend that will see sun and temperatures climbing into the mid 60s.read more
