Category Archives: Paddling

N.C. State Parks gets an app

Say you’re driving through the Triad, you have some time on your hands and you think, “Hmm, I wonder if there’s a state park around here where I could do some rock climbing?” Used to be you’d have to be content to keep driving, keep wondering. Now, there’s an app for that.
The N.C. Parks Department this morning unveiled its Pocket Ranger app for iPhones and Droids that answers such immediate and pressing questions of the outdoor recreationist. Using our hypothetical situation, you could simply open your Pocket Ranger app, tap on “Park Activities,” finger down to “Rock Climbing” and tap on that, and discover that — holy cow! There’s not one but two state parks nearby (Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain) where one can rock climb. read more

A festive weekend is on tap

On this spring weekend, take a serene paddle or work up a sweat at a festival.

Coast

Warmer weather means more paddling opportunities. Saturday’s three-hour guided kayak trip down the Lumber River, for instance. Bring sunscreen, drinking water, a snack “and any other necessary items,” says trip organizer Eric Siratt, a ranger with Lumber River State Park. It’s free, but space is limited for this trip that shoves off from the Chalk Banks Access Area at 10:30 a.m.; call 910.628.4564 to register. read more

Canoe a swamp, hike two states and Boone-Roubaix

It’s one of those weekends in North Carolina where you wish you could triplicate yourself … .

Coast

When anyone asks me for a good beginner canoe trip with great scenery, I never hesitate with the answer: Merchants Millpond State Park. For starters, it’s one of the few places in the state where you can rent a canoe year-round. Then, it’s only $5 an hour (that’s for the first hour; it drops to $3 an hour for the second and subsequent hours). But the main reason to paddle Merchants Millpond is the scenery. Paddling here is on a 190-year-old, 760-acre millpond peppered with bald cypress and tupelo gum trees draped in Spanish moss. The pond’s dark, acidic waters support floating mats of duckweed and water fern. It’s the quintessential swamp paddle minus the alligators (it’s been years since one has been seen). read more

This weekend: Run the coast, paddle the Piedmont, hike the mountains

Sing the following to the tune of the theme song for “Car 54 Where Are You?”

There’s a 5K at the coast,
Umstead’s got a paddle trip.
They’ll be hiking up at DuPont
Where the views are bright and crisp.
It’s the first week-end in April,
Spring is firmly underway …
Plan to get out and pla-ay
read more

This weekend: kite flying, paddleboarding, trail running

This weekend highlights some of the best North Carolina has to offer in the outdoors.

Coast

Not long ago, a biathlon/duathlon typically meant running and swimming. More and more, it can mean pretty much anything. Such as running and paddleboarding.

That’s the case at Saturday’s Wrightsville Beach Biathlon, where participants will depart from the dock harbor side at the Blockade Runner, paddle four miles through Banks Channel, hop off the board and run four miles ending on the ocean front at the Blockade Runner. The race kicks off at 9 a.m., proceeds benefit StandUp for a Clean Ocean read more