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: Parks
Most N.C. State Parks closed; message delivered
If you’ve got a snow day and were wondering, most of North Carolina’s state parks are closed today. A moot point, since you probably can’t get out of your driveway, let alone off your street.
Go to nearly every site for each of the parks. at ncparks.gov and, for the most part, you’ll be greeted by a message such as this one for Umstead State Park:
This weekend: Bundle up and learn something
Temperatures across the state this weekend are generally forecast to stay in the 40s under mostly sunny skies. Ideal weather, in our view, for getting out and learning a little about the world around us. Courtesy of North Carolina State Parks, we bring you three options for doing just that. (And you can find more at the State Parks website.)
N.C. State Parks see record attendance in 2013 (pass it on)
Fortunately, the North Carolina General Assembly has a short session this year. Good news, considering the environmental mischief they got into during last year’s regular session.
Still, we shouldn’t underestimate what these folks can do in just six weeks, the typical length of a short session. Nor is there reason to wait until they convene in May to arm ourselves with factual ammunition, so that when someone gets the idea to, say, close North Carolina’s State Parks for the winter, you can contact your local representative with facts and set him/her straight on why that’s not a good idea. Since we’re on the topic of North Carolina’s state parks, let’s focus on them today.
Piedmont color: Kerr Lake ‘at 60 percent of peak’
A reminder that if you want to catch good fall color but don’t have time to drive to the mountains, nature’s autumn display is starting to play in the Piedmont. The N.C. Division of Tourism, Film and Sport’s Development is keeping tabs on the evolving fall show at Piedmont Foliage Reports, with various state parks, natural areas and recreation areas weighing in. According to the most recent reports, as of Wednesday Kerr Lake State Recreation Area reported it was “about 60 percent on the way to peak.” Pilot Mountain State Park is being to bloom as well, while at Mayo River State Park there’s still “some green, but we are beginning to see more yellow, gold and some orange in the foliage now.”
Find the full report here.