Because there’s such variety on tap, we thought we’d simply list the program name, location and time. If you’re intrigued, click on the link and learn more.

Saturday

• The Lorax Story Hike Haw River State Park, 8 a.m.
• Carnivorous Plant Hike Carolina Beach State Park, 10 a.m.
• Bears Jones Lake State Park, 10 a.m.
• Spring Into The Season! Morrow Mountain State Park, 10 a.m. 
• Fire in the Environment Pilot Mountain State Park, 10 a.m.
• Fly into Spring Kite Festival and Easter EGGstravaganza Jockeys Ridge State Park, 10 a.m.
• Crabby Crustacean Catch Hammocks Beach State Park, 11 a.m.
• Fort Tour  Fort Macon State Park, 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m.
• Coleman Trail Hike Merchants Millpond State Park, 1 p.m.
• Rockefeller House Tour Carvers Creek State Park, 2 p.m.
• Tanawha/Nuwati Wildflower Hike with a Park Ranger Grandfather Mountain State Park, 2 p.m.
• Spring Hike Lake James State Park, 2 p.m.
• Eno’s Owls Eno River State Park, 3 p.m.
• Dune Hike Jockeys Ridge State Park, 3 p.m.

Sunday

• Fort Tour  Fort Macon State Park, 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m.
• Profile Trail Wildflower Hike with a Park Ranger Grandfather Mountain State Park, 2 p.m.
• Coastal Crafts Series Hammocks Beach State Park, 2 p.m.

For planning purposes, Saturday, there’s a chance of storms, Sunday, there’s no chance. Get more specifics here.

The post GetOut! A plethora of programs in State Parks appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sure we dare, because they’re probably the first to admit that unless there’s not a cloud in the sky, unless the temperatures not 66 degrees (plus or minus 4 degrees), and unless there’s some pretty flower blooming or some tree putting on a color show, they’ll be doing things indoors, thank you.

But while the weather is perfect and pretty things are popping out of the ground, well, the trails are fair game. At least, the ones the seasonal know about. The ones that are easy to find and, for the most part, easy to hike.

Last week, we told you how to find those trails on your own. This week, we share five of our favorites (one of which we’re hiking this weekend!).

Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Lands

10+ miles of trail

Bahama

Recommended routes: 4.5 miles, 6 miles

In the Triangle, the two most popular places to hike are Umstead State Park with roughly 5,600 acres, and Eno River State Park with 4,319 acres. What if we were to tell you that there’s a on the north side of Falls Lake more than four times that size with miles of trail? Plus, it’s flat and rarely gets hiked? That should be enough — but we’ll give you a smidge more. The hiking here is open, on gravel access roads that pass meadows and impoundment ponds designed to attract wildlife. Especially good on cool days because of the exposure, especially good on Sundays, since these are gamelands (currently, there is no hunting on Sundays — or from Memorial Day through Labor Day). And again, flat and no crowds. Our guides (see below) highlight a 4.5-mile hike from the Butner Depot and a 6-mile hike from the Flat River Access.

Trailhead: Butner Depot: 4209 Brickhouse Road, Bahama; Flat River Access: Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment, 5094 Old Oxford Road, Durham.

More info here.

Uwharrie National Forest: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness lollipop loop

11.8 miles
Asheboro
Starting from the trailhead off Tot Hill Road, you’ll hike the Birkhead Mountain Trail south for two miles before hitting the popular loop that Boy Scouts, among others, have been using for years to cut their backpacking teeth. Where the Robbins Branch Trail enters from the right, continue straight on the Birkhead for two miles. Note along the way that despite the fact this is a designated wilderness, the trail is well blazed. After two miles, go right on the Hannahs Creek Trail, where, for the first time, you abandon ridgelines in favor of passages along holly-clogged creeks. After a mile and a half, go right on the Robbins Branch Trail, which climbs a rocky (for the Piedmont) ridgeline before dropping to its namesake creek and rejoining the Birkhead after 3.2 miles. Go left for the two-mile return to your car. You can filter water from Hannahs Creek and Robbins Branch, though both run low in summer and during dry weather.
Trailhead: 3091 Tot Hill Farm Road, Asheboro.
More info here.

Pilot Creek Trail

Pilot Mountain State Park

6.6 miles (out and back) 

When we first began recommending uncrowded trails more than a dozen years ago, we recommended the trails accessed at the summit of Pilot Mountain. But since 2012, those trails have been discovered: on nice weekends it can take a half hour or more just to score a parking spot up top. Now, our favorite Pilot Mountain trail is Pilot Creek, which starts from an access off Boyd Nelson Road north of the park and works its way along the north flank of the mountain to connect with the Grindstone Trail. Pilot Creek offers much of what hikers flock to Pilot Mountain for: rocky terrain and some moderately challenging climbs. You won’t get the views (it sticks to the base of the mountain), but you won’t get the crowds, either.

Trailhead: Pilot Creek Access, Pilot Mountain State Park, 382 Boyd Nelson Road, Pinnacle

More info here.

Rock Castle Gorge Loop

Rocky Knob Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia)

10.4 miles

This is one gorgeous hike that the masses aren’t likely to undertake. And they certainly aren’t going to pick it up from its hidden trailhead at the bottom of the gorge. Pick up the trail and hike counterclockwise, hiking up Little Rock Castle Creek through a spectacular hardwood forest. Mellow at first, the trail has a steep climb requiring some scrambling, before entering another mature hardwood forest and, shortly, reaching the Parkway. From there, it’s about 3.5 miles along the ridge, through several open meadows, before descending back into the gorge. The last 2.5 miles is a relaxing downhill along Rock Castle Creek.

Trailhead: Primitive camping trailhead at the base of the gorge, off VA 8. From the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Rocky Knob Campground, take VA 8 headed south. After 3.6 miles, go right on Rock Castle Road, which will terminate shortly at the trailhead. Hike in about 200 feet to pick up the trail.

More info here.

Bluff, Stream, Dam Site and Discovery trails melange

Medoc Mountain State Park, Hollister

6 miles

Medoc Mountain is on the cusp of the coastal plain, but its demeanor is decidedly Piedmont. Low hills are divided by the clear Little Fishing Creek, which carves a steep bluff on the south side of the park. We’ll hike atop that bluff, through splashes of holly and mountain laurel and past the site of the first winery in the U.S. (the park gets its name from a province in the Bordeaux region of France known for its vineyards). Perhaps best of all, because of its off-the-beaten-path location it is one of the least-visited state parks in North Carolina.

Trailhead: The Visitor Center is at 1541 Medoc State Park Road, Hollister, NC. The trailhead for the described is 1.3 miles to the south, off Picnic Area Road.

More info here.

* * *

GetHiking! Guides

We have guides from our GetHiking!- and GetBackpacking!-run trips for four of the hikes described. Check ‘em out by clicking on the appropriate link:

• Butner Game Land: Butner Depot Hike
• Butner Game Land: Flat River Access
• Birkhead Mountain Wilderness Hike
• Medoc Mountain loop

The post 5 Trails for avoiding Spring crowds appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Quick recap: hiking was pretty popular prior to March 2020, it became the go-to source of not only outdoor recreation, but recreation of any kind after March 2020, it being deemed the only safe form of recreation in the face of a global pandemic. While hiking no longer bears that mantel, scads of folks who discovered the joy of hiking over the past two years aren’t going away. And the beginning of spring is when you really begin to notice the increased number of hikers on the the trail. 

So, how to find a bit of the tranquility you seek in the woods? We share our thoughts on the subject, thoughts we’ve shared before over the past two years, thoughts we will share again, because the number of hikers out there isn’t going down soon.

• Hike early. Most N.C. State Parks open at 8 a.m. — a good time to go, especially on spring weekends with near-perfect weather. The morning chill — in the Triangle, it will be in the upper 40s Saturday morning, upper 30s Sunday morning— which should keep the numbers down at the trailhead. Sunday morning until noon-1 p.m. is typically a good time to be out, anyway.
• Hike late. State Parks are now open until 8 or 9, municipal and county parks, and nature preserves typically go dawn to dusk. (That’s open to some interpretation, but today, with twilight officially ending at 8:01 p.m., you should be safe hanging out until 8.) Take advantage of these later hours to get out. Remember to take a headlamp or flashlight. In fact, on a nice Sunday or Saturday, crowds generally begin to thin noticeably around 4 or 4:30 p.m.
• Avoid the main trailheads. Find the more remote trail access points for where you’d like to hike. In particular, look for trailheads that don’t: 
  • Have paved parking
  • Begin from a visitor center
  • Have restrooms
  • Have an address
  • Have access via a paved road. Especially attractive are trailheads off gravel roads. To find them, study the trail map, study Google maps, call the ranger’s office and ask about secondary and neighborhood entrances. You can find them.

• Avoid the main trails. Start from a more remote trailhead and you’ll be on a trail that likely doesn’t get much foot traffic — initially, at least. A lot of these trails connect with more popular trails eventually, often at spots that have fewer hikers. Also: remember that most “popular” trails are popular because they originate from an easy access point.

• 

  Avoid parks near urban areas. At the start of the pandemic on North Carolina, 12 state parks kept their trails open while the other 29 had to close. Why? Because they were in more remote locations, which doesn’t mean they’re a day’s drive away. For instance, one of the least visited state parks in North Carolina is just over an hour’s drive from Raleigh. Check out this map of North Carolina State Parks to see what’s near you, but not near a populated area.

In short, the better the weekend weather forecast, the more you’ll need to pay attention to ferreting out the trails less traveled. It’s a worthwhile investment of your time.

* * *

Ferreting out less-frequented trails, II

Finding those less-popular trails, those stealth trailheads, those spots that elude the masses, isn’t hard, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few extra insights into the topic. Our “Explore Your Neighborhood” guide can help you do just that. Written at the start of the pandemic, it was intended as a way to find hidden adventure gems close to home. But the tips that help you do just that also apply to helping you identify stealth spots at large. Learn more and check it out, here.

The post It’s spring! Here’s how to avoid crowded trails appeared first on GetGoing NC!.