Saturday’s forecast calls for a high of 28 degrees at Hanging Rock State Park in Danbury. That will occur long after we’re off the trail . For the most part, we’ll be hiking in the low 20s. But it will be sunny, and a little sun can make up for a lot of cold.

North Carolina has, on average, 28 clear days every winter; only seven states see more cloudless days, according to data compiled from two climate agencies. Virginia averages 25 clear days. In short, you could live in much worse places to avoid feeling SAD

SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, is a type of depression that can set in when the days are short and the sun sets early in the day. Once this mood-altering disorder takes hold, according to the Mayo Clinic, it can be hard to shake; it’s best to fight it off before it has a chance to make itself at home, leaving you hibernating in a stupor of despair.

One way to combat SAD, says the Mayo Clinic, is to go outside and move—the more regularly, the better. Even when it’s cold, a brisk walk in outdoor light can help. Another way to lift your mood is to be with other people; socializing with a dose of laughter helps you connect with others, an opportunity in short supply these days. Hiking regularly also can reduce levels of stress, which can contribute to SAD symptoms. According to psychiatry.org, 5 percent of Americans experience SAD, with the most severe bouts occurring in January and February.

Frankly, all of us could stand to reduce our stress levels. So, even if SAD doesn’t get you down, brisk movement and being with others is a great way to keep stress at bay by releasing endorphins and elevating mood.

So while the benefits of being out in the sun are beneficial year round, they are even more so in the short days of winter. But because of the cold, you sometimes need a little extra motivation to drag yourself outside and make it happen. And the best motivation? you ask. 

Hike with a group. 

It’s one time when peer pressure is a good thing. You wake up, you see it’s 28 degrees, you pull the covers back over your head and reach blindly for the snooze button. But then you remember the group waiting for you at the trailhead. You remember that Sue was supposed to hear about that promotion this week, that Jack was on the verge of adopting a shelter dog, that last week when Elliot failed to show he was the topic of discussion. You also remember that, once you’re 5 minutes down the trail and starting to warm up, you really love hiking this time of year. 

The obvious current caveat about hiking in a group: while being outdoors is still considered safe, you want to make doubly sure the group you’re hiking with is safe. With any group you join, be it a hiking-related Meetup or a group from work, find out what their policy is and see if it’s one you’re comfortable with.

It may take a hike or two to find the group that’s right for you. That’s fine. Because once you do find a group that works, you’ll find yourself spending a lot more time on the trail at a time of year when it will do you the most good.

The post Embrace the cold, avoid getting SAD appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

As part of my Monday morning ritual, I check the weather forecast for the hikes, trips and classes we have in the week ahead. It may be the most frustrating thing I do all week. What I have discovered, though, is there’s a whole lot more to deciding whether to proceed or pull the plug than simply checking the chance of bad weather.

Here’s a look at the process I’ve developed, using as an example a backpacking trip coming up this weekend.

Consider the event and the location. This weekend, we have a GetBackpacking! trip to Linville Gorge. It’s an Intermediate Skills class, focusing on water crossings and navigating a designated Wilderness Area, where trails are rarely marked or maintained. 

Know the hikers. These backpackers have previous backpacking experience and decent gear. Their previous experience means they’ve probably been through less-than-perfect weather and are equipped — both mentally and gear-wise — to deal with the elements. 

Know the area. Certain areas — Linville, Grandfather Mountain and Mount Rogers in Virginia, in particular — are notorious for generating their own weather. So while you may have a fairly benign forecast for a region, keep in mind that it might not apply if you’re headed into a meteorological anomaly. 

Check the source. When I’m checking several forecasts simultaneously on my Monday survey, I stick with one source. My go-to is the 10-day forecast on  WeatherUnderground.com. If the event is four or more days out, I just try to get a general feel for what the weather is looking like. This time of year, I look to see if a pattern of rain and thunderstorms is developing. Rain isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker; electrical storms are. On Monday, my Linville Gorge check for Friday, Saturday and Sunday were dominated by a gray cloud, a thick lightening bolt and daggers of rain — 70 percent chance each day, in fact. Time to panic? Not just yet.

Bore in. If I see something worrisome, I’ll switch from my overall source to a source more focused on our destination. For the central and northern mountains of North Carolina, I rely on Ray’s Weather out of Boone. Ray’s was begun as a hobby in the 1990s by Dr. Ray Russell, a computer science professor at Appalachian State. It’s evolved into a source that marries modern forecasting models with local knowledge of mountain weather. Ray’s forecast for Linville rang true with typical summer weather patterns: partly cloudy with widely scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms. This suggests that we should hike early in the day and have camp set up by mid-afternoon. (For mountain trips, I’ll bore up as well, using a source such as mountain-forecast.com. But, for this Linville trip, it won’t be helpful). 

Have patience. The reason I don’t start checking the forecast until five days out at the earliest stems from a four-day winter trip on the Appalachian Trail three years ago. On that trip, I started checking 10 days out, at which point 4 to 6 inches of snow was forecast, as were overnight lows in the upper teens. The next day, the snow forecast total had jumped to 12 inches and the overnight lows had dropped into the mid-teens. Over the next three days the forecast called for as much as 18 inches and the overnight low dropping to 7. Twice I was a mouse-click away from canceling the trip. Then, two days before the trip, the forecast backed off to about three inches. We did the trip and awoke the last morning to just an inch of snow, which made for a gorgeous hike out.

Check the radar. One of the last things I do, usually two to three hours before an event, is check the radar. I check for splotches of green, yellow, orange and especially purple, and I click the one-hour replay to see if the splotches are advancing toward our hike. One caveat: in summer, heat convection can cause stormy cells to pop up out of nowhere; just because weather wasn’t headed your way an hour ago doesn’t mean it isn’t now. Those wicked afternoon storms may cause me to cancel an after-work hike, but often it won’t bring an end to a weekend backpacking trip. 

Make the call. You may think that there’s nothing worse than canceling an outing because the weather looked bad, and it turns out to be lovely. What’s worse is rolling the dice, saying what the heck, forging ahead — and running headlong into trouble. 

All it takes is one bad guess to convince you. Play it safe.

The post Check the forecast — and know what to do with it appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

With temperatures possibly hitting 90 today, for the first time this year, we’re reminded that, while we’ve spent the last several months longing for warmer weather, we need to show it the proper respect now that it’s here. Today we share some thoughts about heat exhaustion: how to recognize it at the onset, how to treat it, and, most importantly, how to prevent it.

Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke which can damage the brain and other organs and can lead to death. Fortunately, if you recognize and treat heat exhaustion at the outset you can keep it from devolving into something much more serious.

Recognize the symptoms

The key is recognizing the symptoms, which include:

• Confusion
• Dark-colored urine (a sign of dehydration)
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Muscle or abdominal cramps
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
• Pale skin
• Profuse sweating
• Rapid heartbeat

React to the symptoms

If you recognize these symptoms in yourself or in a hiking partner, get them out of the heat as quickly as possible — into the shade, into water if it’s nearby. You also want to:

• Drink plenty of fluids, especially sports drinks to replace lost salt. Avoid caffeinated beverages and alcohol.
• Remove tight or unnecessary clothing.
• Douse a bandana in cool water and swab the victim with it.

Be aware that if can take longer to cool a victim of heat exhaustion if the relative humidity is 60 percent or more (which is typically is in these parts) and if the heat index is 90 or greater.

Especially vulnerable hikers

Folks especially subject to heat exhaustion include:

• Children under 4
• Adults over 65
• People with health conditions including heart lung and kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, sickle cell trait and more.
• People on certain medications, including diuretics, sedatives, tranquilizers, stimulants, heart and blood pressure medications.

Cool places to hike

For summer hikes when it’s especially hot we recommend:

• Trails with good tree cover. The canopy can reduce the temperature by 10 degrees.
• Trails along water. Cooling off periodically — even just shedding the hiking shoes and wading in — can help keep your temperature down.
• Trails at elevation. A good rule of thumb is that the temperature drops about 3.3 degrees F for every 1,000 feet of elevation gain. So if it’s 90 degrees in Raleigh (elevation 315 feet), it will be about 70 atop Mount Mitchell (elevation 6,684 feet).
• Taking a bandana that you can soak periodically and wrap around your neck.
• Packing cold water. If you prefer drinking from bottles, the night before a hike, fill a water bottle half full and put it in the freezer; the next morning, top it off with cold tap water. It should remain cold for an hour on the trail, cool for another half hour. If you’re a bladder person, fill it with ice, then top off with water. Again, you should have cool water for a good hour and a half or so.

Above all, try to nip heat exhaustion in the bud before it becomes an issue by staying hydrated on the trail! This time of year we recommend an absolute minimum of 2 liters for hikes of 5 miles or less (and more under extreme heat or on an especially challenging trail). If you’re hiking in the mountains and going long, bring a water filter (or make sure someone in your group has one).

Folks who are especially worried about heat exhaustion should check out the article Heat Exhaustion on WebMD.com, from which most of the information in this article was cribbed.

Enjoy your summer hiking by staying hydrated and staying cool.

* * *

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

This week, we share some regional trail news —including the opening of a photo exhibit at Tennessee’s Norris Dam State Park — and talk about 5 of our favorite resources. Give a listen here.

The post Heat exhaustion: recognize, treat, prevent appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

And this weekend’s lionlike forecast?

Well, some of it could be nice. Then again, it could be cloudy at times. And maybe rainy. And perhaps with storms of Oz-like dimensions. In short, it’s a weekend to play it by ear. Some thoughts on that:

• Saturday looks a wee less turbulent than Sunday (storms are possible both days)
• Morning looks better than afternoon
• It will be warm, depending upon where you live, getting up to around 80
• Sudden pop-up storms are possible. Thus, it’s a good idea to check the radar on your phone before heading out and check it periodically while you’re on the trail. Storms that may not have been there when you hit the trail could easily materialize within a half hour or less. 
• Take a rain jacket
• Seek out lower-lying trails. Avoid ridge lines, if possible.
• Keep an eye on trails with multiple stream crossings. Especially if you’re on a mountain hike and headed uphill, crossings that were doable lower on the mountain may not be on the return trip should a cloudburst move through.
• Focus on shorter hikes. Better to get caught by rain in the middle of a 4-mile hike than an 8-miler. Better still to find a trailhead with access to shorter hikes: finish one, no storm? Take the other.

Certainly not all the tips you need for a weekend of unpredictable weather, but a good start.

GetOut! And enjoy.

GetOut! Trail Guides

Some hikes from our GetHiking! Trail Guide library that might be especially appropriate on an in-like-a-lion March weekend.

• 5 Great Short Hikes in the Triangle. Short hikes of less than 4 miles perfect for beating a looming storm. Find it here.
• GetHiking! Guide to Brumley Forest North in Hillsborough. A 3.5-mile trail network made for a weekend like this: you can hike one trail, you can hike ‘em all, if the weather holds. Find it here.
• GetHiking! Guide to Hiking Raven Rock’s Bridle Trails. Hankerin’ for a long hike, but not hankerin’ to get wet? These two 4-mile loops start from the same trailhead: finish the West Loop and the coast (or, rather, the sky) is clear? Tack on the East Loop for an even 8. Find it here.

Find all of our GetHiking! Trail Guides here.

The post GetOut! Tips for dodging March’s pop-up storms appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

From the N.C. State Parks and Recreation Facebook page on Sunday:

• Occoneechee State Natural Area full as of 11 a.m.
• Eno River State Park’s Cole Mill and Fews Ford accesses closed as of 1 p.m.
• Raven Rock State Park is full as of 10:00 a.m.
• Hanging Rock State Park is full as of 10:40 a.m. Main restrooms are closed due to sewer failure; restrooms are open at the lake parking lot. There were 1,000 more visitors at Hanging Rock yesterday than ever recorded before.
• Pilot Mountain State Park is full as of 10:40 a.m.

A thousand more visitors at Hanging Rock State Park “than ever recorded before.” That is a stunning statement if you’ve ever been at Hanging Rock on a gorgeous spring or fall afternoon. A thousand! Where on earth would an extra thousand fit?

With fewer entertainment options available, more people are continuing to discover trails. And the trails they’re discovering tend to be the more obvious ones. In State Parks, for instance.

On May 8, we wrote about how to avoid the crowds. Friday, we’ll elaborate on the topic in the hopes that: a) we can avoid the overcrowding that threatens to close trails, and b) you, the dedicated hiker, can find solace on the trail.

In the meantime, we revisit another way you can make that happen: by hiking in the rain. You’ll find some tips on wet-weather exploring in a post from April 13, and you’ll find incentive in this brief video shot this afternoon. The good news: the rain continues at least for the the next three days! 

Get out and enjoy some liquid solitude.

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