Until this year.

This year, as part of North Carolina’s observance of Year of the Trail, among the hundreds of Year of the Trail events are 11 weekend trail festivals. Most will follow this format:

• Friday evening: a night hike, maybe a downtown concert, an introductory remark or two. 
• Saturday: Guided hikes, paddle trips, mountain bike rides. We’ll start around 9 a.m., go until 5 p.m. or so. There will also be a downtown festival, with craft and outdoor vendors, food and live music. There might well be more live music Saturday evening.
• Sunday: Sunday started out as a EIY (Explore It Yourself) day, with guide material supplied for select adventures. and that will still be the case. But we’re finding we have more and more to offer, so some structured events are sneaking into the mix. Volunteer service events (trail maintenance, trail building, etc.), for one. And we may be adding birding to the mix.

A quick explanation of what I mean by “we.” The 11 events are hosted by the communities and by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ Hometown Strong initiative. Hometown Strong was created by Gov. Roy Cooper to help the state’s 80 rural counties boost their economies. I joined Hometown Strong last summer to help communities in those counties do just that by helping them showcase their, in my opinion, largely under-appreciated outdoor recreation assets. Hence the 11 Weekend Trail Days Festivals, which are shown below with their festival dates:

• Elizabethtown/White Lake, Feb. 17-19
• Morganton, March 3-5
• Eden, April 21-23
• Sanford, May 12-14
• Elizabeth City, June 2-4
• Old Fort, June 2-4
• Edenton, July 21-23
• West Jefferson, Aug. 4-6
• Shelby, Oct. 13-15
• Robbinsville, Oct. 27-28

First Festival: Elizabethtown/White Lake

What will these festivals look like? They continue to evolve, but the first one, in Elizabethtown/White Lake southeast of Fayetteville, looks like this:

Friday, Feb. 17

• 3-7 p.m. –  Check-in at the Trail Weekend Headquarters at the Cape Fear Farmers Market, where you’ll find food, vendors and information on the weekend’s events.
• 6:30 p.m. – Night hike at Jones Lake State Park, Cedar Loop Trail

Saturday, Feb. 18

• 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Food, vendors, information on events available at the aforementioned Cape Fear Farmer’s Market.
• 10 a.m. – Hike at Jones Lake State Park on the 4-mile Bay Trail
• 11 a.m. – Guided mountain bike ride at Browns Creek Nature Park and Bike Trail
• 12:30 p.m. – Guided paddle on Jones Lake State Park
• 1 p.m. – Reading by local author at Bladen County Public Library
• 2 p.m. – Guided hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail
• 3 p.m. – Guided hike at Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area
• 4 p.m. – Guided hike at Singletary Lake State Park
• 4-8 p.m.  Trail Weekend Headquarters moves to White Lake. 
• 4 p.m. – Guided hike on White Lake multi-use path
• 5:30-7:30 p.m. — Southern comfort cuisine dinner/fundraiser for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail
• 6-8 p.m.  Live music, White Lake

Sunday, Feb. 19

Sunday is a do-it-yourself day. We will provide maps and route descriptions.  A “hike board” will be at the Trail Weekend Headquarter for people to organize and hike together. Potential hikes include:

• Through the vines at Lu Mil vineyard
• Paved trail around Greene’s Lake and Cape Fear Winery & Distillery
• Tour and hike at Harmony Hall National Historic site open from 1-4pm
• 9 holes of disc golf at Tory Hole Park
• Jones Lake State Park
• Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest
• Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area

More info and registration

Events are free, but registration is suggested since most events are capped. You can also find more information on each event at the registration site, which resides here. Two more sites to be aware of:

• GetGoingNC.com YOTT page. You can find more information including upcoming Year of the Trail events and news, at our YOTT page, here.
• Greattrailsnc.com. And, you can find a comprehensive Year of the Trail calendar of events at greattrailsnc.com, the official event aggregator for Year of the Trail.

One last thing. These events are for everyone. We don’t care about your experience level, we don’t care if you’ve been in seclusion for the past three years (which some of you have). The goal of Year of the Trail is to develop a keen appreciation for the outdoors in every North Carolinian, all 10.7 million of us.

Join us.

The post A Year of Weekend Festivals Celebrating Trails appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Enjoy!

Regional land trusts

Land trusts offer some of the best programs around, from the Eno River Association’s Sunday Hike Series to the Triangle Land Conservancy’s Speed Hikes.

• Triangle Land Conservancy here
• Eno River Association here
• Piedmont Land Conservancy here
• Three Rivers Land Trust here
• NC Coastal Land Trust here
• Tar River Land Trust here

North Carolina State Parks

North Carolina’s state parks host a variety of activities throughout the week, in the evening, on weekends. Most have an educational focus, many are just intended to get you out in the wild. Activities include hiking, paddling and various nature programs. Most are free. Check out what’s going on this weekend at a state park near you, here.

N.C. Environmental Education Center

The state’s 200-plus environmental education centers have outdoor events of an educational nature going on throughout the week. Check ‘em out here.

Paddling

Up for a paddle trip? Several outfitters run trips in North Carolina, with most focused on a specific geographic area. Among them:

• Frog Hollow Outdoors (central Piedmont)
• Haw River Canoe & Kayak (central Piedmont)
• Headwaters Outfitters (western North Carolina mountains)
• Paddle NC (North Carolina coast)
• Zaloo’s Canoes, Kayaks & Tubes (northern North Carolina mountains, New River)

General adventure

Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine has an online calendar that includes a variety of activities throughout the region, from trail runs to paddle trips. Find it here.

At the coast

• CapeFearCoast.com. Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.
• Coastal Guide. Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Finally, a reminder that it is supposed to a springlike weekend — highs in the upper 50s, lows in the mid 30s under skies that grow sunnier as the weekend progresses — and your favorite trails could be crowded. The answer? Find a new favorite that won’t be as crowded. We recommend 5 in our Wednesday blog, which you may find here.

Know of a resource we should include in our list of outdoor calendars? Pass it along to joe@getgoingnc.com.

The post GetOut! It’s a DIY Weekend appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Hike: Natural Communities of Jockey’s Ridge, Saturday, 9 a.m., Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Nags Head. When most of us think about Jockey’s Ridge, we think of the sand dunes, which can reach as high as 60 feet above sea level (which is a stone’s throw to the east). In fact, on the sound side there’s a diverse community consisting of American beachgrass, and thickets of wax myrtle, bayberry, red cedar, live oak and red bay. Learn more about the diverse ecology of this Outer Banks park on this recurring hike. Learn more about the event here. 

Nature Hike, Saturday, 11 a.m., Mount Mitchell State Park, Burnsville. From 60 feet above sea level (Jockey’s Ridge, above), to nearly 6,700 feet above sea level — that’s the difference between one of North Carolina’s lowest state parks and its highest. That difference will be highlighted on this 3/4-mile hike on the Balsam Nature Trail, where the focus will be on a rare Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest. Starts and ends at the gift shop! Learn more here.

Stream Safari, Saturday, 3 p.m., Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap. Getting wet on a summer hike in the Piedmont doesn’t necessarily equate with cooling off. But that starts to change when the Piedmont butts up against the Blue Ridge Escarpment, in this case at Stone Mountain State Park, where the numerous water encounters are all refreshing. That includes Saturday’s Stream Safari, the chance to wade into a creek, cool your dogs and learn about the water ecology. Learn more here.

Canoe Hike, Sunday, 6 p.m., Carvers Creek State Park, Spring Lake. Like to wring the most out of your weekend, to explore until the very end? Then cap it with this half-mile paddle through a Cypress swamp. Great for beginning paddlers and those of us who love a good swamp. Free, but pre-registration is required, by calling 910.436.4681. Learn more here.

Self-Guided Hike: Horseshoe Road Nature Preserve, Tar River Land Conservancy, Creedmoor. Our friends at the Tar River Land Conservancy today are opening a new preserve and you’re welcome to hike it! The 241-acre preserve near Creedmoor has 2.4 miles of trail: the linked 1.1-mile Pine Trail and the 1.3-mile Beaver Trail. According to the conservancy, the trail explores hardwood and pine forest, crosses several creeks, visits a wetland. Since last fall more than 110 bird species have been ID’d at the preserve, earning it a birding hotspot designation by Cornell University’s eBird program. Learn more about the new preserve and find a trail map here. 

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Hike Solo, with GetHiking!

No one to hike with this weekend and you’re leery of hiking alone? Our new GetHiking! Hiking Solo program aims to make you a confident, competent, and comfortable hiker. We start with a Zoom session to go over how to prepare for a solo hike and what to expect, then take you on a  “supervised” solo hike to ease you into hiking alone. What’s a “supervised solo hike,” you ask? You’ll have to check out the course description here to find out. Our first session is July 16 at Eno River State Park.

The post GetOut! New trail among weekend’s options appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Cannon Day, Monday, July 4, five demonstrations from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach. What says the 4th more than the firing of one of the biggest fireworks around — a cannon! Learn about the various cannons at this installation that dates back to 1747 and efforts to protect English settlers from Spanish raiders. At the end of each demonstration, they fire a cannon1 (It’s a blank, but still … .) Work in an ocean walk during your visit. More info here. 

Sunset on the Ridge, Monday, July 4, 7 p.m., Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Nags Head. Get bummed every Fourth of July because you have to choose just one fireworks display? That won’t be the case at Jockey’s Ridge, where, from atop a dune, you can catch the shows from Corolla to Ocracoke. Learn more here.

Festival for the Eno, Saturday, July 2, and Monday, July 4, West Point on the Eno city Park, Durham. It’s back! After a pandemic hiatus, this popular fundraiser for the Eno River Association returns with two days of music, food, crafts, paddling and hiking. More info here.

Wildflower Walk, Saturday, July 2, 10:30 a.m., Elk Knob State Park, Todd. Miss the wildflower show this spring in the Piedmont — or just crave more? They’re still popping in the high country, and you can catch it with an informed naturalist/ranger on this morning walk. And since it’s a bit of a drive up Meat Camp Road, we suggest adding a hike, the challenging but oh-so-rewarding 1.9-mile hike to the summit of Elk Knob. The mountaintop view is grand (see photo), but don’t overlook the craftsmanship of the trail on the way up. Learn more here.

Holiday Hike, Sunday, July 3, 2 p.m., Weymouth Woods State Natural Area, Southern Pines. Check out the rare longleaf pine stands on this 1.5-mile hike, then spend time wandering through downtown Southern Pines. Learn more here.

Enjoy your freedom this weekend! GetOut! And explore!

The post GetOut! 5 ways to explore this holiday weekend appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

This summer, though, in deference to the heat, we’re mixing in some paddling trips. Beginner-oriented, on lakes and otherwise still water, one in an area where we hike (the Three-Rivers area of Falls Lake, which abuts Day-Hike Section S of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail), one where we don’t (Saxapahaw Lake). 

The paddle trips make for a nice diversion when the weather gets hot, and it colors our 5 picks for adventure fun on this, the first weekend of summer.

Canoe Hike, Sunday, 6 p.m., Carvers Creek State Park, Spring Lake. This half-mile paddle is through a Cypress swamp, with the benefit of having a ranger guide two-fold. One, you’ll learn about swamp life, and two, if you have no previous paddling experience, you’ll get basic instruction at the start. Canoe, paddle, PFD are provided; you’ll need to bring water, sunscreen, bug spray and appropriate water clothes and shoes. Free, but preregistration is required because of limited space (10); call 910.436.4681. More info here.

Farrington Point Self-Guided Paddle, Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Farrington Point at Jordan Lake, Apex. Maybe you’ve paddled a time or two and feel comfortable on the water. Now, if only you had a boat! Saturday, Frog Hollow Outdoors brings its Traveling Outpost to Farrington Point on Jordan Lake, where from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. you can rent a kayak for $40 and paddle a secluded finger of the popular lake. For more info and to register, go here.

Saxapahaw Mill Race to Union Bridge, noon, Saturday, Haw River Canoe and Kayak, Saxapahaw. When most of us think about whitewater kayaking, we think of being tucked and crammed into the snug cockpit of a teeny, tippy boat. Not the case with this trip from Saxapahaw downstream 5.5 miles on a stretch of the Haw with Class I and II rapids. Not the case because this trip is on sit-on-top kayaks: you flip here and you simply stand up (the water is rarely much more than a couple feet deep), get back on the boat and proceed. Some paddling experience is recommended. $50, includes boat, paddle, pfd and shuttle back to car. More info here.   

Preserve-Park Paddle Trip, Saturday and Sunday (call for times), Dan River, Hammer-Stern Wilderness Preserve/Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury. Up for something a little more adventurous, like paddling a mountain river — but don’t have time to drive to the mountains? You’ll get a similar experience on this trip in the northern Piedmont, on the Dan River, as it makes its way 6.5 miles through the Sauratown Mountains. $50, including boat, paddle, pfd and shuttle. Learn more here, at the Dan River Company.

Tree ID Hike, 11 a.m., Saturday, Eno River State Park, Durham. OK, we need at least one hike, and this being the Year of the Tree in North Carolina State Parks, we’ll make it a Tree ID hike at Eno River State Park, specifically, on the Eno Trace Trail at the Fews Ford Access. Learn more and sign up here.

Some good options for the first weekend of summer. 

GetOut! And enjoy!

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Explore with us!

Like the idea of a hiking/paddling combo come summer? Check out our GetHiking! Summer 2022 Blue Trails hiking package, which includes eight hikes (on Sundays and Tuesday evenings) and two paddle trips. Learn more here.

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