We start the year by offering something for a variety of ability levels. Been on the sidelines for a while but have vowed to move more in 2012? We’ve got a mellow, one-mile guided hike at Goose Creek State Park that’s bound to make you want to get out more and stay out longer. Already active but ready to up your game? At South Mountains State Park there’s a 7.5-mile ranger-led hike over hilly terrain that will test your fitness level. And for the active and competitive, there’s NASTAR.
This weekend, avoid alligators, avoid trails, but don’t avoid the first big weekend of the Southeast ski season.
Coast
Remember the old Peter, Paul & Mary hit, “Where Have All the Reptiles Gone?” No, wait. That wasn’t PP&M in the 1960s. That’s Lake Waccamaw State Park this Sunday at 2 p.m., when a ranger explains why the park’s alligators are no longer on the prowl, why the turtles aren’t out catching some rays … basically why the entire reptile population is laying low. A great opportunity to learn a little something, then take a long (Lakeshore Trail, 5 miles) or short (Sand Ridge Trail, 0.75 mile) hike to look for the reptiles that aren’t supposed to be there.
Run, paddle, ski in your shorts. They’re all options this weekend.
Coast
It may be too late to sign up (let alone train) for the 2nd Annual Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon, but you’ve probably got at least a 5K in you. Just south of Wrightsville Beach, in Carolina Beach, you’ll find the 7th Annual Steve Haydu St. Patricks Lo-Tide Run benefiting one or more cancer patients and their families. (If you’ve got more than a 5K in you there’s a 10K as well.) Starts on the beach, ends on the beach. Registration starts at 7 a.m., the 10K at 8:45, 5k at 9. $27. Go here for more details.
Officially, on average today is the coldest day of the year. Which means it’ll start getting warmer come the weekend, great incentive for getting out.
Coast
Think this weather is for the birds? Well … you’re right. It may seem cold to you, but for hundreds of thousands of birds from more northerly climes, North Carolina’s coast is to them what Florida is to humans. That makes this time of year ideal for getting out in the wild for some birdwatching. Here are three programs this weekend where you can go out with trained naturalists and learn just who likes to spend their winter at the coast:
Back in the old days – meaning before I got a GPS – I knew I’d been on a good hike when I couldn’t wait to get home and perform a topopsy. That would be a postmortem in which I would get out a topo map and try to figure out why, instead of going from Point A to Point B, I’d wound up at Q. Nothing quite like that post-hike thrill of figuring out that you should have gone left at the junction just past the beech cove rather than right, which, it turns out, dumps you in the backyard of a rustic type with a fondness for easily-angered dogs and cinderblocked pickups bearing bumper stickers of a laissez-faire theme.