Sure, kudzu and bamboo may grab the headlines when it comes to unwanted landscape visitors. But to those of us who spend considerable time in the woods of the South, it’s microstegium, a trashy weed, that we most detest. It’s yet another reason we look forward to the return of cold weather.

It’s also my true sign that summer has ended, fall has begun. For when it comes to managing the leafy pest, there’s only one thing known to kill it — or at least send it into remission:

The first frost.

Some people see Labor Day weekend as the official passing of the baton from Summer to Fall. Others go by the calendar and observe the autumnal equinox (this year on Sept. 22). Maybe you go by the first leaf that changes color, or perhaps the first appearance of a pumpkin spice mocha. Popular sentimental markers all. So, to me, is the death of stiltgrass. But it’s more of a scientific sentiment.

Years ago, during my days at The News & Observer in Raleigh, I wrote a lengthy piece about invasive plants and the challenge of managing them. The need for management? you ask. The problem with invasives is that they come from elsewhere (in the case of microstegium, China, in 1919 as packing material) and sometimes find no opposition to their advance. Such has been the case with microstegium, which can spread like wildfire, obiliterating native species. The lovely running cedar, for instance. It’s especially problematic in low-lying wet areas where the foot-high weedy grass is especially problematic. It’s not only an eyesore, but, as my ankles have discovered over the years, a habitat for ticks. Nasty stuff that I’ve come to associate over the years with heat, sweat and itchy ankles. No wonder I especially look forward to the first frost. And no wonder I was especially ecstatic last week when the temperature dipped to 32 in my neck of the woods.

I’ll continue to enjoy the fall colors over the next couple weeks. But in addition to looking up to survey the trees, you can bet I’ll be looking down, with a smile, at the sight of withered brown grass.

The post Another sign of fall appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

And then life got in the way. I started working a desk job, which sometimes required early mornings (and wake-ups) and late nights. Too late for a night hike? In theory, no. In practice, yes. An even bigger factor: I moved away from my night-hiking peeps.

What’s so special about hiking when I can only see a few feet in front me? For starters, only being able to see a few feet in front of me. There’s an intimacy to the night hike, of not just being in the woods, but feeling a part of them. Daylight only gives you the chance to realize the forest is the forest and you are a mere visitor. At night, with just the sounds and smells of the woods to go by, there’s less to make you feel separate. The visual is a huge piece of the hiking experience: the vivid green of summer, the colors of fall permeating the forest, the slant of light as winter approaches — all so special. But the experience of night is just different, a realization I’ve come to reappreciate as the days of 2026 grow shorter.

I began to realize how much I’d been missing night hiking in the waning days of August, on a late evening hike on a ridgeline in the Cane Creek Mountains of central North Carolina. The setting sun bathed the spine of the ridge in pinks and yellows and oranges, and gorgeous as it was, it was the looming gloaming that I was especially excited for. And when it came and I had to flip on my headlamp for the last 10 minutes of the hike, I realized I would need more of this in my life come fall.

And I’ve tried. I’d promised a corporate group I’ve been hiking with on Sundays for 15 years that I would institute a night hike the second Tuesday of each month. So far, that promise has been dashed by the same early morning/late night dilemma that sidelined me in the first place, not to mention the fact I’d need to drive an hour and a half on I-40 from my job near Winston-Salem to my prime legal night-hiking grounds along Falls Lake — at rush hour.

Still, somehow, it will happen. It was a key part of my life for a key part of my life, and it needs to be again. At least once a month, starting this month. I’ll report back on my quest.

In the meantime, if my question has ignited your curiosity about night hiking, check out “Grab a Torch, It’s Time for a Night Hike,” an evergreen post that runs every year at this time of year with tips on night hiking. 

Read it and who knows, maybe we’ll soon run into each other on a dark trail.

The post Recapturing the Night Hike appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

There’s a lot of pressure on a hiker this time of year. Arguably, it’s the best time of year to be on the trail. Cool temperatures, clear skies, dry air, color — fall has it all. Including a lot of pressure to make the right trail choices. Here’s why.

There are 52 weeks in a year. Roughly 7 of those are in the coveted fall hiking season, a window that essentially begins this weekend and runs short of Thanksgiving. True, there are still a few weeks of decent weather after Thanksgiving, but once the holidays get rolling it can be hard to carve out trail time. It’s a time of year that requires strategic thinking to make every hike count. When it comes to smart fall hike selection, I have, over the years, based my trail selections on 7 criteria, one for each week of the fall hiking season. Note: they do not appear in chronological order. 

First color. Most folks love fall for the color, color we’re impatient to wait for. That’s why we start the fall GetHiking! season at Horton Grove (pictured), a 708-acre Triangle Land Conservancy property in Durham that’s rich with hardwoods, is high in elevation (for the Triangle), and is on the northern rim of the metro area. All that adds up to some of the earliest color close to home (if you live in the Triangle).

A given. Odds are you have a favorite hike that becomes even more so in fall, a hike that’s a given, regardless of time of yerar. Make this a priority hike.

Hike local. A trail near home deserves a spot on your list. It will come in handy on that busy fall weekend when you may think you don’t have enough time for a hike. Ten minutes from home? Who doesn’t have time for that?

Short hike. Same logic as above. Surely you can carve out an hour.

Long hike. Fall was made for the long hike. Cooler temperatures and kodachromatic scenery demand that you take advantage of every minute of sunlight. Commit a day, planning to leave home before dawn, get on the trail shortly after sunrise, get off the trail shortly before sunset, get home after dark. Nothing refreshes the soul like a day committed to hiking. 

Water. A hike along water increases your chances of catching good color. — and catching it twice if you get a good reflection.

Mountains. It’s not a complete fall hiking season if you don’t work in a mountain hike. The good news? Even if you’re in the piedmont a mountain hike can be less than two hours away: the accessible Blue Ridge Escarpment has some of the best hiking around, from Shenandoah National Park, the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and Rock Castle Gorge in Virginia, to Stone Mountain State Park, Doughton Park, and the 88-mile run of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from Grandfather Mountain to the Devil’s Garden Overlook in North Carolina.

A newbie-friendly hike. Got a friend or family member you’ve been trying to get into hiking? There’s no better time than fall to get them hooked. Make sure it’s a shorter hike, one with minimal elevation gain, and lots of colorful hardwoods.

There’s your hiking plan for the next 7 weeks. No quit reading and get hiking.

The post Your Fall Hiking Plan appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

It’s what we hikers have been waiting for since April. 

And yet, I’m a tad melancholic.

To be sure, I’m at the forefront of those who can’t wait for fleece hiking, to at least start a hike wearing a light long sleeve and exhaling a puff or two of visible breath. Saturday at Lake Higgins in Greensboro I spotted my first legitimate hint of fall color, and this week’s cool temps will likely accelerate the show. I’m looking forward to hills to build body heat. I’m looking forward to seeing through a thinning understory for insights deeper into the woods. I’m looking forward to that lone cricket frog chirping the  transition to winter. 

I also know I will miss the heat.

And no, there’s no guarantee we won’t have another hot day or two. But history suggests we won’t. Last October, for instance, the temperature barely topped 80 twice where I am. The average daytime high was below 70, the overnight low 45, and the temperature dipped as low as 30. Another hot day? Not likely.

I’ve thought about this seasonal schizophrenia the past few years, this reluctance to part entirely with summer. Sweat, flying-biting-bugs, and dehydration aside, it’s still difficult to part with the season that during our formative years equated to freedom. Freedom to swap the classroom for the joys of summer: exploring the woods at the end of your block, the rope swing that ends in a cooling plunge, lying in a bed of grass and watching the clouds swim by. Not the summer most of us experience as adults, but maybe a summer we, on the cusp of 60-degree days, wish we had? 

This isn’t to dwell on lost opportunities. Rather to try and explain why we might have  the slightest wistfulness over the end of summer.

A short-lived wistfulness, I’m guessing. Have you seen the weekend forecast?

The post Goodbye, Summer appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Since entering the 9 to 5 world I’ve discovered that wanting to and being able to are two very different things.

Since 2013 I’ve run a weekly Sunday hiking program, divided into the seasons. Each season consisted of 12 weekly hikes. Not a big thing to me, even when I was doing both a Sunday morning and and Sunday afternoon hike. Turns out, though, that not everyone, even the most devout hiker, can commit one Sunday every week to hiking. It took me a surprisingly long time to figure that out.

But I have, and I think I have a solution: a program that gets you out twice a month, once on a Sunday, once on a Tuesday evening (or “night,” as will soon be the case). A guaranteed day hike once a month, a shorter midweek evening hike once a month as well. Less a commitment, more something to look forward to. Here’s how it works:

Sunday hikes

The first Sunday of the month we gather at a different trailhead to hike 5 miles or so. Those trails are:

• October 4  Horton Grove Nature Preserve, Bahama, 5 miles. A GetHiking! favorite, this Triangle Land Conservancy property north of Durham is good in any season, but especially in autumn, where a rich mix of hardwood canopy and understory gets an early start on fall color.

• 

  November 1 Cane Creek Mountain Natural Area: Peach Orchard Trailhead, Snow Camp, 5 miles. This is the third area of Cane Creek to open in six years. A mix of hardwood hiking, including a nice ridgeline run.

• December 6  Butner Game Lands: Flat River Access, Bahama, 5 miles. Part of the 40,000-acre Butner Game Lands located along the north shore of Falls Lake, we hike the Brickhouse Road parcel, which includes wide open stretches, ponds, and encounters with the Flat River and Falls Lake.  
• December  27 Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake, DH-R,S Redwood Road to Red Mill Road, Durham, 6 miles. A mix of forest and meadow, this hike includes a brush or two with Falls Lake, an old railroad trestle, a long-abandoned barn. Our favorite Winter Hike along Falls Lake.

Thanksgiving Friday

• November 27 Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake, DH-H, Shinleaf Recreation Area, Wake Forest, 6 miles. Duck in and out of several coves, disappear into upland hardwood forests, catch good views of Falls Lake on this out-and-back hike.

Evenings

• September 8 — Brumley Forest North, Hillsborough. 3 miles. Sunset: 8:35 p.m., twilight ends: 9:03. p.m.. A mix of meadows, ponds and mature forest make ideal features for enjoying sunset.

• 

  October 13 — Pennys Bend Nature Preserve, Durham. 3.2 miles. Sunset 6:44 p.m., twilight ends: 7:08 p.m. A lollipop loop that goes out along the Eno River, returns, in part, through a Piedmont prairie.

• November 10 —  Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake: Dayhike Section M, Durham County. 3 miles. Sunset: 5:13 p.m., Twilight ends: 5:39 p.m.. We hike west on the MST through one of the more mature forests the trail encounters along Falls Lake. There’s a small waterfall a mile in.
• December 8 — Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake, Dayhike Section T, 3 miles. Durham. Sunset: 5:13 p.m., Twilight ends: 5:38 p.m.. A hike we recently rediscovered after a long absence, we begin at Red Mill Road and hike west on the MST, mostly through bottomland forest until a climb takes us to our turnaround and a bluff overlooking the Eno River. 

It’s a good mix of trails, a good mix of times to hike, a good way to make sure you get your hiking fix this fall.

Learn more and sign up to join us here.

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