Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
Sure, it’s supposed to rain almost everywhere in North Carolina this weekend. But that doesn’t mean you need to stay home and sulk.
Coast
After warm and sun during the week, it figures that we’re looking at rain for the weekend, approaching a 50 percent chance along the coast. So, how about retreating to the dryness of a classroom to learn something about the outdoors world. Like how to supplement our feathered friends’ diet come the Spartan days of winter? Sunday at 2 p.m. you can learn how to make treats your bird buddies will love, at Dismal Swamp State Park tucked up in the far northeast corner of the state.
Go short, go long, go fast: Those are among your options this weekend in North Carolina.
Coast
Whenever I run across someone who’s just been to Goose Creek State Park for the first time, their first comment is, “Wow! Why didn’t I know about this place?” Maybe it’s because it’s off the beaten path (it’s between Washington and Bath off a lesser traveled stretch of U.S. 264). Maybe it’s because it doesn’t have a famous landmark at it’s core (the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park). Maybe because it doesn’t have easily accessed recreational opportunities, such as the rental canoes at Merchants Millpond State Park.
If you’re a hiker who’s been sidelined by the cold and snow, you must be looking at the warmer forecast for this week, licking your chops and thinking, “I’ve got a lot to make up for.” Well, next weekend there are opportunities aplenty for making up. So you like to hike 20 or so miles in a month? How about covering it all in a day? Your options … .
Try your hand at canoeing at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park, walk or run or bike to support a state park in Raleigh, or learn to ride a bike in the mountains.
Coast
We’re always on the lookout for a good, economical paddle adventure; this weekend our looking out has landed us at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park south of Goldsboro, where a ranger will lead an Introduction to Canoeing class on Sunday. The course includes boat, lifejacket, paddles and instruction, and will be conducted on the friendly waters of the park’s 11-acre, spring-fed lake. An especially great opportunity if you’ve never been in a canoe, but have given it some thought.