For much of the winter, the sun set long before we had a chance to enjoy it after getting off work. Now, it stays out later and later, and so do we. Sometimes later than we anticipated.  

When we become drunk on sunlight and it leaves the party before we were expecting, it’s good to know a thing or two about navigating in the dark, and near dark. Today, we share some tips based on our experience of leading night hikes for the past 10 years.

Before heading out

• Pack a headlamp. This is a must. Flashlights, work, but you want to keep your hands free. You can get a decent headlamp for as little as $15; note that LEDs cast a more hike-friendly light.
• Pack extra batteries and a spare light. Batteries can fizzle without warning and a spare light is a must (if for no other reason than to help you see to change batteries in your primary torch).
• Pick short hikes to start. Hiking in the dark takes some getting used to. Your world is confined to the glow of your headlamp, and it takes some concentration to focus on a limited portion of trail. It can be a sensory overload, as your other senses tune in to the world beyond the scope of your light, so don’t overstay on your first outing.
• Hike trails you’ve hiked in daylight. Even though it’s dark, familiarity is a huge plus. You’ll be amazed at how things you didn’t think you noticed during the day will pop out as key markers of where you are on the trail.
• Take a map and compass. You should already have these in your daypack as part of your 10 Essentials, but make extra sure you have them at night. If you become … misplaced, finding a point of reference that matches with your map will go a long way toward getting you back to your car.
• Take water and snacks. Just because it’s dark and likely cool doesn’t mean you can’t get dehydrated. And hiking in the cool air will burn some calories; you’ll be glad to have the extra fuel.
• Be aware of posted hours. Trails on certain public lands are closed from dusk until dawn. That includes state parks and nearly all municipal and county trails. National forests typically don’t have hours, nor do lands managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. 
  • That said, March and the advent of Daylight Saving Time is when many parks begin staying open later. Eno River State Park’s main access, Fews Ford, which had been closing at 7 p.m. now closes at 9 p.m. Check hours before heading out.
    • And that said, just because a park is open late doesn’t affect actual sunset. While the Fews Ford Access above may now be open until 9 p.m., the sun today still sets at 6:17 p.m., nearly three hours before official sunset.

At the trailhead

• Bundle up. Nighttime is cooler than day, of course. Counter the chill with one more layer than you think you’ll need; you can always shed a layer later.
• Don’t hike alone. I do a lot of soloing, but not at night. Make sure you have a buddy with you.
• Take your phone. Another way to figure out where you are: call up your favorite map program, even one that focuses on roads. It may not show the trail you’re supposed to be on, but it will show the nearest road: Keep your blue dot headed toward it (which might require some timber-bashing).

On the trail

• Be vigilant about blazes. If you don’t see a blaze ahead of you, turn and check to see if you can spot one from the direction you came. .
• Hike by your feet. It takes a bit more effort to scout out the blazes at night. The best way to tell whether you’ve wandered off the beaten path is if your boots suddenly sink into soft, untrod leaf litter. Backtrack and seek out the firm footing of the trail.
• Stop, look, listen. Night hiking is a much different experience. Take the time to savor it.
• Appreciate the night sky. Because that’s one of the reasons you’re out there!
• Beware the gloaming. There’s a roughly 10-minute period before the end of twilight when there’s not enough light to see on your own, yet your headlamp is no help, either. This is a good time to stop, look and listen.
• Resist the urge to turn on your lamp prematurely. Especially if you are in a group, because once you light up, your light will cast shadows making it hard for the unlit to see.
• Stay within earshot of fellow hikers. It’s much easier to lose people in your group at night; make sure you can at least hear their footsteps.

Daylight Saving Time is nigh. Now’s the time to make the most of midweek adventure.

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Weekend Escape in the Croatan

Looking to come out of hibernation? We’ve got just the trip the weekend of March 15-16  with two hikes in the coastal Croatan National Forest. 

• Friday evening. We start with a Friday evening sunset hike on the 1.6-mile Cedar Point Tideland Trail, which takes advantage of multiple boardwalk stretches to navigate a tidal wetland. An awesome spot to catch the sunset.
• Saturday, it’s our favorite hike at the coast, the 11-mile Weetock Trail. The first 6 miles of the Weetock is a rolling hike on easy-to-follow blazed trail through scenic coastal woods. The last 5 miles is a wild romp through coastal forest that will test your navigational skills.

It’s the ideal time to hike at the coast, before it warms up and brings out the bugs, and a great way to kick off your 2024 hiking season. Learn more and sign up here.

The post Tips for Afterwork Exploring Thanks to DST appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

This time next week, after Daylight Saving Time kicks in on Sunday, the sun will set at 7:21 p.m. By month’s end, it will set at 7:36 p.m. That extra afternoon sunshine, friends, opens our evening outdoor opportunities.

So, if you plan ahead (more about this below), you could leave work at 5 p.m. and have two hours of sun to play with. Depending upon your pace, that could be a 5- to 7-mile hike — a delightful midweek adventure! 

This celebration of after-work opportunity is boosted by our public playgrounds. Starting in March, most of North Carolina’s state parks are open until 8 p.m. Some are staying open even later: Eno River State Park in Durham, Hanging Rock State Park north of the Triad, and Carolina Beach State Park near Wilmington are all now open until 9 p.m. Most county and municipal parks continue to observe dawn to dusk hours, as do most greenways.

The key to taking advantage of this added afternoon daylight is planning. 

• Have your gear ready. When the 5 o’clock whistle blows, switch into your adventure gear. You can keep your gear simple: hiking shoes/boots, pants, wicking shirt, water. 
• Pick a spot to explore. Make it close by: the less time you spend in transit, the more time you’ll have to explore. And it might help you find some great venues you weren’t aware of. Try this: Go to Google maps, drop a pin on your location, then go out a mile or two. Blow up the image and look for blotches of green. You’ll likely find pocket parks you might not have known about, parks that likely have some sort of trail. Also look for dotted blue lines signifying trails.
• Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Say you find a spot nearby that has nice, if short, trail. Run with it, again and again. One of the great things about spring is that it unfolds so quickly you’ll likely find something new — a just-emerged spring wildflower, a tree in bloom — on it every day.
• Consider it training. If you’re gearing up to do some serious mountain hikes this summer, now is the time to start getting your hiking legs back. Two miles every evening through March is a great start. 
• Do it! Most importantly, don’t dawdle — take advantage of this extra daylight immediately. Start Monday. In fact, if you’re in the Triangle area, you can start with us. We’ll be hiking the Cox Mountain Trail at Eno River State Park Monday at 6 p.m. See below for details and to sign up.

Make the most of this gift of sunlight.

Happy trails,

Joe

Join us

To find out more about our Daylight Saving Hike at Eno River State Park and to sign up, go here.

The post DST: the gift of sunshine appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

That is a lot of evening daylight to play with.

This is why we’re adding more midweek, after-work hikes in our GetHiking! programs. This week, for instance, we’ve got:

• Tuesday: 3-mile hike at Brumley Family Nature Preserve in Hillsborough.
• Wednesday: 3-mile hike at Johnston Mill Nature Preserve in Chapel Hill.
• Thursday: GetOriented! Finding your Way in the Woods in Greensboro.

We started doing after-work hikes three years ago, through our GetHiking! Corporate program. Every Tuesday and Thursday, workers from IQVIA, SAS, MetLife and elsewhere head to Umstead State Park for a hike of 3 to 4 miles. It’s not so much the exercise they’re after—they could get that in their corporate gyms. Rather, it’s a vital midweek fix of being outdoors and on the trail that helps them keep it together until the weekend. 

Sounds good, you say, but …

It’s hot. Summer is hot, true. The temperature typically spikes around 5 p.m., so if you’re starting at 6, the temperature is already starting to drop. Further, if you’re hiking on a wooded trail, that full canopy overhead drops the temperature by about 10 degrees. A 90-degree scorcher suddenly becomes a more manageable 80-degree hike.

It’s humid. It does tend to be … moist this time of year. We suggest putting that in your favor by wearing a cotton hiking shirt that will absorb your sweat and turn it into a valuable cooling agent against your skin.

What about rush-hour traffic? One of the reasons our Umstead hike works is because it’s within 10 minutes of the corporate participants. It would be counterproductive to try to wind down the day with a hike by revving it up battling rush hour traffic across town. So find a hike nearby. 

What if I can’t find a hike? Then what a great time to become a hike leader yourself. If you aren’t already, become ordained by your local organizer and start posting hikes near where you work. You’ll likely find fellow hikers nearby and develop new friends to hike with after work.

I don’t have the energy for a long hike after a day in the salt mine. Who says it has to be a long hike? If you start at 6 p.m. and hike 3 miles, you’ll likely be done by 7:30. Three miles is spiritually cleansing (even in the heat and humidity). And think how well you’ll sleep.

I’m hungry when I get off work. Have a snack. A PBJ or an energy bar will provide some protein to power you through and tide you over.

I’m almost there. Give me some extra incentive. Popsicles. At the end of our summer hikes, we give out Popsicles; I swear that’s why 90 percent of the people on our hikes show up.

We plan to keep an active after-work hike schedule in our Triangle and Triad GetHiking! chapters. We’d love to see more after-work hikes everywhere.

There’s still time to sign up for this week’s midweek, after-work events.

• Wednesday: 3-mile hike at Johnston Mill Nature Preserve in Chapel Hill. Go here.
• Thursday: GetOriented! Finding your Way in the Woods in Greensboro. Go here.

The post After work, take a hike appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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 or slide show 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.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: Evening Summer Paddle

Here’s something we hope to be doing a whole lot more of this summer: hang with us for 90 Seconds on this escape from three years ago and you’ll understand why.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Last Call at Lake Crabtree

Daylight is entering that period were it becomes a premium for an after work escape. This evening, the sun officially sets in Raleigh at 8:11 p.m. In two weeks, it goes down at 7:45 and in a month we’ll call it a day at 7:24. Our summer evenings of adventure will soon by gone, so take advantage of them while you can.

To that end, we share 90 seconds of what it’s like at Lake Crabtree, one of the area’s most popular after work playgrounds. Enjoy, then vow to take advantage of our waning sunlight.
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