Piedmont

Charlotte

1. Colonel Francis Beatty Park, 4330 Weddington Road. 5.75 miles. Relatively flat singletrack loop that’s mildly technical. Good beginner venue.  Details here or call (704) 643-5725.

2. Lake Norman State Park, 159 Inland Sea Lane, Troutman. 17.5 miles. Rare North Carolina State Park singletrack is known for good flow and opportunities for beginners and advanced riders alike.  Details here or call (704) 528-6350.

3. National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Parkway. 17 miles. Well-groomed, well-marked trail network with good mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced trail. Bike rental included with price of admission to NWC, though you only need to pay parking fee to ride the trails. Details here or call (704) 391-3900.

Other trails of note: North Meck, Huntersville; Beech Springs/Poplar Tent, Concord; Sherman Branch, Midland; Anne Close Springs Greenway, Fort Mill, S.C.

More info: Charlotte Mountain Bike, Tarheel TrailBlazers.

Triad

4. Hobby Park, 2301 West Clemmonsville Road, Winston-Salem.  7 miles. Long-standing Triad mountain biking tradition, Hobby Park is geared toward more advanced riders. Details here or call (336) 727-8000.

5. Northeast Park, 3421 Northeast Park Drive, Gibsonville (use 4010 High Rock Road for GPS purposes). 5 miles. New network is gaining a reputation for fast flow. Details here or call (336) 375-2322.

6. Owls Roost/Bur Mill Park, 5834 Bur-Mill Club Road,  Greensboro. 5 miles. An oldie and enduring goldie for good reasons: one, the flow has been compared to a good mountain ride and two, the trail connects with others in Greensboro’s vast Watershed Lakes trail network. Details here or cll (336) 373-3800

Other trails of note: Country Park, Bald Eagle, Wild Turkey, Reedy Fork, Lake Brandt, Hagen Stone, Greensboro; Salem Lake, Horizon Park, Tanglewood, Winston-Salem.

More info: Greensboro Fat Tire Society, Mountain Biking in the Triad, Singletracks.com, Triad mtb.

Triangle

7. Carolina North, 1089 Municipal Drive, Chapel Hill. 20 miles (approximate). Mileage includes official trail on 750-acre holding of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and adjoining unofficial trail behind Seawell Elementary School. Mix of double and single track. Details here or call (919) 883-8930.

8. Harris Lake County Park, 2112 County Park Dr., New Hill. 8 miles. Clearly marked trail distinguishes beginner, intermediate and advanced trail, though advanced trail includes ride-arounds making even toughest trail accessible to most riders. Details here or call 919-3874342.

9. Lake Crabtree County Park, 1400 Aviation Parkway, Morrisville. 8 miles. The most popular trail network in the Triangle, in park because of its central location, in part because it’s very beginner friendly. Adjoins more challenging bandit trail and 13-miles of bike and bridle trail at neighboring Umstead State Park. Details here or call 919-460-3390.

Other trails of note: Little River Regional Park, Durham; Briar Chapel, Chapel Hill; New Light and Beaverdam, Falls Lake State Recreation Area; Legend Park, Clayton; Garner Recreation Park, Garner.

More info: TriangleMTB.com, Triangle Off-Road Cyclists.

Elsewhere in the Piedmont

10. W Kerr Scott Reservoir Trails: Dark Mountain, Overmountain Victory Trail, Fish Dam Creek Trail, Warrior Creek trails, Wilkesboro. 35 miles combined. These are popular destination trails: Get in shape, then come ride for the weekend on these well-designed and maintained trails. Beginners should start with the Overmountain Victory Trail. Details here.

11. Uwharrie Mountains: Keyauwee, Supertree, Wood Run Road trails. 22 miles combined. 10 miles west of Troy on NC 24/27. Longtime trail network underwent a facelift in 2011, to rave reviews. Wood Run is 11 miles of easy, aerobic fire road, Supertree is 5 miles of easy to moderate singletrack, Keyauwee is 6 miles of more challenging singletrack. Details here and here.

Mountains

12. Bent Creek Experimental Forest, Asheville. 24 miles. A big trail network of singletrack and double track on its own, it connects with other trails in the region to create some true epic rides. Proximity to Asheville makes it especially popular. Details here or call 828-667-5261.

13. Davidson River area of Pisgah National Forest, Brevard. 100+ miles. Davidson River campground makes a great base camp for exploring this vast network of trail, the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and Fish Hatchery is where several of the top trails depart. Some trails are only open to mountain biking from mid-October into spring. Details here.

14. DuPont Forest, between Hendersonville and Brevard. About 100 miles of all kinds of trail, from challenging double track to challenging singletrack to slickrock. Great scenery, with lots of waterfalls. Details here.

15. Kitsuma, Old Fort. 10 miles. The climb up 14 switchbacks is a grind, but the payoff is four miles of fast, rolling mostly downhill that make Kitsuma a Pisgah classic. Details here.

16. Mills River area of the Pisgah National Forest, Mills River. 82 miles. Adjoining the Davidson River area, this is another classic Pisgah collection. Most notable are the Fletcher Creek and Laurel Mountain trails. Details here.

17. Tsali Recreation Area, NC 28 at FS 1286, Bryson City area. 40 miles. Fee. Long noted for its great flow and mileage,  Tsali consists of four big loops. Mountain bikers, hikers and equestrians share the trails, with useage split up by day of the week. Details here.

More info: MTB WNC, Pisgah Area SORBA, Singletracks.com.

Coast

18. Bicycle Post, Short Bridge Road near Kings Crossing Road, Greenville. 10 miles. ($2 fee for non EC Velo Club members). Lots of trail on a small parcel of private land (hence the fee) and a remarkable — this is the coastal plain, after all — 500 feet of vertical climbing throughout. Details here or call (252) 756-3301.

19. Blue Cay,  3950 Juvenile Center Road, Castle Hayne (Wilmington area). 7 miles. Great example of a great bandit trail network evolving into a great legal network. More technical challenge than you might expect at the coast. Details here.

Other trails of note: Stoney Creek Trail, Jacksonville; Brunswick Nature Park, Wilmington area.

More info: Singletracks, com, Sir Bikes-a-lot, Cape Fear SORBA (Southeastern Off Road Bicycle Association), Down East Cyclists.

The post Top places to mountain bike in North Carolina appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Coast

As fall wanes, I always think about heading to the coast. The mountains are cold and the prospects of snow and ice make travel dicey; the Piedmont, well, I live in the Piedmont and love it but it doesn’t constitute a weekend escape. That leaves the coast, fall’s last refuge for color in North Carolina and a wild wonderland generally free by now of the annoying flying critters and slithering citizens who can take the fun out of a backcountry adventure.

One of the more unique aspects of the coast’s wildlife wonderland is it’s setting as the winter home of waterfowl and other migratory birds from the far north. Several wildlife refuges along the state’s northern coast offer prime habitat for these snowbirds, one of the most popular of which is the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. And every first Saturday of December, Mattamuskeet becomes even more visible as areas usually closed to the public open for tours. This year, those tours will be in open-air trams, and are offered Saturday morning at 7:30, 9 and 10:30. It’s a great opportunity to take in the stunning sight of the hundreds of thousands of waterfowl, including the pictured Tundra swan, that call Mattamuskeet their winter home.

It’s a rare opportunity, and a popular one. Though the tours are free, advanced reservations are recommended, by calling 252.926.4021. Learn more about the refuge here.

Piedmont

Years ago I took a hike that started in downtown Hillsborough, went up NC 86, traipsed through a lot of people’s backyards, played tag with the Eno River and wound up at Durham Academy. We got seriously lost once, took a bath in the Eno (a cold bath, it being February), and encountered more than our share of vehement and vocal “this-is-my-yard!” guard dogs. The hike was a retracing of the route John Lawson, the first European with pen-and-paper to explore the interior of North Carolina, took in 1701. It was probably the most fascinating hike I’ve ever taken.

The hike was the doing of Tom Magnuson, one of the most curious folks I’ve ever met. And by curious I don’t mean that he himself is … curious, I mean he’s … curious, mostly about history, especially about the routes early residents of the state, dating back thousands of years, took to get from point A to point B. So curious was Tom that he founded the Trading Path Association, dedicated to uncovering the highways of yesterday. To hike in the woods with Tom is to learn that what the untrained eye may take as a mere swale may actually be the site of a once-bustling crossroads where traders, trappers and tradesmen conducted the economy of the day.

Sunday, you’ll get a chance to experience the magic of Magnuson on a two-hour hike starting at 2 p.m. that will reveal the human past of the Few’s Ford section of the Eno River. You’ll never look at a seemingly innocent pile of rocks the same again. $5 fee supports the TPA; for directions go here,  for more info call 919.644.0600.

Mountains

It’s one thing to call yourself a mountain biker in the Triangle, the Triad or in Charlotte. It’s quite another when you venture into the high country, which boasts some of the best — and toughest — mountain biking in the East. If you’re a Piedmont pedaler who’s been tentative about making the leap, take note of this twice-monthly Beginner Group Mountain Bike Ride at Bent Creek Experimental Forest in Asheville. A couple things to know about Bent Creek in advance. One, it’s easy to get to, located not far off I-40 in Asheville. And two, while it has some intense trails, it’s also got plenty or routes perfect for the first-time-in-the-mountains mountain biker.

Sunday’s ride is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and departs from the Rice Pinnacle Trailhead. It’s advertised as an “Easy, social ride,” with helmets required. For more info, contact ride leader Rick Schrader at 828.665.0015 or at rschrader56@hotmail.com.

Photo at top by Jeff Lewis

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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

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.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

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