Bob and Henry aren’t free soloists; in fact, climbing may be the only outdoor adventure they don’t do. Among other things, Henry is section hiking the Appalachian Trail, while Bob starts his day with a 5-mile run, ends it with a 3-mile hike, and works in, say, a 20-mile mountain bike ride in between. The pair usually work in a paddle trip together every couple of weeks, a hike as well. Maybe they don’t scamper up El Cap without a rope, but for a couple of retired guys, they’re doing pretty good.

This morning’s adventure was a hike and while they were only going 8 miles, most of it was off trail. Some of it over cliffs, some through rhododendron hells, all of it on the 2-3 inches of snow and ice remaining from Sunday’s storm. I won’t reveal too much about the mile or so I hiked with them; for that, you’ll need to listen to next week’s GetHiking! Southeast Podcast. What I will say is that in retirement both have blossomed as adventurers, with both acknowledging that they are in far better shape today than when they left the workforce. 

“I’ll just keep going like this as long as I can,” Henry said early in the hike. 

Why do they remind me of Alex Honnold? Because among  their “golden years” cohort, what they do may seem similarly remarkable. Thing is, it’s not. While they may be the exception, they are not alone. And growing numbers of 50+ folks are joining the ranks and pushing themselves like never before. Folks who GetGoing After 50 is a topic we’ll be exploring at length in the coming months.

In the meantime, the 2019 post on Honnold follows. Marvel in his accomplishments, then think about what you might do that would cause you to flash your own Honnold “smile.”

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Talking with author/climber Mark Synnott earlier this week about his new book, “The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life,” I was touched by something vaguely familiar. Vaguely, and weirdly, because the book is about one of the most audacious physical and psychological feats of our time: Honnold’s ascent of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot near-sheer rockface in Yosemite National Park — without any form of protection to save him should he slip from one of the wall’s precarious microscopic holds. What could possibly be familiar about that?

Honnold has climbed, mostly without a rope, throughout much of the world on some of the globe’s toughest mountains. Despite living on what he describes as “the income of a moderately successful dentist,” he still prefers to live in his van, even when it’s parked in the driveway of his Las Vegas home. And after knocking off El Cap on June 3, 2017, at 9:28 a.m., how did he celebrate? By hanging for more than an hour on his Beastmaster Hangboard, a strip of hardwood with microscope indentions that he uses to build arm, finger and torso strength. Why the hangboard? Well, because he does this every other day as part of his training, and his epic climb just happened to occur on a training day.

So again, how could Honnold’s story even remotely feel familiar?

Then I thought about “the smile.” When Honnold successfully executed the hardest part of his El Cap climb — an especially tenuous move called the Boulder Problem — he turned to one of the camera’s documenting the climb for the film “Free Solo” and flashed a huge grin. That grin, says Synnott and others who know Honnold, is rare. “You see that smile,” says Synnott, “you stand in the presence of that, it washes over you.”

Then it hit me. I haven’t necessarily seen that smile before, but I have seen that look, the “one that washes over you.”

The look

On our backpack trip into the Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness a couple weeks back we were making our way down a particularly challenging stretch of the Slickrock Creek Trail. We were losing elevation at a dizzying rate — in one stretch, about 1,400 feet in less than a mile. The trail was overgrown, and it was criss-crossed by more than 30 downed trees — Joyce Kilmer-sized sentinels of ample girth. At one point, after a particularly challenging crossing, I looked up the trail expecting to looks of concern, at best, anger at the least. I didn’t see any Honnoldesque grins, but I what I did see surprised me. I saw people, many of whom were either retired or of retirement age, very focused on the task at hand. Not one person looked worried or defeated. All were in the moment. They knew a wilderness area would present challenges unlike what they’d seen hiking in a state park. That was why they were here: they were aware of the challenge, and they were embracing it.

Same thing a year earlier on our annual dive into Linville Gorge. A late start and a wrong turn left us a mile and a half from camp in waning light in the midst of a classic, homegrown Linville thunderstorm. We righted ourselves, then, a half hour later, wronged ourselves again. We ended up pulling into a makeshift camp at 11 p.m., low on water, wet, and five hours past feeding time. Yet the next morning, there was nary a word about the previous evening. Rather, everyone was eager for the day ahead.

I feel this presence on local day hikes. Someone who’s never hiked 5 miles before, who’s never hiked in 85-degree heat, shows up because she wants to push her limits. The hike may not be easy, it may not be entirely enjoyable. But they do it and you can feel their sense of accomplishment.

Facing the ‘impossible’

Some argue that Alex Honnold lacks a sense of fear, that his brain is wired in such a way that he doesn’t experience fear. Honnold pooh-poohs the notion (and an MRI scan of his brain reported in Synnott’s book appears to back him up), saying he feels fear all right, he’s just better at managing it than most (which he does in part by being extremely prepared). If you want something bad enough, he says, you figure out how to make it happen.

That’s what resonated with me, with Honnold’s story. The people who do our trips aren’t, for the most part, athletes who’ve dedicated their lives to training for the impossible. Most have jobs and have to deal with the day-to-day of survival. But, like Honnold, they’re driven by that spark to feel, even for just an afternoon or a weekend, truly alive. To feel good about themselves in a way that binge watching the latest Netflix series or buying a Tesla can’t touch.

To do for themselves what might seem, like the audacious free solo of a 3,000-foot rock face, the impossible.

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Test yourself

Eager to flash your own Honnold smile? Here are some upcoming opportunities:

GetHiking! Winter Wild Adventure Series. We have two Winter Wild off-trail hikes remaining in our 2021-22 series: Hanging Rock’s Three Sisters on February 5, 6-7 miles; Birkhead Mountains Wilderness, March 12, 8 miles. Learn more here.

GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking. Our three-part class — including a gear session via Zoom, a 5-hour in-field training session, and a weekend graduation trip — will turn you from nervous novice to competent, confident backcountry explorer in time for the spring backpacking season. Our spring session starts Feb. 23; learn more and sign up here if you live in North Carolina, here if you’re in Virginia.

GetHiking! Weekend Escape to Jones Lake State Park. Give your hiking legs some pre-spring training with this 15-mile weekend on trail at Jones Lake, Turnbull State Educational Forest and Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area. Learn more and sign up here.

The post GetGoing After 50: tales of ‘extreme’ aging appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Piedmont

1. Umstead State Park: Company Mill Trail with Sycamore Loop
10 miles
Raleigh
A figure-eight double lollipop loop that exposes you to the best of Umstead. Starting from the Harrison Avenue entrance to Umstead (a k a the Reedy Creek entrance) on the Company Mill Trail, top three small ridges on your way to Crabtree Creek. Cross the green metal bridge and go right. You’ll follow Crabtree for a spell, climb to the bike and bridle trail that bisects the park and continue across. Shortly, you’ll hit a kiosk indicating a short spur to the Sycamore Trail; follow it to another B&B trail, go left over the bridge, then pick up Sycamore just past the bridge, to the right. There’s a half-mile stretch along Sycamore Creek (quite lively just after or during a rain), then the trail climbs through the hardwood Piedmont forest prevalent throughout before crossing another B&B. Within a quarter mile, the trail Ts. To get in your full 10 miles, go right to yet another B&B crossing, then turn and complete the opposite side of the Sycamore-Company Mill figure-eight. Lots of up-and-down, but nothing sustained. No water along the way (don’t risk filtering these urban creeks), so pack plenty.
Trailhead: 2100 N. Harrison Ave,, Cary. 

More info, including a map, at the Umstead State Park website.

2. Uwharrie National Forest: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness lollipop loop
11.8 miles
Asheboro
Starting from the trailhead off Tot Hill Road, you’ll hike the Birkhead Mountain Trail south for two miles before hitting the popular loop that Boy Scouts, among others, have been using for years to cut their backpacking teeth. Where the Robbins Branch Trail enters from the right, continue straight on the Birkhead for two miles. Note along the way that despite the fact this is a designated wilderness, the trail is well blazed. After two miles, go right on the Hannahs Creek Trail, where, for the first time, you abandon ridgelines in favor of passages along holly-clogged creeks. After a mile and a half, go right on the Robbins Branch Trail, which climbs a rocky (for the Piedmont) ridgeline before dropping to its namesake creek and rejoining the Birkhead after 3.2 miles. Go left for the two-mile return to your car. You can filter water from Hannahs Creek and Robbins Branch, though both run low in summer and during dry weather.
Trailhead: 3091 Tot Hill Farm Road, Asheboro.
More info here.

3. Uwharrie National Forest: Uwharrie National Recreation Trail
25.3 miles
Troy/Asheboro
The Uwharrie National Recreation Trail has long been the default long hike for Boy Scouts in the Piedmont. In part, that was because it was the only game in town — and what a game it was, extending 50 miles at one point in the 1970s. The trail shrank in the 1980s and 1990s, but has since rebounded and is back up to about 40 miles. This stretch remains the classic Uwharrie Trail. Starting from the trailhead off NC 24/27, the trail heads north through what was once a mighty mountain range, with peaks topping 20,000 feet. Today, nothing along the trail reaches 1,000 feet, and while the climbs aren’t Appalachian, they’re more sustained than any you’ll find elsewhere in the Piedmont. It’s a good workout, and great training for backpackers prepping for a mountain trip. Several small waterways cross paths with the trail and can be filtered — when they’re running.
Trailheads: The southern trailhead is 9.3 miles west of Troy on NC 24/27; the northern trailhead is at 6871 High Pine Church Road, Asheboro.
More info: For information on hiking the Uwharries, consult the “Uwharrie Lakes Region Trail Guide,” by Don Childrey, here; find a detailed trip description of the 22.9-mile hike from NC 24/27 to the Jumpingoff Rock Trailhead in “Backpacking North Carolina” (UNC Press, 2011).

4. Hanging Rock State Park: Moore’s Knob and Indian Creek trails
5.5 / 11.5 miles
Danbury
Starting from the Visitor Center, the 4.3-mile Moore’s Knob Loop Trail makes a dandy warm-up. It starts innocently, passing the lake and bathouse, then probing a tunnel of holly. About a mile in, it’s time to get down to business, with a long ridge ascent to Moore’s Knob. It’s a bit relentless, this climb, getting rockier and ridgier the higher you get. The payoff: great 360 views from the observation tower atop Moore’s Knob. Continue the loop back to the Visitor Center for Round 2. The Indian Creek Trail descends, along with scores of hikers, to Hidden and Window falls. Return to the Visitor Center from here and it’s a 5.5-mile hike. Continue another three miles to the Dan River and back and you’re at 11.5.
Trailhead: Visitor Center, 1790 Hanging Rock Park Road, Danbury
More info here.

5. Crowders Mountain State Park/Kings Mountain State Park (S.C.): Ridgeline Trail
5.5, 9, 12 miles
Gastonia
The 6.2-mile Ridgeline Trail joins two state parks (Crowders Mountain and Kings Mountain) and the Kings Mountain National Military Park, plus it involves two states, which gives you added bragging rights. Starting from the Crowders Mountain Visitor Center, hike to the base of Kings Pinnacle and don’t pass the opportunity to take the short spur to the top for great views. Back on the Ridgeline Trail, continue south through rolling Piedmont countryside. Near the south end of Crowders Mountain State Park, you’ll see a sign for the Boulders Access area; turn around here for a 9-mile hike (for a 5.5-mile hike, turn around at NC 161). The Ridgeline Trail officially ends at South Carolina state line — but you can continue on into the Palmetto State, which is dead flat to Kings Mountain State Park. To avoid the crowds, start from the Boulders Access, 108 Van Dyke Road, Kings Mountain.
Trailhead: Sparrow Springs Access and Visitor Center, Crowders Mountain State Park, 522 Park Office Lane.
More info here.

6. Eno River: Mountains-to-Sea Trail
7.8 miles
Durham and Orange counties
Starting from the west, at the Pleasant Green Access, hike under Pleasant Green Road bridge, up a bluff overlooking the Eno, around an abandoned quarry, through surprising stretches of steep climbs and sharp drops. You’ll part ways with the Eno, then you’ll reunite. At one point, pass the impressive foundation of a lodge that once stood atop a bluff over the Eno. This is perhaps the most challenging stretch of trail along the Eno. Pass under Cole Mill Road and the trail mellows, heading through flood plain forest and occasionally taking a more upland route. Your turnaround is the old pump station, which a century ago supplied water to Durham. Poke around the remains, a brick foundation, have lunch, then hike back the way you came.
Trailhead: 4770 Pleasant Green Road, Durham.
More info: Find detailed descriptions of the two sections making up this stretch on the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail website.

7. Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake
21.8 miles
Wake and Durham counties
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail runs 60 miles along the south shore of Falls Lake through the Triangle. With the trail broken down into 18 day-hike sections, ranging in length from just under a mile to nearly seven, there are plenty of 20-mile(ish) permutations. Here’s a favorite. Starting from the Falls Lake ranger station off NC 50, hike west. Immediately, you are in the most remote stretch of the MST along Falls Lake, a nearly seven-mile run where signs of your fellow humans are rare (save for the remains of an old tobacco barn and what appears to have been a commercial chicken coop). The trail ducks in and out of coves on the lake, loses sight of it occasionally, has some boardwalked, swampy passages. At Little Lick Creek there’s an impressive pedestrian footbridge followed by an impressively narrow and long boardwalk. From there, it’s more hiking typical of a Piedmont hardwood forest. This 21.8-mile stretch concludes at the Hickory Hill Boat Ramp: no facilities but lots of parking. There is no water along the way; be sure to pack in plenty.
Trailhead: 14700 Creedmoor Road, Wake Forest
More info: For more information on navigating this stretch and for scouting your own 20-mile hike on the MST at Falls Lake, go here.

8. Sauratown Trail
Between Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock state parks
21.6 miles
Though part of the statewide hiking-centric Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the Sauratown Trail originally was built for equestrians. As a result, it often exhibits a slightly more rugged feel. For instance, instead of a footbridge over every wet spot, you have running creeks that are rock-hopped. Also, horses apparently have less of a problem with direct assaults on climbs, adding a vigorous ascent or two. All of which underscores the particular allure of this trail: its naturalness. The trail is never hard to find, but you’ll know you’re not on a finely groomed state park trail. Starting from Pilot Mountain, the trail heads east, tracing the north flank of Sauratown Mountain. There are some particularly scenic passages, including a waterfall or two that would seem more appropriate about 75 miles to the west, along the Blue Ridge escarpment. There’s a doozy of a climb when the trail reaches Hanging Rock State Park, but you’re rewarded with great views from atop Moore’s Knob. End your hike at the Hanging Rock Visitor Center. Note: Much of this trail is on private land, access generously granted from local landowners. Occasionally, land changes hands and the new land owner may not be as keen about a public trail. Thus, trail rerouting is common, and is well documented on the Sauratown Trails Association website.
Trailheads: Pilot Mountain State Park Visitor Center, 1792 Pilot Knob Park Road, Pinnacle, to the west, Hanging Rock Visitor Center, 1790 Hanging Rock Park Road, Danbury, to the east.
More info: Check out the aforementioned Sauartown Trails Association web site.

9. Pilot Creek Trail

Pilot Mountain State Park

6.6 miles (out and back). 

When this list first appeared we recommended the trails accessed at the summit of Pilot Mountain. But since 2012, those trails have been discovered: on nice weekends it can take a half hour or more just to score a parking spot up top. Now, our favorite Pilot Mountain trail is Pilot Creek, which starts from an access off Boyd Nelson Road north of the park and works its way along the north flank of the mountain to connect with the Grindstone Trail. Pilot Creek offers much of what hikers flock to Pilot Mountain for: rocky terrain and some moderately challenging climbs. You won’t get the views (it sticks to the base of the mountain), but you won’t get the crowds, either.

Trailhead: Pilot Creek Access, Pilot Mountain State Park, 382 Boyd Nelson Road, Pinnacle

More info here.

Blue Ridge Escarpment

10. Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Holloway Mountain Road

Blue Ridge Parkway

7.6 miles

Heading west on the MST from Holloway Mountain Road, the trail goes uphill into an open pasture, then spends a mile or so noodling through smaller pastures; the edge forests through here should be good for early color. Note: when you enter one of these clearings, the trail may not be obvious; if not, take a moment to survey across the way for the next visible white-dot MST blaze. These pasture pockets give way about midway to dense forest, where the evergreens should provide nice contrast to the emerging hardwood color. We suggest turning around just shy of the Boone Fork Parking Area, a popular access spot along the Parkway.

Trailhead: From Milepost 298.6 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, head west on Holloway Mountain

Road for about a mile, to where the MST crosses.

More info here, at the Mountains-to-Sea Trail online trail guide for this section.

11. Rock Castle Gorge

Rocky Knob Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia)

10.4 miles

This is one gorgeous hike that the masses aren’t likely to undertake. And they certainly aren’t going to pick it up from this hidden trailhead at the bottom of the gorge. Pick up the trail and hike counterclockwise, hiking up Little Rock Castle Creek through a spectacular hardwood forest. Mellow at first, the trail has a steep climb requiring some scrambling, before entering another mature hardwood forest and, shortly, reaching the Parkway. From there, it’s about 3.5 miles along the ridge, through several open meadows, before descending back into the gorge. The last 2.5 miles is a relaxing downhill along Rock Castle Creek.

Trailhead: Primitive camping trailhead at the base of the gorge, off VA 8. From the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Rocky Knob Campground, take VA 8 headed south. After 3.6 miles, go right on Rock Castle Road, which will terminate shortly at the trailhead. Hike in about 200 feet to pick up the trail.

More info here.

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Cool off-trail hikes

Another thing we like to do when the weather cools: hike off trail. On old roadbeds, on game trail, through areas choked with vegetation in warmer months. We do 5 such hikes in this series of monthly hikes, which begin in November and end in March. Learn more here.

The post Long hikes for cool fall days appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Whether anyone had preceded me up these steep canyons was beside the point. I was a good 15 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park, which even 40 years ago was a hiker haven. I wasn’t even on a less popular National Forest trail. I was on my own, seeing things that, OK, maybe someone — but not many — had seen.

I get that same feeling today when I go off trail. The feeling that while I ain’t exactly hiking terra incognita, I am hiking where I likely won’t see another soul. Always a treat, but even more so since March, when everyone discovered hiking.

Winter Wild: escape the masses

When I started our Winter Wild hiking series in 2018, my goal was to take people backstage to some of their favorite hiking destinations. We went to the Three Sisters area of Hanging Rock, where three peaks at the eastern end of the Sauratown Mountain Range go largely unexplored, even on a sunny winter day when nearby Hanging Rock looks like an anthill. We went to the Birkhead Wilderness Area of the Uwharrie National Forest, where we found a long-abandoned gold mine and other signs of a distant human past. We went to busy Eno River State Park in Durham, but to an area that wasn’t; ditto Umstead State Park in Raleigh. We explored game lands on Sundays, a day of rest for North Carolina hunters.

For our first two years, going off trail in winter was an esthetic thing: the long views thanks to a naked understory and canopy, the brilliant sunlight from the source at its closest point to Earth, the quiet. And while all that’s just as important with this, our third Winter Wild season, of almost greater importance is the solitude factor. 

Since March, it seems everyone has discovered hiking. With little else to do, the masses took to the one thing that was deemed safe: outdoor activity. And for most, that meant hiking. Which is great: as our numbers soar, the demand for more public lands with hiking trail will soar likewise. But until then, until surging demand can be met, we need to be more creative in finding the solitude we crave on the trail. 

Where we’re headed

Our Winter Wild program is one way to make that happen. We largely avoid established hiking trails in favor of game trails, abandoned road beds and mild timber bashing.

Here’s a quick look at the six hikes in this year’s series, which begins Nov. 21.

• Eno Wilderness, Eno River State Park, Durham. Saturday, Nov. 21. Eno Wilderness. 7-8 miles. The 820-acre Eno Wilderness is on our schedule for the third year in a row. This year, we probe farther west, exploring some of the higher, steeper sections of the park.
• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury. Saturday Dec. 22. 8 miles, nearly all off-trail. Three off-trail peaks in the park, a plane crash site, the recently added Mill Creek grasslands. There’s some mild scrambling; save for a brief run out to Hanging Rock, we have the woods to ourselves.
• Butner Game Lands, Falls Lake State Recreation Area, Creedmoor. Sunday, Jan. 3. 6 miles. Wetlands and waterfowl habitat on north side of Falls Lake. The 40,670-acre Butner game lands primarily on the north side of Falls Lake offers mellow hiking on old roadbeds that pass impoundments housing overwintering waterfowl.

• 

  Caswell Game Lands, near Yanceyville (about an hour northwest of the Triangle). Sunday, Jan. 17. 6 miles. 18,000 acres of public land sits atop the Piedmont plateau in north central North Carolina, offering access to lands managed to protect wildlife. A bit more wild than Butner, but still relatively mellow.

• Birkhead Mountain Wilderness, Uwharrie National Forest, Asheboro. Saturday, February 6. 8 miles. A bonafide designated wilderness area (class of 1984) sits on the northern edge of the Uwharries. Our trek  plunges into the wilderness, including a visit to a long-abandoned gold mining operation and passage along ridge lines that, in winter, offer vistas of this ancient mountain range in the heart of the state.
• Umstead State Park, Raleigh, Saturday, March 6. 6-8 miles. A mature beech grove, the park’s Civilian Conservation Corps camp, a short-lived Boy Scout camp, a homestead or two, and best of all, escape from the crowds that make Umstead the most visited State Park in North Carolina. We’ll also catch some trout lilies, spring beauties and other emerging signs of spring.

True escape is hard to come by. But on at least six days this winter, you can bet you’ll find it with our Winter Wild series.

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Join us!

Learn more about our Winter Wild series and sign up to join us by going here. Note: the series is limited to 10 participants.

The post Winter Wild: Solitude when you need it most appeared first on GetGoing NC!.