I was behind a low rock outcrop; the minimal understory was letting shafts of sun in here and there. Where it could, vivid orange strips lit the forest floor. I watched for about five minutes, an unusually long time for me to be still on a trail. But I had good reason.

When will I have this experience again? I wondered.

The following evening, it turned out.

I was in Asheboro for a conference and was eager to check out the (somewhat) new 5 miles of trail at the (somewhat) nearby Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in Alamance County. Though the Peach Orchard Access opened nearly a year ago, I’d been remiss in visiting, unlike when the first two sections of Cane Creek opened.

The first section, the Pine Hill trailhead, had a curious opening in late spring of 2020. The 5-mile addition was especially welcome, coming at a time when the Pandemic was driving record numbers onto trails. Curious, in that social distancing was all the rage; numerous trail networks were closed to avoid the risk of hikers bunching up; Alamance Parks cleverly dealt with the dilemma by instituting a reservation system, setting hikers down the trail at given intervals.

The Oak Hill Trailhead, just up Bass Mountain Road from Pine Hill, opened a couple years later. In both cases I was sampling the tread within the week.

Peach Orchard was to reveal a different personality — at least at first. 

Pine Hill and Oak Hill waste little time introducing you to the “Mountains” element of Cane Creek. Though the compact relict chain, which is mostly confined to Alamance County, tops out below 1,000 feet, there is some good climbing; within a half mile on Pine Hill’s Northern Approach Trail, more quickly on Pine Hill’s Lookout Trail. Pulling into the Peach Orchard parking lot I though I was embarking on a hike on the coastal plains. 

That feeling continued as I began hiking, counterclockwise, on the connected Varnals Creek and Mountain View (“view” as opposed to “experience”) trails. Mature hardwoods with minimal understory, the occasional remains of a past life (a homestead foundation and crumbling chimney, an abandoned Studebaker) and numerous dry creek crossings. A mile and a quarter in a bench before a scrub clearing provides a comfortable view of twin peaks. This civil welcome lasted until the 2.5-mile mark. After stout but short (300 vertical feet in three-quarters of a mile), you achieve the ridge and, if you time it right, awesome sunset hiking.

About that timing. The hours here accommodate a visit in the gloaming, with the gates closing about an hour after sunset. Plan to hit the ridge maybe 10 minutes before official sunset, allowing you to enjoy another 20 minutes of the most civil twilight around.

Linger. Marvel over the bright orange strips that streak across the forest floor. Enjoy the brilliantly lit canopy. And, in late summer, appreciate the breeze that accompanies the shift change from day to night. Another plus: When you do begin your descent you’ll encounter some rocks and roots for a half mile or so, then smooth tread back to your car. Still, don’t forget the headlamp (and a backup).

The next evening, after conference festivities had concluded, I drove 15 minutes to the Tot Hill Trailhead at the northern tip of the Uwharrie National Forest’s Birkhead Mountain Wilderness. I wasn’t expecting a repeat of Cane Creek, but that’s what happened/

A mile to the top, then more of a plateau than a ridge for about a mile. Accommodating hardwoods allowed a similar sunset light show as I’d had at Cane Creek.

We’re all looking forward to fall. But there’s still, meteorologically speaking, about three weeks of summer left. 

Make the most of it.

***

Heading out?

For more information, click the appropriate link:

• Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area
• Birkhead Mountain Wilderness, Uwharrie National Forest

The post Savor Summer’s end on a ridge appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

But hey, it’s the goal that has risen to the top and the one that’s proven the most motivating. Through the first five weeks of the year I have added five new trails to my hiking vitae. They are:

Fox Trail

Mayo River State Park, Mayodan

1.8 miles

Not only was it my first time on the trail, it was anyone’s first time! Mayo Mountain celebrated January 1 with the grand opening of its Fox Trail. I first hiked the park’s lone 2-mile trail shortly after it opened in April 2010. Can’t wait for more, I thought. It was a bit of a wait, 14 years, but it was worth it. The new trail explores a part of the park with rolling terrain and minimal understory. With the original trail, you can now get in a 4-mile hike at Mayo Mountain. Learn more here.

Iron Ore Belt Pit Trail

Haw River State Park: Iron Ore Belt Access, Greensboro

0.4 miles

OK, so it’s only a connector trail, but it serves two functions: one, it provided access to a long-abandoned ore pit; and, two, it offers a 2-mile option by shortening the nearly 4-mile Great Blue Heron Trail. The 2-miler makes this a good option for new hikers just beginning to build endurance. Learn more here.

Haw River State Trail: Longmeadow Trailhead

Haw River State Trail, Graham

1.8 miles (one way)

The Haw River State Trail covers 70 miles along its namesake river, from north of Greensboro to Jordan Lake. Rather, it will cover 70 miles; to date, 20 miles have been finished, including this stretch in Graham at I-40. This is flat hiking that can get a bit muddy after a rain. It appears to get less traffic than other stretches of the trail, making it great for a contemplative, escapist stroll. Learn more here.

Pioneer Camp Trail

Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area, Snow Camp

3.4 miles

Cane Creek is fast gaining a reputation as the place to go for a long hike in the Triad and Triangle region. It opened in April of 2020, at the beginning of the Pandemic, with 4.5 miles of trail at the Pine Hill Trailhead, and just last fall added 5.9 miles with its new Oak Hill Trailhead. There are two connecting loops at this trailhead, Pioneer Camp being the longest. The hiking here is similar to what you find to the southwest in the Uwharrie Mountains, with lots of surprising elevation; as one hiker on a GetHiking! hike Sunday groaned: “Does this ever go down?” Yes … eventually. Learn more here.

Lookout Trail

Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area, Snow Camp

2.5 miles

This is the shorter of Pine Hill’s two trails, but atop Cane Creek Mountain, topping out at just under 1,000 feet, Lookout connects with the Northern Approach Trail on the Oak Hill side of this Alamance Parks natural area. Lookout provides the best view in the park, a view that will get better with a planned observation tower to be built nearby. You can now hike nearly 10 miles of connected trail at Cane Creek, with another 6 miles coming soon. Plans call for an eventual 24 miles of trail at Cane Creek. Learn more here.

New trails: a good way to add new perspective to your hiking in the new year.

The post New Year, new trails appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

You’re eager to show your visiting friends and family why you love living in the region: the outdoor opportunities that make this such a wonderful place to explore. You also don’t want to alienate your guests — or worse, harm them! — by taking them on an outing beyond their capabilities. Fortunately, you can do the former while avoiding the latter with the 10 hikes below, hikes that offer considerable esthetic bang for minimal physical exertion. 

We give a short description of why these hikes are suitable for the non-adventurous in your life, then provide a link for additional information.

Coast, coastal plain

The Basin Trail

2.2 miles (out and back)

Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Kure Beach

Spending time at the coast this holiday season? This hike, just outside Wilmington, starts at the Atlantic Ocean and makes its way through open marsh (the soggier parts are on elevated boardwalk) to The Basin on the sound side. At the midpoint, visit an old World War II munitions bunker that was later home, for more than a decade, to the Fort Fisher Hermit.

More info here.

Bay Trail

4 miles

Jones Lake State Park, Elizabethtown

Need to get your beloved visitors out of the house for the day? Send them to Jones Lake southeast of Fayetteville for a 4-mile meander around a regional oddity: a Carolina bay. No one is quite sure how these shallow, oval-shaped bays originated (the result of a meteor shower is the best bet), but there were once a half million of them along the East Coast. The hike around this surviving bay is half pine savanna, half swampy bay forest, all flat.

More info here.

Charlotte area

The Boulders Access

0.5 miles

Crowders Mountain State Park, Kings Mountain

Lure your hiking-recalcitrant crew to The Boulders with the promise of seeing the boulders just a short hike from the car. Then, when they’re smitten, suggest hiking just a little farther, a little farther, a little farther on the Ridgeline Trail, which will take you either south into South Carolina or north for about six miles to the main part of Crowders Mountain State Park.

More info here.

Triangle

The Peaks Loop

1/2 mile

Horton Grove Nature Preserve, Bahama

This half-mile trail is especially alluring in late fall, with the mature beech forest casting a brilliant yellow glow over a carpet of copper leaves. Ridgeline and valley hiking, with a short drop in, a short climb out on well-groomed trail. Want more? Tack on the 0.8-mile Holman Loop through a recovering Piedmont prairie.

More info here. 

Seven Mile Creek Natural Area

2 miles

Orange County southwest of Hillsborough

You’ll find some of the foot-friendliest trail around on this ramble through mature upland woods and down to Seven Mile Creek, a spritely creek that, shortly, feeds into the Eno River. The preserve’s difficult-to-find trailhead all but insures you’ll avoid holiday crowds.

More info here.

Pump Station Trail

1.5 miles

Pump Station Access, Eno River State Park, Durham

An especially good hike for kids — closely supervised kids — because it takes in the ruins of the old Durham waterworks. Brick foundations, an old dam, and other remnants of the long-abandoned water plant make for great kid exploring. The trail includes a stretch along a particularly rocky run of the Eno.

More info here.

De hart Botanical Garden

up to 4 miles

Louisburg

A short hike in gets you to a waterfall, a bamboo garden and a lake with a rock outcrop perfect for hanging out on. Venture farther and you’ll find another waterfall and one of the oldest white oak trees in the region. Something is always in bloom at this 92-acre preserve off U.S. 401 between Raleigh and Louisburg.

More info here.

Triad

Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area

2.5 miles

Snow Camp

Live in the Triad or Triangle and don’t have time to visit the mountains? How about the mountains in our midst, the Cane Creek Mountains south of Burlington? You’ll get an Appalachian-type experience on this 2.5-mile loop that traverses surprisingly rocky terrain before topping out just below 1,000 feet. A bit more of a physical investment, but the payoff is worth it.

More info here. 

Horne Creek Trail

2.5 miles

Bean Shoals Access, Pilot Mountain State Park, Pinnacle

The main parking area atop Pilot Mountain gets so crowded on weekends that hikers are now shuttled from the base to the summit. Avoid Pilot’s plenty by heading to the Bean Shoals Access and hiking this flatter stretch of trail that includes intimate Horne Creek and the expansive Yadkiin River.

More info here.

Little Long Mountain

1.6 miles (out and back) 

Uwharrie National Forest, Asheboro

From the Joe Moffitt Trailhead it’s a 0.8-mile hike up the north side of the 922-foot mountain (you’ll pass a spring midway, on your left) to the best on-trail view in the Uwharrie range. From the summit meadow you have a 240-degree view from the east to the south to the west; early risers can catch sunrise, night-owls sunset and the rest of us an expansive view of this relict central North Carolina mountain range.

More info here.

The post 10 Hikes for Holiday Visitors appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

In Wednesday’s post, we noted that the Texas Medical Association, among others, has deemed camping one of the lowest-risk things you can do in these coronavirusly challenging times. Only opening your mail offers a lower risk.

Wednesday, we explained why camping is low risk and that even if you think you don’t have any camping gear, you probably have most of what you need. Today, we promised to share five of our favorite campgrounds in the state, with a quick description of why.

Please note that reservations are highly recommended for all. Especially with a lot of campgrounds closed, demand for good sites is greater than ever. Click the attached link for each to check availability and to make a reservation.

Be advised, too, that bears like campgrounds. To dissuade bear activity, always lock your food up at night: some sites have storage bins, otherwise, put your food in your trunk. Don’t even think about sleeping with that middle-of-the-night Snickers.

Now, on  to our five faves.

Davidson River Campground

Brevard

Elevation 2,150 feet

Cost per night : $24-$48

No. of sites: 144

Our favorite, and a lot of people’s favorite. Used to be if you showed up and camped out at the gate in the morning you might be able to score a walk-up site. No more. It’s popularity will be evident as soon as you drive in, with several loops of campsites well-spaced beneath a mature canopy of Southern Appalachian hardwoods. The Davidson River runs through the campground, offering good fly fishing, wading and tubing; US 276 takes you up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in about 20 minutes to some great high-elevation hiking; if you don’t want to get in the car, the 31-mile Art Loeb Trail starts at the east end of the campground. 

For more info go here

North Mills River Campground

Mills River, N.C. (roughly between Asheville and Brevard)

Elevation 2,200 feet

Cost per night: $24-$40

No. of sites: 24

North Mills River bailed us out on numerous occasions back in the 1990s when we were shut out at the aforementioned Davidson River Campground just down the road. That’s one reason we like it: it’s not nearly as well known. It’s also more intimate and more rustic, but with many of the same recreational opportunities as Davidson River: Mills River is a slightly smaller but equally as perky version of Davidson River, and a trail headed north out of camp quickly gives you multiple options for climbing the Blue Ridge Escarpment, including our favorite, the 8.3-mile Coffee Pot Mountain Loop Trail. A great base camp if you’re looking to get in some miles.

For more info go here.

Black Mountain Campground

Burnesville (at the base of Mount Mitchell’s eastern flank)

Elevation: 3,040 feet

Cost per night: $22-$44

No of sites: 37

From your front door, you can fish the South Toe River (or simply loll about in its chill waters), or you can scale the highest peak east of South Dakota’s Black Hills. The 5.7-mile Mount Mitchell Trail climbs about 3,700 vertical feet on it’s way to 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell and the top of the East Coast in a very cool boreal forest. Or, you can drive about 45 minutes and reach the top, in Mount Mitchell State Park. Do the later and you can spend time scrambling over a series of 6,000-foot peaks — Mount Craig, Big Tom, Balsam Cone, Cattail Peak and Potato Hill — on the rugged (and sometimes closed, so check ahead) Black Mountain Crest Trail. If you’ve been eager to wear your fleece of late, this is the place.

For more info go here

Curtis Creek Campground

Old Fort

Elevation: 1,800 feet

$10

No. of sites: 25

This one’s a sleeper: tucked up a canyon outside Old Fort, Curtis Creek is a gem-of-a-basecamp for this looking to explore some of the oldest forest in the National Forest Service system, dating back more than a century. There’s bonafide old growth forest in the steep canyons rising from Curtis Creek, including one accessible from the campground that head’s up Hickory Branch. Some great mountain biking as well (the campground is located on the route of the Off-Road Assault on Mount Mitchell); Curtis Creek is small but offers cool relief from the heat of summer.

For more info go here

Standing Indian Campground

Franklin

Elevation: 3,450 feet

Cost per night: $20 – $75

No. of sites:  81

This campground was renovated a few years back, with the emphasis on letting campers get spread out from one another. A great family campground with lazy paved roads perfect for kids on bikes. There’s a camp store, and access to Kimsey Creek. But the big plus here is the hiking, especially the access to the Appalachian Trail, which is fed by at least seven trails that come up from in or near the campground. Some good waterfall exploring, too, along FR 67. The higher elevation means that when the sun drops below the ridge it won’t be long before you’ll be slipping into a light fleece. 

For more info go here

Today’s video

Today’s video was from Wednesday’s GetHiking! Triad hike at the new Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in Alamance County. The new preserve, with about three miles of trail, is open by reservation only. It’s free, they’re just trying to keep a lid on the number of hikers there at any one time. You can learn more about the area at the Alamance Parks website. You can also check out our new GetHiking! Guide to the Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area in our bookstore. Enter code BD46SC84 and the guide is free through the weekend.

The post GetOut! Our Friday Nudge include 5 of our favorite N.C. Campgrounds appeared first on GetGoing NC!.