* * *

Before we set out Saturday morning from our campsite at Yellow Mountain Gap on the Appalachian Trail, I outlined the morning plan. “We’ve got a long climb — 900 vertical feet in 1.7 miles — up to Little Hump Mountain. We’ll take a break there. Then head on to Hump Mountain for lunch.”

The afternoon before we’d started from Carver’s Gap around 1:30. “The first mile is one long great view,” I explained. “Sunset isn’t until 8:03, so we’ve got plenty of time.”

I’d made a variation of that speech on at least a dozen previous trips on this revered 14-mile run of the AT from Carver’s Gap to US 19E. The backpackers are always glad to hear there’s no rush — then proceed to rush after paying brief homage to the more deserving views. Maybe spend 5 minutes at Round Bald, taking in the 360-degree views of everything from Roan High Knob to Grassy Ridge to ridge after ridge fading west into Tennessee, a few minutes less at adjoining Jane Bald. The grass is always greener at the next bald, apparently.

But this group was different. We hung out at Round Bald for a good 15 minutes, stayed nearly as long at Jane Bald. Even after descending into the mountain ash forest at Roan Mountain, we stopped frequently, for the wildflowers (white snakeroot, yellow sneezeweed), to check out a briskly running spring, to enjoy more wildflowers.

To be clear, these three hikers weren’t stopping to catch their breath. I’d hiked with all three before: Marie had done one of the toughest trips we do, the four-day, 37-mile Virginia Triple Crown; Nick’s done several trips, including the rugged Joyce Kilmer Wilderness; and Sue has done most of our trips and had just gotten back from a 7-day trip with the Sierra Club in the White Mountains. They’re three of the strongest folks I hike with.

With all the stops we still made it to camp before 5 p.m. — three hours before sunset, with plenty of time to enjoy camp.

* * *

When we set out Saturday morning — sleeping in and leaving camp around 9 — I was prepared for another leisurely day on the trail. We stopped about 15 minutes in at a clearing overlooking where we’d camped. We stopped a short while later to check out an ancient barbed wire fence atop the razor-sharp ridge (“They had cattle up here?”). We stopped to check out a likewise perplexing ridgeline roadbed that had once, presumably, served a vital function. When we topped 5,453-foot Little Hump Mountain, we dropped our packs and settled in for the view. 

Fifteen minutes later we were back on the trail, descending off the bald into another mountain ash forest, then into Bradley Gap at the base of Hump Mountain, the entire mile-long climb visible before us.

“We’ll stop for lunch at the top,” I said.

I’ve done this trip in good weather in the past (I’ve also done it in blinding rain), but the conditions this past weekend were the best I’d ever seen. The temperature was in the upper 60s, early on there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. When we reached the top of Hump Mountain a few scattered and harmless white clouds were drifting in from the west. We stopped at a rock outcrop with a plaque honoring Stan Murray, founder of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, the perfect place to stretch out for lunch. 

“We’ll hang out here a little longer than usual,” I said. “How does an hour sound?” Later, Sue said she was expecting me to say 20 minutes. “You rarely get a lunch break that long on a guided hike.”

After an hour had come and gone, I surveyed my fellow hikers. One appeared to be asleep; one, who’d set up her Helinox camp chair, appeared to be in a trance; one was gazing intently to the southeast. “It’s only a little over an hour to camp,” I said. “If we leave now, we’ll be there by 2:30. You good with staying here a while longer?” They were. So we stayed another hour.

I recall maybe 10 words being said that whole time. I drifted in and out of a light sleep, thoughts pingponging to unexpected places. At first, I smelled a hamburger, a specific hamburger, one from the grill at a pool where I grew up. That made me think of water and my Mike Nelson phase, which made me think of Gragg Prong in the Wilson Creek area, the best summer swimming hole in the Southeast. I thought about my first swimming hole, a mountain reservoir near where I went to school, where I spent a summer diving into its icy waters, then sunning on its exposed granite. I remembered that odd, orange glow on the insides of my closed eyelids, the same glow I was feeling now. It was the feeling of being young, without a care in the world. It was the holy grail of being in the wild.

* * *

As our shuttle driver was unloading us at Carver’s Gap Friday, one of our group said, “Well, maybe we’ll see you again on Sunday.”

“Sunday?” he huffed. “You’re taking two nights to do this? You’re gonna get bored.” 

It struck me as an odd thing to say for someone who makes a living based on hikers’ love affair with these mountains. It also struck me as flat out wrong. Later, recalling the exchange, I told the group, “You could do this trail every week for the rest of your life and not get bored.”

Especially when you take the time to enjoy.

* * *

Last chances

Eager for that feel-like-a-kid feeling on the trail? We have two that can’t miss.

GetBackpacking! Virginia’s Triple Crown. We have one more backpack trip on the schedule this year, one more opportunity this year to feel young! It’s a four-day, 35-mile trip in late October taking in Virginia’s Triple Crown: McAfee Knob, Tinker Cliffs and Dragon’s Tooth. Learn more and sign up to join us here. Two spots remain.

GetHiking! Weekend Classic Escape on the AT at Hot Springs. Not into camping but love hiking? We’ve got one other last chance just for you, our GetHiking! Fall Weekend Escape on the Appalachian Trail at Hot Springs. Stay in the Hot Springs Lodge/Cabins, enjoy two days of late fall (first weekend in November) hiking on the Appalachian Trail. Learn more and sign up to join us here.

The post The slower the better: a weekend on the AT appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Your options …

March

Mount Rogers, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia

• 20 miles (basecamp backpack)
• 2 nights
• March 11-13

The Mount Rogers area of southwest Virginia is one of the most scenic and popular backpacking destinations in the Southeast. It includes the two highest points in Virginia and open terrain akin to what you might expect out West. If you’re a backpacker and it’s not on your bucket list, it should be. On this trip we hike in a mile or so east from Elk Garden off Whitetop Road and set up basecamp. Saturday, we don daypacks for a 12.5-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail into the heart of Mount Rogers (including summiting the 5,772-foot peak, returning on the Virginia Horse Trail. Sunday, we hike to 5,525-foot Whitetop for more great views.

Learn more and register here.

April

Ideally, you don’t want to see anyone on a backpack trip, save perhaps for the folks in your group (and even then … ). That’s what tends to keep us away from some of the more popular areas. Unless you happen to know where the back door is, such as this one to …

Shining Rock Wilderness via Big East Fork

• 19-mile loop
• 3 days, 2 nights
• April 22-24

There are days when the Black Balsam parking lot at the mouth of Shining Rock is more jammed than a Walmart lot on Black Friday. Everyone wants a piece of the Shining Rock/ Art Loeb/Tennent Mountain/Black Balsam action. But head in from the Big East Fork trailhead off U.S. 276 and you’ll think it was Christmas Day. Sure, there’s a challenging 4.5-mile climb to Shining Rock Gap, but the carrot — sunset from atop the white quartz outcrop — is so worth it. You’ll mix it up briefly with the BBM (Black Balsam Masses) on Day 2 as you cross the Art Loeb Trail, but lose them when you slip behind Graveyard Fields and head down Big East Fork.

Difficulty: Strenuous, though about three quarters of the climbing is on Day 1.

Learn more and sigh up here.

May

In our backpacking lives there comes a trip where stop repeatedly and marvel, “This hike’s got it all.” “This hike,” in our case is the …

Virginia Triple Crown

• 35-mile loop
• 4 days, 3 nights
• May 19-22

On this trip you start (after 4 miles) with McAfee Knob — and it gets better from there. Mainly, that’s because you drop the hordes who hike this iconic outcrop for a trademark selfie. On Day 2 you hit Tinker Cliffs, with many of the same attributes, minus the crowds. An awesome and seemingly endless ridge line hike marks Day 3, which is capped with a day-hike scramble up Dragon’s Tooth. The hike out includes passage through a blissful meadow.

Difficulty: Strenuous
Learn more and sign up here.

June

Welcome to the most scenic stretch of trail in North Carolina (and Tennessee).

Appalachian Trail: Carver’s Gap to US 19E

• 14-miles
• 3 days, 2 nights
• June 17-19

From the git-go at Carver’s Gap, the Appalachian Trail passes over Round and Jane balds (with a side trip to a third, Grassy Ridge, possible), offering sweeping views of the North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia mountains. There’s some intimate high-ridge hiking (the mountain ash should be coming into bloom), then more balds: Little Hump and Hump mountains. At this altitude, which flirts with 6,000 feet, we may even catch some rhododendrons still in bloom

This three-day, two-night trip starts from Carvers Gap on the Appalachian Trail and heads north for 14 miles. Particularly stunning are the three balds in the first couple of miles and the famous Hump and Little Hump mountains about 10 miles later.
Day 1: We will set off from Carver’s Gap around 2 p.m., hike 5.5 miles and establish camping the meadow at the Overmountain Victory Shelter.
Day 2: We hike 5.3 miles, past Yellow Gap, over Little Hump to Hump Mountain and on to Doll Flats for camp on night 2..
Day 3: Hike out, a little more than 3 miles, to US 19E.

Difficulty: Moderate

Learn more and sign up here.

* * *

Thru-hikes on shorter trails in 2022

Also on tap for 2022, we will lead four thru-hikes on the state’s shorter long trails. They are:

• N.C. Bartram Trail, Nantahala National Forest, 50 miles (approx), summer, date tbd.
• Art Loeb Trail, Pisgah National Forest, 31 miles, fall, date tbd.
• Foothills Trail, North Carolina/South Carolina line, 77 miles, date tbd.

We will have details on the last three hikes soon. In addition, we will offer a spring training program pertinent to these trips but also appropriate for anyone who plans to have an ambitious summer and fall of backpacking. Maybe you’re planning your own long hike, maybe you’re planning a trip out west. Our program will help get you where you need to be by the end of spring. Details coming shortly on this program, as well.

* * *

Intro to Backpacking

Not a backpacker, but want to be? In two training sessions and a weekend, you can become a bonafide backpacker in time for the prime fall hiking season. We start with a gear session via Zoom, then meet for a 5-hour in-field training session before our weekend graduation trip to South Mountains State Park.

Dates & locations

• Getting to know you, getting to know your gear, Zoom meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 2 . 5:30 – 7 p.m. 1.5 hours
• Training Day: Saturday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Morrow Mountain  State Park, Albemarle
• Graduation trip: Friday afternoon thru Sunday, June 10-12, South Mountains State Park, Morganton.

Included in the program

• Instruction, including:
  • Zoom gear session
  • 5-hour in-field training session
  • Graduation weekend
•  Info packet, including:
  • Gear lists
  • Tips sheets for:
    • Packing
    • Water crossings
    • Winter camping
• GetBackpacking! Guide to 10 Great Places to Backpack in North Carolina once you’ve graduated
• eguide outlining the program and covering what you’ll learn
• 20 percent off coupon to Great Outdoor Provision Co.

Loaner gear. We have a limited number of backpacks and tents available on a first-requested, first-awarded basis, at no extra charge.

Cost: $295

Learn more and sign up here.

The post GetBackpacking! Spring 2022 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Before you know it, maybe within a week or so, you’ll be out on the trail and you’ll see a bright yellow daffodil poking through the turf beneath a stately oak, near a loosely arranged pile of rocks. A non-native ornamental favored by early homesteaders to get them through the last half of winter, a harbinger of spring and warmer weather. They will be followed shortly by trout lilies, spring beauties and the rush of spring abundance. You may not be thinking about sleeping in a tent now, but it won’t be long. And you’ll want to be prepared.

Today, we offer 6 of our favorite backpacking destinations in the region. They’re our favorites, for different reasons. One we find to be the perfect weekend trip. Another we like because it avoids people. Another — well, let’s just get to it, shall we?

Best Weekend Trip

Face it, most of us only have time to do a weekend getaway, so that trip really needs to count. When we need to get the most value for our trail time, we head to the …

Appalachian Trail: Carver’s Gap to US 19E

• 19 miles along the North Carolina/Tennessee line
• Difficulty: moderate

You start with Jane and Round balds and views you don’t think could get better. Then you hit Little Hump and Hump mountains. Gorgeous Southern Appalachian hardwood forest surrounds the trail in between. Though the cavernous Overmountain Victory Shelter has closed, the meadow nearby isn’t and offers one of the best sunsets in the state (the “state” being North Carolina at this point) on Night 1; Night 2 is spent in the cozy and sheltered Doll Flats camping area. While you start high and end low, the climbs up Little Hump and Hump mountains do get your attention. 

# for this hike: vastviews.

More info here.

Best Winter Trip

We like the idea of a winter backpack trip and how it looks on our backcountry vitae, but the reality is something altogether different? Cold and the potential for ice and snow can have a sobering effect. But not necessarily on the … 

Appalachian Trail: Max Patch to Hot Springs

• 20 miles
• Difficulty: moderate

You start with the best view of the hike, atop the massive bald that is Max Patch. From there, you’re largely hiking through hardwoods that serve as protection from the weather, one of the reasons it’s a great winter trip. Another: the lower elevation, topping out at 4,686 feet on Bluff Mountain, bottoming out in Hot Springs, at 1,332 feet. Another highlight: the last few miles are downhill, and you finish in downtown Hot Springs, either in a bar or brewpub.

# for this hike: winterbraggingrights

More info here.

Best Basecamp Trip

Face it, would you rather carry a 5-pound daypack on your back or a 35-pound backpack? After all, aren’t you out in the wild to see as much as you can? You can’t do much better than a mile-and-a-half pack trip giving way to 30 miles of daypack hiking, which is the case at …

Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway

• 1.5-mile hike to camp, 30 miles of day hiking
• Difficulty: easy backpack in, moderate/strenuous day hiking when you start climbing the Blue Ridge Escarpment, even in a daypack.

It doesn’t get much easier than the flat 1.5-mile hike in to the primitive campsite along Grassy Gap Trail, which is both big and intimate. After pitching camp along Basin Creek, you have four options for hiking up to the meadow Doughton Park is known for: the 2.8-mile Bluff Ridge Trail is the shortest and hardest route, the 4.4-mile Cedar Ridge Trail is steep at first, but settles in after a half mile. A good second-day option: the 3.3-mile (one way) Basin Creek Trail to the Caudill Cabin.

# for this hike: meadowmeander

More info here.

Best Wilderness Trip

We love exploring a wilderness, and the Southeast is blessed with many. What we like most is the truer sense of adventure, the feeling that you really are on your own. A feeling especially pervasive in the …

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness

• 1-mile hike to basecamp, 123 miles of trail
• Difficulty: Strenuous. The hike to camp is mellow, everything else involves either creek crossings, steep terrain and/or trails covered in blowdown.

If you’ve hiked the adjoining Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and are thinking, “Ha! Piece of cake,” realize that the memorial forest and the wilderness are Jekyll & Hyde counterparts. While you’ll find old growth forest in both, what you won’t find in the wilderness are groomed trails catering to the Dorset Picnic Basket set. Sometimes you can tell where the trail goes on your own, but for the most part you’ll need GPS assistant. Blowdowns are common, tight passages the norm, tricky stream crossings always a concern.

# for this trip: whereami

More info here.

Best Avoid-the-Masses Trip

Ideally, you don’t want to see anyone on a backpack trip, save perhaps for the folks in your group (and even then … ). That’s what tends to keep us away from some of the more popular areas. Unless you happen to know where the back door is, such as this one to …

Shining Rock Wilderness, via Big East Fork

• 19-mile loop
• Difficulty: Strenuous, though about three quarters of the climbing is on Day 1.

There are days when the Black Balsam parking lot at the mouth of Shining Rock is more jammed than a Walmart lot on Black Friday. Everyone wants a piece of the Shining Rock/ Art Loeb/Tennent Mountain/Black Balsam action. But head in from the Big East Fork trailhead off U.S. 276 and you’ll think it was Christmas Day. Sure, there’s a challenging 4.5-mile climb to Shining Rock Gap, but the carrot — sunset from atop the white quartz outcrop — is so worth it. You’ll mix it up briefly with the BBM (Black Balsam Masses) on Day 2 as you cross the Art Loeb Trail, but lose them when you slip behind Graveyard Fields and head down Big East Fork. 

# for this trip: wildernesstomyself

More info here.

Best Trip, period

In our backpacking lives there comes a trip where you stop repeatedly and marvel, “This hike’s got it all.” “This hike,” in our case is the …

Virginia Triple Crown

• 35-mile loop
• Difficulty: Strenuous

On this trip you start (after 4 miles) with McAfee Knob — and it gets better from there. Mainly, that’s because you drop the hordes who hike this iconic outcrop for a trademark selfie. On Day 2 you hit Tinker Cliffs, with many of the same attributes, minus the crowds. An awesome and seemingly endless ridgeline hike marks Day 3, which is capped with a day-hike scramble up Dragon’s Tooth. The hike out includes passage through a blissful meadow.

# for this trip: illbeback

More info here.

* * *

Join us

Our GetBackpacking! program will lead three of this trips between now and summer. Click the link for more information and to sign up.

• Appalachian Trail: Max Patch to Hot Springs, February 25-27
• Shining Rock Wilderness via Big East Fork, April 22-24
• Virginia’s Triple Crown, May 19-22
• Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap to US 19E, June 17-19

Not a backpacker, but want to be?

Our Spring GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking classes are starting soon Each includes, among other elements:

• 1-hour Zoom Intro to Gear Session
• 5-hour in-field training session, covering all aspects of backpacking
• Weekend graduation trip

Learn more by clicking on the appropriate session:

• North Carolina
• Virginia

The post Our 6 Favorite Backpacking Destinations appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

You watch a video of a spellbinding adventure. You think, “Man, I would love to do that … .” 

And it doesn’t happen.

It doesn’t happen for any number of reasons. More often than not, though, it falls victim to overthinking the logistics: What kind of preparation do I need? How will I get there? How will I know what to do when I do get there? Before you know it, you’re mentally exhausted and have moved on to the next video.

Well not this time.

Watch this video: it’s of our latest GetBackpacking! trip on the Appalachian Trail between Carvers Gap and US 19E. It’s a 14-mile stretch that winds through a ribbon of Appalachian paradise straddling the North Carolina/Tennessee line. It starts with two balds and views you don’t think could possibly be surpassed — until you come upon Little Hump and Hump mountains two-thirds of the way in. To the west, you can see seven ridges fade into Tennessee. To the east is a view of Grandfather Mountain that looks like a chunk of the Alps has been deposited among our Appalachians. Separating the views on this hike is passage through some of the healthiest, most diverse and lush Southern Appalachian forest you can imagine. 

It’s the best weekend backpack trip in the region, and you could do it end of September — even if you’ve never backpacked. Here’s the plan.

First, enroll in our GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking class that begins next week. You’re commitment is as such:

• July 9, 10 or 11 (depending upon where you live): a two-hour evening Gear Get-together in which we go over all the gear required for backpacking. We go over a variety of options with the budget-conscious first-timer in mind. In fact, you don’t even need to buy some of the bigger-ticket items; we have loaner backpacks, tents and cooking gear you can use. 
• July 13: A five-hour training session at Morrow Mountain State Park. We go over everything, from how to properly load your pack, to dialing in the fit, to hiking up to 4 miles in full pack, to scouting camp, setting up camp, breaking camp, to cooking meals … everything you need to know to be a backpacker.
• July 26-28: Three-day, two-night graduation trip to South Mountains State Park. By the time you emerge around noon on Sunday the 28th, you’ll be a confident, competent backpacker.

You’ll also be ready for our next visit to Carvers Gap, on Sept. 27-29, where you’ll be the first to see fall color begin unfolding throughout the Southeast.

As further enticement, sign up by July 8 for Intro to Backpacking and you’ll not only get 15 percent off that class, you’ll get 15 percent off the AT trip as well. And you’ll also have the rest of fall before you to enjoy as a bonafide backpacker. You get a discount on the class and the trip, you keep the cost low, too, with loaner gear, plus a 20 percent discount on one backpacking item from Great Outdoor Provision Co. 

Best of all? For once, instead of just mooning over a video, you’ll be living it.

Live the video!

It’s never been easier to live an adventure video! Whether you’re an experienced backpacker and would like to join us at Carvers Gap Sept. 27-29, or a novice who needs to learn the basics first, here’s how to make this adventure happen.

• Experienced backpacker? Learn more about our Sept. 27-29 trip on the AT at Carvers Gap here.
• Need to learn the basics? Learn more about our Intro to Backpacking! class and sign up here.

The post Backpacking the AT: Make a video dream come true appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

As we made our way up the north bank of New Hope Creek, I could hear the gradient increasing upstream, the sound of water cascading over rock a bit more intense than we’re used to hearing in the Piedmont. As the noise grew, some mild scrambling was required; we shinnied up a rock outcrop overlooking the creek and emerged on a slab 30 feet above the water.

Whoa! 

Suddenly, I was in the Southern Apps, specifically along Gragg Prong in the Wilson Creek area of the Pisgah National Forest. Gragg Prong is known for its succession of pools linked by 20- and 30-foot falls and stone slabs perfect for sunning. 

“We’re coming back here this summer,” I told the hikers.

Sometimes, all it takes is that one spot, that one perfect storm of scenery and circumstance to make you say, “Yeah, I’ll be back.”

That Whoa! moment is key when we’re deciding where to hike and backpack. A location has to have at least one spot where we’re assured that our hikers will have a stop-in-their-tracks, this-is-awesome moment. In our mind, it’s the kind of impact we hope will make hikers determined to keep hiking and accumulating more Whoa! moments.

We’ve listed five of our favorite Whoa! moments — which happen to be on hikes we’re taking this summer (look for specifics on each of hikes trips at the end of this post).

1. Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap north to US 19E. At the start, you’ll likely think your Whoa! moment is after the short (distance-wise) climb up to adjoining Round and Jane balds. Could there possibly be better views in the entire Southeast? Why, yes there could, and they come about eight miles later atop Hump Mountain. The views atop Hump are 360, but it’s the one west into Tennessee that is especially mesmerizing. Even on a hazy day you can see four or five ridges distant; on a clear day — say, after a cold front sweeps the sky clean — I’ve seen seven ridges before the curve of the Earth cuts me off. Spectacular.

2. Linville Gorge. I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain from atop Shortoff, but I’ve also seen sunsets that I thought would never end. Get comfy on the rock outcrop that offers numerous La-Z-Boy opportunities and spend the last hour of the day watching the sky go from yellow-pink to red to purple across the west rim. Then stick around for the stars, because on a clear night you’ll be able to take in more constellations than you dreamed possible. And stay as late as you like: it’s only a matter of yards back to your tent in Camp Shortoff.

3. Wilson Creek. I mentioned Gragg Prong earlier: last summer, I experienced a time warp here. Three hikers were lazing around a particularly generous pool at the base of a 20-foot drop. “Water’s nice,” said the one. “Jump in!” So I did, and was magically transported back 40 years to the brisk waters of Horsetooth Reservoir along Colorado’s Front Range, where the recent snowmelt worked spiritual wonders on those willing to sample it off a 30-foot cliff. Gragg Prong: the fountain of youth.

4. Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. Early one November a decade back I made a late-season passage up Slickrock Creek. Supposedly, there’s a trail along the creek, but mostly, the trail was in the creek. The densely wooded walls of the steep canyon created an especially acute sense of isolation: if aliens had landed and were now running the show I would have been none the wiser. I was losing sunlight (it was shortly after the time change) and I should have been keen on hurrying up a side trail leading to the rim and back to my car. But the growing darkness made me increasingly spellbound by the sense of isolation. A little scary, but a powerful moment.

5. Standing Indian Recreation Area. The hiking here is great, make no doubt. But twice we’ve done this trip and twice it’s been the campground bonhomie that’s stuck with me. After one particularly hot August hike of 12 miles, we returned to camp and plopped down in Kimsey Creek, which runs through the campsite. A bunch of adults, sitting like 6-year-olds and splashing about. After returning from another hike we started a fire around 4 p.m., early by campground standards. Soon, hikers began appearing with their camp chairs, settling in around the fire, chatting. Before we knew it it was dusk, then dark, then time to scootch our chairs closer to the fire to ward off the cold. What time is it, anyway? someone asked. It was almost 11. Fourteen of us with varying levels of familiarity had managed to sit and talk for 7 hours. When was the last time that happened? I wondered. The 1950s?

Those are some of our Whoa! moments. We’d love to share them with you over the next few months.

Happy Trails,

Joe

Join us for your Whoa! moment

Details on the trips mentioned above:

Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap north to US 19E. This weekend, June 28-30. This two-night backpacking trip proved so popular we’ve scheduled a second to handle the overflow. This weekend’s trip is sold out; find details on our June 28-30 trip, go here. 

Linville Gorge: an Introduction, May 17-19. Hiking Linville Gorge in full pack is a whole ‘nother level of backpacking. For backpackers not sure they’re at that level, we offer this introduction: Hike in two miles in full pack to set up basecamp at Shortoff Mountains, then hike with a daypack into the gorge to see what you’re dealing with. Learn more here.

Wilson Creek, May 31-June 2.There’s a theme to this trip: Going Solo. We spend the first night as a group, exploring, among other things, the aforementioned Gragg Prong. On the second night, we deposit backpackers in roughly 150-yard intervals to spend the night on their own. Great opportunity for backpackers interested, but uncertain, about going solo. Learn more here.

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness, July 18-21. We hike in about four and a half miles on this trip, establish base camp at Naked Ground, then spend two days day hiking before hiking out. Learn more here. 

Standing Indian, Aug. 15-18. From our car camp basecamp we’ll have two and a half days of hiking: Friday, an 11-mile loop taking in the Appalachian Trail and topping out on Standing Indian; Saturday, a 7.5-mile hike topping out on Albert Mountain and also including the AT; Sunday, two short waterfall hikes before heading home. Learn more here. 

The post 5 of our favorite Whoa! Moments appeared first on GetGoing NC!.