CureSearch Archives - GetGoing NC!

GetOut! Your Weekend Nudge — and a call to Ultimate action

JoeMiller — Fri, 10 May 2019 09:37:55 +0000

We begin our thoughts on weekend adventure with an adventure three weeks out that you can start training for this weekend.

Raleigh/Umstead CureSearch Hike, Saturday, June 1, Umstead State Park, Raleigh. I started leading hikes in 2011 after being contacted by an endeavor called the Ultimate Hike, a new fundraiser benefitting a group out to end childhood cancer. The deal was this: lead at least six training hikes in preparation for a 28.3-mile hike (in one day) on the Foothills Trail straddling the North Carolina/South Carolina line. I’d been telling people where to hike through books and newspaper columns for 15 years, why not actually take them, I thought. So I did.

I did five Ultimate Hikes, often starting with newbies who’d never set foot on the trail. Yet whipping them into shape in 12 weeks for the Foothills hike was a walk in the woods compared to the more daunting challenge they faced: raising $2,500 for CureSearch in their battle against pediatric cancer. For those five hikes I only had one hiker who failed to meet the goal — and had to cover what he didn’t raise.

Face it, not all of us are good at asking people for money. And with a fundraising goal of $2,500, that’s a lot of asking. That requirement, I’m afraid, kept a lot of aspiring Ultimate Hikers away.

But what if you only had to raise $500? Seems a lot less intimidating, no?

A couple weeks ago, my buddy Mike Owen, called saying he’d succeeded in getting CureSearch to sponsor a mini Ultimate Hike at Umstead State Park. (Mike, I’m proud to say, was in the second group of hikers I coached; he has now hiked a total of 10 Ultimate Hikes, and is one of their top ambassadors.)

Here’s the deal:

Distance. Rather than 28.3 miles, the Umstead hike has options of 5, 6.25, 9.25 and 13.3 miles.

Cost. $20 to register. That goes against your ultimate fundraising goal for this event, which is …

Fundraising goal: $500.

Family plan: There’s still a registration fee of $20 per person, but the overall fundraising goal is reduced: $500 for the first hiker, $100 for each additional hiker.

Pretty doable, even for the fundraising averse, right? And it’s a great excuse to get some hikes in over the next three weeks.

Learn more about the Umstead mini-hike and sign up here.

Wildflower Walk, Sunday, 1 p.m., Elk Knob State Park, Todd. Spring wildflowers are coming into bloom at 5,000 feet; this hike will check out the action on the first mile of the 2-mile Summit Trail, one of the prettiest trails in the state, with a rugged, but somehow tamed, feel. At the end of the program, continue to the summit for great views, especially to the north, from Elk Knob. Learn more and sign up here.

Basin Hike, Saturday, 11:30 a.m., Fort Fisher State Recreation Area. A very cool hike, starting on the beach and passing through a maritime forest, and back dune and salt marsh habitats. Pays a visit to a World War II bunker that housed munitions in the 1940s and the First Fisher Hermit in the 1960s. Learn more and sign up here.

GetHiking! this weekend

What are we up to this weekend? Lots!

GetHiking! Charlottesville: Wilderness First Aid, Saturday, May 11, 8:30 a.m. to Sunday, May 12, 6:30 p.m. Mountaintop Montessori, Charlottesville. Hands-on training to survive injuries in the wilderness. Learn more here.

GetHiking! Triad: Townsend Trail, Saturday, May 11, 9 a.m. 6100 Southshore Road, Browns Summit. Easy to Moderate. 7-mile hike leading to Lake Townsend. Learn more here.

GetHiking! Charlottesville: Chessie Trail, Saturday, May 11, 11 a.m. Fontaine Research Park, Charlottesville. Moderate. 7-mile hike through flat terrain along the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Learn more here.

Live the video

This week’s video covers a lot of ground, including the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Falls Lake, at Jones Lake State Park, and on Mount Mitchell. Discover how you can discover these stretches of the MST by going here.

The post GetOut! Your Weekend Nudge — and a call to Ultimate action appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Ultimate Hike: the journey begins Saturday at Umstead

JoeMiller — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 16:42:47 +0000

Two weeks ago, I told you about the Ultimate Hike. I may have written a reminder as well. In either event, here’s another, this one to remind you that the 2013 Ultimate Hike season begins Saturday at 9 a.m. at Umstead State Park.
Ultimate Hike is the chief fundraiser for CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch is a nonprofit that traces its roots to 1987. Though its name has changed over the years, its mission has not. The nonprofit funds research efforts to fight children’s cancer. If there’s a more noble effort to support, I’m pressed to think of it.
And if there’s a better way to support the cause — hiking to raise money for children’s cancer research — I’m hard-pressed to think of it, either. Tomorrow marks the start of a 12-week training program that will culminate with us hiking 28.3 miles on the Foothills Trail straddling North and South Carolina. The key component of the training program is a series of every-other-weekend hikes that will grow increasingly longer. Tomorrow at Umstead, will start with a short hike (of 2, 4.5 or 6 miles, hiker’s choice). We’ll be back on Aug. 24 with an 8-mile hike along the Eno River. Subsequent hikes will be at Raven Rock State Park, on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail through the Triangle, at Hanging Rock State Park and in the Uwharrie National Forest. We’ll also do a series of shorter mid-week hikes designed to get hikers used to hiking in the dark. (Why? Because to hike 28.3 miles in one day you have to hit the trail pretty early — 4:30 a.m., to be exact)
Want to find out more? Then come out tomorrow and test-drive the Ultimate Hike. We’ll gather at 9 a.m. at Picnic Shelter #2 at Umstead State Park’s Harrison Avenue entrance (off I-40). We’ll have bagels and coffee, we’ll talk hiking. Then, around 10, we’ll hit the trail.
And if you’re thinking, “I’m not really much of a hiker, this probably isn’t for me,” then cease that line of thinking. This hike and the 12-week training program is exactly for you: that’s what the training is all about. Again, come out and we’ll talk.
And remember: we won’t just be talking, we’ll be hiking.

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Throw water on the heat this weekend

JoeMiller — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:53:41 +0000

It’s something of a conundrum: It’s the weekend, you want to get out, you ache to get out — yet it’s so debilitatingly hot out! (Lordy, I was heading out for a run this morning and it was already 85 by 9 a.m. I’m usually not one to hide in the air conditioning, but … .)

We have two options to help you beat the heat and a third that doesn’t. (That third one is more than worth the sweat investment.)

Coast

In these days of 100 degree heat and matching humidity, is there any other option, really, than something on/in/under the water? I think not. That’s why we’re recommending Sunday’s Bear Island Kayak Tour at Hammocks Beach State Park. Start at the mainland park, then take the 2.6-mile canoe trail out to Bear Island. It’s an easy paddle, navigating marsh and sound. You bring the bug spray, sunscreen, snacks, water and camera, the park supplies the kayaks, paddles and life jackets. It’s free, but space is limited and preregistration is required, by calling the park office at 910.326.4881. Commences at 8:30 a.m., runs about 3 hours.

Piedmont

I’m going to take one last opportunity — because it’s your last opportunity — to plug Ultimate Hike, a fundraiser for CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch helps kids with cancer — there are currently about 40,000 undergoing treatment currently — ensure that they get hooked up with the best treatment possible, no matter where they live. Ultimate Hike is a new way that CureSearch is raising money to fund itself. And now, about Ultimate Hike: It’s a one-day, 28.3 mile hike on a section of the Foothills Trail straddling the mountainous section of the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The hike is Oct. 1, but you don’t just show up Oct. 1 to hike 28.3 miles.

Ultimate Hike’s coaches — of whom I’m one — have crafted a training schedule intended to take a non-hiker and in 12 weeks make said non-hiker capable of covering 28.3 miles in one day (a day, by the way, that starts with a 3 a.m. wakeup call). The training schedule is graduated to build you up to epic hiker level, in part through a series of increasingly longer hikes every other Saturday.

I mention this today because Saturday is the last day for hikers in the Triangle to sign up. (Charlotte area hikers have two more opportunities: tonight at the Pineville REI at 6:30 p.m. and July 30 at 9 a.m. the U.S. National Whitewater Center). Saturday at 9 a.m. we’ll hold our last information/sign-up at Historic Yates Mill Park in Raleigh. Come, find out more about the hike, then join us for a 2- to 3-mile hike around the park.

More info here and here. Or leave a question below (others may be wondering the same thing).

Mountains

Nothing cools you off quite like getting flipped out of a whitewater raft bouncing through a Class III rapid on a cold mountain river. Not that that happens. Often. But on most raft trips there’s usually at least one occasion to voluntarily depart the boat and float a calm stretch of cool river (sometimes there’s even a small cliff you can leap from into a deep pool).

If you’ve been thinking about packing the family into the Suburban and heading to the hills for a day of whitewater rafting, this could be the perfect weekend. In part because of the heat, in part because fellow guidebook author and outdoors writer Karen Chavez wrote a most helpful piece in yesterday’s Asheville Citizen-Times about how to chose a whitewater rafting trip.

Read it — when you’re done here, of course — then book a trip.

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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.

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.

Todd’s Calendar

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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