That rain that moved through the region yesterday ushered in a cool front that will drop temperatures into the low 80s throughout much of GetGoingNC’s adventure land, ideal weather for some weekend adventure. There may be a rogue thunderstorm or two Sunday afternoon, but by-and-large, pretty delightful weather. 

That said, we must leave you now for a long delayed backpack trip to South Mountains State Park.

But before we go, some resources to help you plan your weekend:

If you’re staying close to home — where it’s safer — we have two suggestions:

Hike local

Duke Forest. More than 7,000 acres spread over three counties with miles of trail open to the public. Today’s video explores one of our favorite places to explore, in the forest’s Korstian Division, in Durham. You can find additional information on exploring Duke Forest at the Duke Forest website.

Mountains-to-Sea Trail. The MST, North Carolina’s statewide trail, runs 120 miles through the Triangle and links Pilot Mountain with Hanging Rock north of the Triad — lots of good exploring to be had here. Learn about where to pick up the trail here.

Carolina Thread Trail. In the Charlotte area (including South Carolina), the Carolina Thread Trail now includes 300 miles of dirt trail and 170 miles of blueway in a 15-county area (eventually, the plan is a 1,600-mile trail network linking the region). Learn where you can explore the CTT here.

Land trusts

Local land trusts also provide great opportunities for exploring, including:

Triangle Land Conservancy. The TLC has been protecting land in the Triangle since the 1980s, and has seven preserves currently open for exploring, including a GetHiking! favorite, Horton Grove Nature Preserve in northern Durham County. Learn more and support them here.

Catawba Lands Conservancy. Among their efforts, the CLC is the driving force behind the Carolina Thread Trail, an ongoing effort to link 16 counties in the Charlotte area (including in South Carolina) with trail. Learn more and support them here.

Piedmont Land Conservancy. The PLC has protected more than 24,000 acres in a nine-county region, mostly in the Triad, including one of our favorite spots to hike, the Knight Brown Nature Preserve near Greensboro. Learn more and support them here.

Piedmont Environmental Council. Has worked with landowners to protect more than 420,000 acres of rural and natural land in the piedmont area around Charlottesville. Learn more and support them here.

Conservation Trust for North Carolina. Based in Raleigh, this nonprofit has saved most of its land along the Blue Ridge Parkway, but is active elsewhere. We’re particularly intrigued by their Princeville Collaborative project, where they’re working to help instill land conservation principals in a coastal plain community recovering from two 100-year floods in a 17-year span. Learn more and support them here. 

Farther afield

More than a thousand miles of trail can be found in the following:

• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• North Carolina State Parks
• North Carolina National Forests (Croatan, Pisgah, Nantahala, Uwharrie)
• Shenandoah National Park
• Virginia National Forests (George Washington and Jefferson)
• Virginia State Parks 

GetOut! this weekend. And enjoy!

The post GetOut! Your Friday Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Let’s start with the weekend forecast: A summertime forecast, especially for Saturday, when we’re looking at temperatures around 90 with the chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Sunday, it cools into mid-80s under mostly sunny skies.

Now, the options, which we’ll break into two categories:

Water

The beach. You can go to the beach, but what you can do there varies by municipality. Best to Google the beach of your desire before heading out. Certain access points may be restricted, restrooms may be closed. You can find the latest on Wilmington-area beaches here, Crystal Coast beaches here.

Inland natural waters. North Carolina State Parks has yet to open its inland beaches and swim areas. You might have luck with local public swim spots or in creeks, streams and lakes that you’re comfortable with. 

Swimming pools. Pools are now allowed to open under Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest Safer-at-Home order, but at 50 percent capacity. What exactly does that mean? You’ll need to check with your pool of choice to find out. 

On the water. Boating of all stripes remains a popular way to get some socially distanced recreation. If you have a boat, you likely already know where you can put in. If you’ve just gotten a boat — kayak sales have skyrocketed of late — and are trying to figure out where you can paddle, a good start is the North Carolina Boating Access Areas online map from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Check it out here. 

Trail

Most, but not all trails have reopened. And some trails that had reopened have reclosed due to overcrowding. We’ve found that the region’s largest land managers have been good about keeping their websites updated with such vital information. Again, we recommend checking ahead before heading out:

• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• North Carolina State Parks
• North Carolina National Forests (Croatan, Pisgah, Nantahala, Uwharrie)
• Shenandoah National Park
• Virginia National Forests (George Washington and Jefferson)
• Virginia State Parks

We’re also recommending a hike this week, one especially well-suited for those of you new to hiking who live in the Triangle area. It’s the focus of today’s video: a 3.2-mile hike at Duke Forest, a research forest consisting of more than 7,000 acres spread over three counties. The route we suggest is a 3.2-mile loop in Durham that includes passage through a canyon carved by New Hope Creek. 

You can find our GetHiking! Guide to this hike here, on our website. Download it before Monday, enter code 6ZN7UN55, and we’ll waive the 99-cent fee.

Enjoy the weekend — and GetOut!

Resources

GetHiking! Guide to Summer Hiking. It’s too hot to hike! you protest. Or maybe it’s more a matter of you not having learned the joys of summer hiking and discovered the right way to do it. Our 7-page GetHiking! Guide to Summer Hiking discusses the joys of summer hiking (the green and the quiet, for starters), and goes over how you can beat the heat on the trail. Download the guide, for 99 cents, here.

The post GetOut! Your Friday Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

These days, you find adventure where you can — provided it’s close to home.

Personally, I’ve established a 10-mile perimeter for how far I’ll go, for the most part, for a good adventure. (I say “for the most part,” because if there’s an adventure to be had that’s slightly beyond that, I’ll go if the odds of encountering others is slim to none. So far, I’ve breeched my 10-mile containment zone once, a paddle trip that easily complied with social distancing standards.)

This past Wednesday, I set my sights on an adventure with one simple goal: avoid people. So I headed down NC 751 in Durham, a 3-mile stretch of two-lane bound on both sides by Duke Forest with 15 separate trailheads. Some provide access to trails that are maybe a quarter-mile long. Others open onto as much as 4 miles of trail. Surly one of the roadside pullouts would be empty, I thought. After passing a dozen that weren’t, I hit the jackpot: Gate 11.

Gate 11 leads to the largest run of connected trail in this stretch, including passage south to Cornwallis Road. But the big prize of Gate 11: Couch Mountain.

Ordinarily, a 1.6-mile trail that gains less than 150 vertical feet wouldn’t get my “thrill-of-victory-agony-of-defeat” juices flowing. Nor would the prospect of planting my flag on a 640-foot “peak.” But these aren’t ordinary times, and when I realized I had a chance to bag one of the highest peaks in Durham County (770-foot Red Mountain being the county’s apex), my juices began to flow. 

I won’t go into detail about my successful summit bid; you can catch the highlights in the attached 3 minute and 33 second video. It ain’t “Free Solo,” but it is an example of the kind of adventure to be had in your own backyard in these stay-in-place times. It’s also an example of how it’s good to find and appreciate our smaller, simpler escapes. 

What’s in your backyard?

On the topic of finding those adventures, here’s a quick primer from our just-released “Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You.” First, fire up Google Maps. Then:

• Begin with a distance you’re comfortable traveling, both walking from your front door and within a short drive (my comfort zone, again, is 10 miles). To determine distances, call up Google Maps, then, in the menu bar, click on “Your Places.” Click on “Maps,” then “Create Map.” You’ll get a map of the U.S.: keep double clicking on “North Carolina” until you get down to your neighborhood. Then use the distance tool — ruler icon — to determine crow-fly distances from where you live. 
• Look for splotches of green. They may be golf courses or cemeteries, or they may be parks. Keep in mind that while some parks are closed, many have closed only rec centers, restrooms, playgrounds and other physical facilities;:their trails and open fields may still be open. 
• Look for green dashed lines. Green dashed lines indicate a natural surface hiking trail.
• Look for solid green lines. These often indicate a paved walking trail.
• Look for green pins with trees in them. Some parks are marked with these.
• Look for streams and creeks. Greenways and trails sometimes parallel waterways. Even if there aren’t actual trails, you may find fishing paths or game trails that offer access. Even if these paths don’t go far, they make for a nice diversion into the natural world.

With a little scouting and the right attitude, you can find an adventure you didn’t know was within reach. 

Get out this weekend and bag your own Couch Mountain.

* * *

Resources

• 

  “Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You,” is our just-published guide to doing just that. It’s compact, just 54 pages because you want to spend less time reading about exploring, more time doing so. It starts with how to scout your neighborhood, then suggests how you can plot your own adventures. Available in ebook and paperback.

• Exploring Duke Forest. Duke Forest consists of more than 7,000 acres in six divisions (and one natural area) in Durham, Orange and Alamance counties. Finding access can be a challenge, and unfortunately, sales of the map packet have been suspended due to COVID-19. However, you can check the overview map of the forest on its website, then cross reference it with Google Maps, where you’ll find most of the trailheads.

The post GetOut! And find your backyard adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

The Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center is a little-known gem that has much to offer the outdoor enthusiast.

Located just east of I-95 near Four Oaks (which is near Smithfield), Howell Woods has plentiful short hikes: The Habitat Diversity Trail System features 15 trails ranging in length from a tenth of a mile to three-quarters of a mile, a feature that it notes on its Hiking Trails page.

And—bonus!—when you arrive at the Visitor Center off Devil’s Racetrack Road in Johnston County you will discover that the center has additional longer trails—these multiuse trails are listed only under “Horseback and Bike Trails” on the site. These longer hikes include Howell Drive Trail (2.54 miles), Monkey Ridge Trail (1.7 miles) and River Loop East/West (4.32 miles).

The facility, an arm of Johnston Community College, lists the trails, their distance, surface type and the habitats you’ll find along the way, and they offer recommended loops (of 3.8, 6, 9.4 and 12 miles). There is an expanded trail map available at the Visitor Center, but navigating Howell Woods on your own, especially the longer trails extending deep into the 1,600 acres of bottomland hardwood forests, is not so simple. Not all trails indicated on the map are marked, requiring guesswork that requires you know how to read a map (Don’t know how to read a map? We can help. See below.) It’s also helpful to know beforehand that some of the low-lying areas might involve a water crossing. And it’s good do know where to go when the trail forks to avoid a massive — and active — sand mining operation in the heart of the woods.

Educational forests in general tend to be diamonds in the rough. North Carolina’s Educational State Forests offer good hiking, a feature that’s only vaguely mentioned on their websites. Even the popular Duke Forest—consisting of more than 7,000 acres in parcels spread over Durham, Orange and Alamance counties in the Triangle–requires an insider’s knowledge (or purchase of the $8 Duke Forest map) to navigate: most access points to the forest are roadside pullouts that accommodate only a handful of cars.

They are, however, worth the effort: hiking on Duke Forest trails along New Hope Creek rewards hikers with passage through narrow canyons, beneath 150-foot bluffs and past sizable drops that some might refer to as cascades.

On a recent March weekday hiking 7 miles at Howell Woods, I was reminded of just how special these unsung spots can be. About midway, on the Monkey Ridge Trail, I paused in an area where the trail was barely higher than the surrounding swamp. I took in the bald cypress, the bottomland hardwoods just beginning to sprout their pastel blooms, the violets and other wildflowers beginning to rouse for the spring. The quiet. I was in the middle of nowhere, less than an hour from Raleigh. And I had the place to myself.

I’m heading back this weekend. Why don’t you join me?

Happy trails,

Joe

Join us

Piedmont Explorer. Each month, our Piedmont Explorer program visits trails outside the Triangle, many of which you may not be familiar with. This Saturday, we’ll visit Howell Woods for a 7-mile hike probing deep into the woods. Learn more about the Piedmont Explorer and sign up here.

And if you feel like your map and compass skills could use a tune-up, check out our Get Oriented class. Learn more here.

Resources

For more information on venues mentioned today, check these sites: North Carolina Educational State Forests, Duke Forest, Howell Woods Environmental Learning Center.

The post Mining for lesser-known hiking gems in NC appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We like to ward off the beginning of the work-week blues with a thought about life on the outside.

Today, I get to open an early Christmas present, a present that’s been sitting under the tree for three months.

Duke Forest.

In September, I relocated my office to Durham, to a location based in part on its nearness to our new home in Hillsborough, in part based on the reasonable lease. A third perk surfaced within a few days when I realized I was within a five-minute drive of Hollow Rock Nature Park, Sandy Creek Park, and Duke’s Al Buehler Cross-Country Trail, perfect lunchtime escapes. It was a few more days before I realized I was also within five minutes of at least a half dozen access points to Duke Forest, off NC 751 and Cornwallis Road. On my first visit, to Gate 11, I was met by an asterisk:

Closed to the Public 

Monday through Friday 

Sep 26 — Dec 16, 2016

For the Deer Herd

Reduction Program

Rats.

Now in its ninth season, Duke’s “Deer Management Program” was launched to thin the forest’s deer population and “to reduce the negative impacts of overabundant deer on the Forest.” Deer reduction opportunities are not available to the general public. Rather, hunting is conducted by two pre-selected groups. The program applies to three of Duke Forest’s six divisions: Durham, Korstian and Blackwood: the Durham Division is the one in my backyard.

Every evening since September, I’ve driven home past 15 access points off NC 751. From the road, each access looks pretty much the same: a gate consisting of linked iron bars painted white strung between green posts. Beyond, a gravel road disappears shortly, sometimes around a bend, sometimes over a rise. This peek from the road offers little clue to what lies beyond.

The maps for each division, available as a package from Duke for $8, provide minimal additional insight, mostly in the form of topo lines suggesting, for the most part, moderately rolling terrain. The maps also show that the main recreational access — both hiking and cycling are permitted — is via gravel roads, the primary purpose of which is to provide educators and students access to this teaching forest. As such, the utilitarian roads are typically point-to-point; there are no loops (unless you count hiking back to your car on NC 751 as completing a loop).

It’s this point, though, that makes Duke Forest so appealing. The forest is managed; rustic signs posted periodically tell the tale of these woods over the past 80 or 90 years. For instance:

Loblolly Pine

Planted 1931

Erosion Control, 1932

Thinned 1949, 53, 58

Clearcut 1988

Pine Release 1990

Pre-Commercial Thinning 1995

& 1996

How often are you privy to the story of the land you explore?

The utilitarian nature of these trails — their intent to get you from here to there — has a primitive appeal. Most of the trails we hike today were designed for our recreational enjoyment. They seek summits and panoramas, they aspire to water and falls, they employ switchbacks to ease our effort. When the trails at Duke Forest do so, they do so incidentally. These paths give you a better sense of what role trails played before we needed them for escape.

Two weeks ago, I could take the suspense no longer. On a Sunday, when it was legal to explore, I pulled over at Gate 11 off 751 for a peek under the wrapping paper. With map in hand — a good idea for any hike, especially good at Duke Forest, since most roads aren’t marked — I headed up a moderate gravel incline toward Couch Mtn. (640 ft). I walked through mostly young hardwood and pine forest, past one spur to the left, past a second. Where the trail forked, the map told me to go left. Within a couple minutes, I was atop Couch Mountain and a cul de sac turnaround. I surveyed the gently rounded peak for signs of why the path ended here — an old homestead? a forest monitoring device? —  but was stumped.

It was getting dark, time to head back. But it had only taken me 15 minutes to reach Couch Mountain, making me realize I could return some day soon over lunch and look for more clues.

Maybe even today.

***

For more information on Duke Forest, go here.

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