Saturday

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  Friends of Lake Norman Spring Wildflower Discovery Hike, 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., Lake Norman State Park, Troutman. These hour-long hikes in search of spring wildflowers will be led by a retired N.C. State Park ranger. More info here.

• Spring Tree ID Hike, 2 p.m., Lake James State Park, Nebo. Check out the new growth of spring on this ranger-led hike on the Holly Discovery Trail. More info here.
• Bentonville in Bloom, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Pretty much what the title says in this program that’s an official event of the NC Science Festival. Learn more here.

Sunday

• Eno River Association Sunday Wildflower Hike: Pump Station, 2 p.m., Northside Christian Church parking lot, 3901 Cole Mill Road, Durham. 1.5-mile hike on the Pump Station Trail at Eno River State Park, in search of the Ladyslipper orchid and more. Registration required, by going here.
• Butterfly Bingo, 2 p.m., Hammocks Beach State Park, Swansboro. Part of the reason for the spring bloom is to keep pollinating butterflies busy. Come see who in particular is flitting about and what exactly they’re pollinating.

New trail opening

We love an opening — a new trail opening — and there’s one Saturday from 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., at then Triangle Land Conservancy’s Brumley South Nature Preserve in Chapel Hill. As part of Operation Earth Day, TLC is opening a new 3.5-mile trail network. The event is free, but preregistration is required, by going here.

Earth Day events

For a rundown of Earth Day events in the state, check out the N.C. Environmental Education calendar, here, where you’ll find events on Friday (the actual Earth Day), Saturday and Sunday.

No reason not to GetOut! this weekend!

Enjoy.

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• First Saturday Hike at Horton Grove, Horton Grove Nature Preserve, Bahama. Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon. 
• First Saturday Hike at White Pines, White Pines Nature Preserve, Pittsboro, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon.

Both hikes are billed as “social” hikes and both are lead by TLC guides. That means you can expect to learn a good deal about both properties — Horton Grove with its prairie (pictured above) and beech woods, White Pines with its replication of a montane environment in the heart of the Piedmont — while getting a chance to chat with fellow hikers. The best of both worlds.

Learn more about both hikes and their pandemic-related requirements, and register here. 

The forecast is good news, too, for the Eno River Association and its weekly Sunday Winter Hike Series hike. This Sunday: the Pump Station Access to Eno River State Park. This 1.5-mile hike is one of the best mixes of natural and human history you’ll find on a hike. The main attraction is the remains of Durham’s first public drinking water source; those remains include the brick foundation of the treatment plant and an impressive stone dam. A bit of off-trail on this hike as well. Learn more and register here.

Speaking of learning a thing or two, Saturday you can do just that at Pilot Mountain State Park when a ranger leads a Winter Tree ID hike to help you identify the local arboreal population. Anyone can ID trees in spring, summer or fall — the leaves are usually a dead giveaway. But in winter, when all you have to go by is bark, branch and twig configuration and tree shape? Check it out, at 3 p.m., by heading here for meeting location and additional info.

It’s shaping up to be a classic winter weekend, southern style! GetOut! And enjoy.

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More options

You can find additional options for the weekend by tapping the following links:

• Triangle Land Conservancy here
• Eno River Association here
• NC Parks here
• N.C. Office of Environmental Education here

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Typically, when we think of a leafed-out forest in the Southeast we also think of hot temperatures and muggy air. Walking through the Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve this morning I was struck by the full onslaught of green and the fact that, with the temperature around 60, I needed long sleeves. Spring hiking weather with the visual benefits of summer. It’s the best, and that’s what this weekend is about: the chance to take a summerlike hike in spring.

Here are 5 hikes we like where the hardwoods will be in full leaf this weekend, but where you won’t build a full sweat to enjoy them. We provide a link to both our guide for the hike and the official website.

Confluence Natural Area

Hillsborough
2.23 miles of trail

Eno River Association

Especially along the East Branch of the Eno River it’s a full-on jungle during full leaf season. On a summer’s day the air is still, the lush woods close. Your tendency is to rush this area and get to the more open West Branch, which is too bad because the flora here is so diverse, because there’s so much to see. When it’s cool out you’re much more likely to pause and appreciate. 

Find our guide here

Fews Ford 7-Miler

Eno River State Park, Durham

7-mile loop involving the Buckquarter Creek, Ridge, Shakori, Fieldstone and Holden Mill trails

So many stretches where a mature forest can be appreciated on this hike, but our favorite is along the most remote run, along the Shakori Trail. The trail spends much of its time in bottomland forest where a variety of hardwoods stand high. The upper reaches of the Ridge Trail head through rich hardwoods as well.

Find our guide here 

Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Day-Hike Section T

Durham

4.1 miles (one way)

From the eastern trailhead off Red Mill Road you’re in sheltering forest from the start. But  bottomland woods a little more than a mile in offer the most impressive show of tall trees and impenetrable canopy. This woods continue to dominate even as you climb out of the floodplain at mile 1.8, follow a bluff, then drop back down at trail’s end, near Old Oxford Road and Penny’s Bend. 

Find our guide here

Sycamore Trail (short loop)

Umstead State Park

Raleigh

4.4 miles

The main trailhead for Sycamore (overall distance: 7 miles) is at the end of the road leading into the park from Glenwood Avenue. But you can get to the heart of the trail — and avoid the crowds as well — by picking up the trail at the bike & bridle trailhead. The heart of the trail: the mile-andf-a-half stretch along Sycamore Creek, which winds its way through floodplain forest. 

Find our guide here.

Knight Brown Nature Preserve

Piedmont Land Conservancy

Stokesdale

3.1 miles of trail

This 189-acre preserve north of Greensboro (pictured at top) is enveloped  by ridges protecting Belews Creek on its peaceful tumble through mature hardwoods, including some especially impressive beech trees. So expansive is the canopy here that it protects the world below like a massive green dome. An especially good Wow! factor: if you’ve got people on the fence about hiking, this preserve will have them hopping down on the side of taking a long ramble.

Find our guide here

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GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

Prefer listening to your trail news? We’ve got you covered, with the GetHiking! Southeast Podcast, a new episode of which appears every Tuesday morning. This week’s topic: Campfire Conversations. Check it out here.

The post GetOut! Spring weather, with the green of summer appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

First, a couple of off-trail adventures, both intended to keep you off pandemic-popular trails.

Phil Finding Adventure, a month-long event at Umstead State Park in Raleigh. Phil is a Pheasant who has been hidden by Ranger Billy somewhere in the 5,600-acre park, “some interesting part of the park,” Ranger Billy assures, somewhere “off trail with roots, gullies, rocks and hills.” The goal here is to find Phil, take Phil’s picture, leave Phil where he lies, get back to your car. Thus, you will need a GPS device of some sort. Learn more about what Ranger Billy calls a “Philabulous Adventure” here. 

GetHiking! Winter Wild Adventure to the Three Sisters of Hanging Rock, Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to around 2 p.m. We still have space available on this 10-person-tops hike that’s 100 percent off trail and takes in the far eastern extent of Hanging Rock State Park, where there are no trails. No GPS needed; we have one and know the way. Learn more and register to join us here.

Land Trust Adventures

Two dozen land trusts operate in North Carolina, sparing some of the state’s most special land from development. Some of this saved land is turned into preserves that are open to the public. 

Today, we tout five areas that we wouldn’t be able to explore were it not for the work of three land trusts: the Eno River Association, Piedmont Land Conservancy and the Triangle Land Conservancy. The hikes:

• Horton Grove Nature Preserve, Triangle Land Conservancy, Bahama. With 8 miles of trail divvied up on 7 trails it’s possible to hike both short (a half mile) and long (around 10, with some necessary overlap) here.
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve, Piedmont Land Conservancy, Stokesdale. Dropping into the valley carved by Belews Creek that makes up much of this 189-acre preserve is like entering a different world, of giant beech, steep valley walls, mature forest.
• Confluence Natural Area, Eno River Association, Hillsborough. Confluence is new enough (2017) and remote enough that it’s yet to be discovered. Exposed meadows and intimate walks along the east and west branches of the Eno dominate this 2.25-mile network.

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  Brumley Family Nature Preserve (North), Triangle Land Conservancy, Chapel Hill. Varied landscapes and surprisingly flat terrain make this an especially good first hike for a beginner. 3.5 miles of trail combined on 5 trails.

• Eno River State Park, Fews Ford 7-Miler, Eno River Association, Durham. Eno River State Park might not exist were it not for the Eno River Association; this long hike is one of the few opportunities to escape gorgeous spring and fall weekend crowds along the Eno.

How to explore

To explore these preserves, either click on the link for additional information, or you can purchase our GetHiking! Guide to 5 of Our Favorite Land Trust Trails. In this package, you’ll find guides to each area, each including a map, detailed route description, pertinent logistical details (how to get there, for instance), a video tour and an essay describing the hiking experience. Plus, the $2.49 fee for guide will be given to the three land trusts so that they can continue their work of saving great places to explore. 

Check out the GetHiking! Guide to 5 of Our Favorite Land Trust Trails and download a copy here.

We couldn’t make it much easier for you to explore this weekend! 

Now, GetOut!

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Sunny with highs in the 70s on Saturday, not quite as promising on Sunday, but we’ll see. Sounds like a decent weekend forecast for enjoying the outdoors in any number of ways. 

Here are a few:

Spring Hike, Saturday, 1 p.m. Pettigrew State Park, Creswell. Pettigrew State Park, Pettigrew State Park … . We can hear the gears of confusion now. If you haven’t heard of Pettigrew, it’s likely because of its off-the-beaten-path location: it’s south of Creswell, which is west of Columbia, but east of Plymouth, which is just beyond Williamston, which — well, you get the idea. In short, it’s a bulb of land that’s between Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, and it’s got some of the oldest and biggest trees in the state, which you’ll be able to see on this flat-and-easy 5.6-mile hike. Learn more here.

Luther Rock Nature Hike, Sunday, 2 p.m. Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, West Jefferson. Hike with a ranger to the amphibolite outcrop area known as Luther Rock. Check out the views, get some fresh air and learn what “amphibolite” means. Learn more here. 

Spring Wildflowers on the Flat River, Sunday, 2 p.m. Every Sunday in the spring the Eno River Association takes folks out for what may be the most informative two hours of hiking around. On this trip, for instance, you’ll check out the spring wildflower bloom as well as “the bedrock geology, soils and soil chemistry, geomorphology and fluvial processes, and cultural history of the site, which also happens to straddle the Indian Trading Path.” Whew! For information on meeting place and more hike details, go here.

As always, you can find more opportunities this weekend here:

• North Carolina State Parks have a variety of adventures planned for the weekend. Check those options here.
• North Carolina Environmental Education Centers has an extensive calendar of what’s happening at its affiliates; check it out here.
• You can also find more adventures right here, at GetGoingNC.com

GetHiking! this weekend

What are we up to this weekend? Lots!

Live the video

This week, you literally can live the video. It’s from a scouting trip Wednesday of our last Winter Wild hike of the season, a section of Duke Forest’s Korstian Division. The hike hike is Saturday at 10 a.m., and is 4.5 miles. If you’re interested in joining us, email joe@getgoingnc.com for details. 

GetOut and enjoy!

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