Now, usually when anyone suggests going for a walk or hike, I’m like a dog who can hear his leash shake two floors away. That hasn’t been the case this summer, a summer underscored by record humidity. In the past week or so, though, with daytime temperatures sometimes not making it out of the 60s, I’ve been all about the passeggiata, and I will be for the next month and a half or so. And so should you.

In the past, I’ve bemoaned the fact that once September rolls around, you really start to notice the sun setting earlier and earlier. Consider the following sunset times for central North Carolina:

• Sept. 4: 7:42 p.m.
• Sept. 15: 7:27 p.m.
• Sept. 30: 7:05 p.m.
• Oct. 15: 6:44 p.m.

And finally, when we go off Daylight Savings Time:

• Nov. 2: 5:22 p.m.

The main reason I’ve bemoaned this rapid advance in the past is that there simply isn’t enough time to get in a decent hike after work, what with the time to get ready and drive to the nearest trailhead. 

There is, however, time to work in a passeggiata, which requires little preparation and starts out your front door. An added benefit, according to Melody Warnick, author of “This is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live” — it will enable you to better get to know your neighborhood and the people in it. Consider these suggestions from Warnick:

• Follow the “1-Mile Solution.” That is, walk everything — shopping, going out to eat, etc. — within a mile of where you live.
• Explore unfamiliar parts of your town without a GPS. Let yourself go and just roam.
• If possible, switch to a walking (or biking) commute.
• Draw a map of your neighborhood and see how many details you can fill in. Not many? See how many you can fill in by walking it regularly.

By walking evenings in your neighborhood you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find. 

‘Explore Your Neighboirhood’

In 2020, I wrote a guidebook called: “Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You.” I wrote it during the pandemic, when we were subject to shelter-in-place guidelines, with the goal of helping readers identify places to explore out their front door. It covers everything from how to use Google Maps to identify potentially interesting places to explore nearby, to what you might see along the way (and what you should avoid), to staying safe, and more.

In short, the book will help you make the most of this two-month window of after-work exploring time that we have. 

Walking after eating has a number of health benefits. In addition to aiding with digestion, it can help regulate your blood sugar, lower your blood pressure, elevate your mood and, of course, burn calories. 

We’re especially motivated by the “elevate your mood” benefit. We all know how we’re affected by our weekend hike. So why not get that benefit throughout the week?

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Resources

“Explore Your Neighborhood,” by Joe Miller. This compact 53-page guide provides the direction and confidence to get you exploring your neighborhood on a gorgeous fall evening. Learn more here.

“This is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live,” Melody Warnick. After moving with her family to Blacksburg, VA, after living in various other locations, Warnick decided to forge a true connection with her new home. She writes about how she made that happen in these nomadic times. Learn more here.

The post Explore Your Neighborhood with a Passeggiata appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Quick recap: hiking was pretty popular prior to March 2020, it became the go-to source of not only outdoor recreation, but recreation of any kind after March 2020, it being deemed the only safe form of recreation in the face of a global pandemic. While hiking no longer bears that mantel, scads of folks who discovered the joy of hiking over the past two years aren’t going away. And the beginning of spring is when you really begin to notice the increased number of hikers on the the trail. 

So, how to find a bit of the tranquility you seek in the woods? We share our thoughts on the subject, thoughts we’ve shared before over the past two years, thoughts we will share again, because the number of hikers out there isn’t going down soon.

• Hike early. Most N.C. State Parks open at 8 a.m. — a good time to go, especially on spring weekends with near-perfect weather. The morning chill — in the Triangle, it will be in the upper 40s Saturday morning, upper 30s Sunday morning— which should keep the numbers down at the trailhead. Sunday morning until noon-1 p.m. is typically a good time to be out, anyway.
• Hike late. State Parks are now open until 8 or 9, municipal and county parks, and nature preserves typically go dawn to dusk. (That’s open to some interpretation, but today, with twilight officially ending at 8:01 p.m., you should be safe hanging out until 8.) Take advantage of these later hours to get out. Remember to take a headlamp or flashlight. In fact, on a nice Sunday or Saturday, crowds generally begin to thin noticeably around 4 or 4:30 p.m.
• Avoid the main trailheads. Find the more remote trail access points for where you’d like to hike. In particular, look for trailheads that don’t: 
  • Have paved parking
  • Begin from a visitor center
  • Have restrooms
  • Have an address
  • Have access via a paved road. Especially attractive are trailheads off gravel roads. To find them, study the trail map, study Google maps, call the ranger’s office and ask about secondary and neighborhood entrances. You can find them.

• Avoid the main trails. Start from a more remote trailhead and you’ll be on a trail that likely doesn’t get much foot traffic — initially, at least. A lot of these trails connect with more popular trails eventually, often at spots that have fewer hikers. Also: remember that most “popular” trails are popular because they originate from an easy access point.

• 

  Avoid parks near urban areas. At the start of the pandemic on North Carolina, 12 state parks kept their trails open while the other 29 had to close. Why? Because they were in more remote locations, which doesn’t mean they’re a day’s drive away. For instance, one of the least visited state parks in North Carolina is just over an hour’s drive from Raleigh. Check out this map of North Carolina State Parks to see what’s near you, but not near a populated area.

In short, the better the weekend weather forecast, the more you’ll need to pay attention to ferreting out the trails less traveled. It’s a worthwhile investment of your time.

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Ferreting out less-frequented trails, II

Finding those less-popular trails, those stealth trailheads, those spots that elude the masses, isn’t hard, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few extra insights into the topic. Our “Explore Your Neighborhood” guide can help you do just that. Written at the start of the pandemic, it was intended as a way to find hidden adventure gems close to home. But the tips that help you do just that also apply to helping you identify stealth spots at large. Learn more and check it out, here.

The post It’s spring! Here’s how to avoid crowded trails appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

• Merchants Millpond State Park, Gatesville: Trails will be covered with a base of 3 to 5 inches.
• Pettigrew State Park, Columbia: Trails should have a base of 2 to 3 inches
• Umstead State Park, Raleigh: 1 to 1.5 inches
• Eno River State Park, Durham: 1-1.5 inches
• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury: 2-3 inches

Seems like we should start making this a regular feature in our Thursday GetOut! weekend planning advisory. For have we ever had three weekends in a row with snow? The folks here in the GetHiking! Weather Center can find no record of that happening before in the Piedmont (though our records only go back 10 years). Anyway …

What snow there might be should move out of the area Friday night and Saturday morning, leaving cold temperatures (highs in the low 30s), clear skies and some slick roads.

So, once again, try to keep your activities close to home — speaking of which … .

Have we mentioned lately our 2020 book, “Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You”? It’s a compact 53 pages of quick tips for finding adventure out your front door. (The compact nature makes it easy to quickly unearth the information that will help you find adventure nearby; less time reading, more time exploring.) 

That’s one option for the weekend — and one you can start planning for immediately since the book is available on Kindle.

Because the weather remains up in the air (will it snow? The GetGoingNC Model says “maybe”), we’re loathe to make a suggestion (other than the one to buy our book). Instead, wake up Saturday, look out the window, see what you’ve got, and from there, GetOut!

* * *

About ‘Explore Your Neighborhood’

“Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You,” $6.99 paperback, $4.99 Kindle, available here.

The post GetOut! This weekend’s snow report appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

May Day! May Day!

You could take that two ways. But let’s go with the fact that it is May Day, the first of May, which means that both March and April of 2020 are in the rearview mirror. Yay.

So what does it mean, it being May in the age of coronavirus?

In North Carolina it means that starting May 8, certain elements of parks can begin to reopen. Not playgrounds (that could happen at month’s end) and likely not restrooms, rec centers and visitor centers. But we’re hopeful that some of the N.C. State Parks that are closed may begin reopening trails. A phased reopening plan was scheduled to be announced this week; we’ve yet to hear from N.C. State Parks about that plan. In the meantime, as we mentioned in Thursday’s post, there are 11 State Parks that still have their trails open (12, if you live in Dare County). Check ‘em out here.

And, as you’ve learned if you’ve been following us for the past couple of months, we’ve become big advocates of exploring your own neighborhood. You can check out our coverage so far on how to discover your neighborhood along with a few suggested places to visit at our Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide page here.

It looks like a great weekend to be out in the ‘hood, especially Sunday, when sunny skies and temperatures near 80 are expected to prevail. 

For those of you nostalgic for a trip to the mountains, to a place truly wild and remote, check out this video from our GetBackpacking! trip last summer to the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness Area. Four days of adventure condensed to 3 minutes and 17 seconds. Calgon, take me away. 

This weekend, pamper yourself by losing yourself in adventure.

The post GetOut! It’s another weekend! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Below are quick descriptions of our coverage, with links to learn more.

“Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You.” We’ve written a 53-page guide, available in both paperback and as an ebook, that outlines what you need to know to enjoy exploring your own neighborhood, including:

• What provisions you’ll need (you probably already have them)
• How to scout your neighborhood (starting with Google Maps)
• What to look for (in the woods, in the ditches, in your neighbor’s yard
• The best times to look (and best maintain your Social Distance)
• Health benefits of walking and being outside
• Outdoor videos to check out between neighborhood forays

Consider your stay-at-home time as something akin to how you viewed Saturday as a kid: all week your time, your comings and goings, your very thoughts, were controlled by The Man (or, more likely, The Woman). But come Saturday, the world was yours to be discovered. Think of this as your Saturday, and “Explore Your Neighborhood” your guide to making the most of it. April 9, 2020

Learn more about the paperback and buy it here, the ebook here.

Hiking in the Rain (But Not Under a Tornado Warning). One of the keys to having the trail to yourself: hike when no one else is. Like in the rain. Try it, you might like it. Read it here. April 13, 2020

GetOut! Explore Your Neighborhood this Weekend. More tips on how to find adventure in your own backyard. Read it here. April 10, 2020

GetOut! (But Pick the Right Time to Go). Timing is everything in these days of social distancing. Tips on when to hike to avoid fellow hikers. Read it here. April 3, 2020

Social Distancing on the Water. We’re mostly about hiking. But when the trails get crowded, it’s time to look for alternatives, and we discovered a good one in paddling. Read it here. March 30, 2020

GetOut! And Explore Your Neighborhood. My neighborhood? you ask. What could possibly be there? I asked the same question when I moved to Hillsborough. The answer was surprising. Read it here. March 27, 2020

Explore the Wilds of Your Own Backyard. More tips on how to discover what’s in your own backyard. Read it here. March 25, 2020

Local video adventures

To help you get a feel for what might be in your neighborhood, we’ve been shooting short videos of our adventures in our neighborhood.

Explore Your Neighborhood: Kings Highway Park. Just 18 acres and barely a mile of trail. But a world of escape in dense woods along the Eno River. 1.5 miles from home. Check it out here. April 27, 2020

Explore Your Neighborhood: Confluence Natural Area. This 200-acre preserve with 3 miles of trail sits at the confluence of east and west forks of the Eno River. 6.8 miles from home. Check it out here. April 22, 2020

Explore Your Neighborhood: Seven Mile Creek Natural Area. Located on a gravel road that’s off a gravel road that’s off a little-used country road, solitude is all but assured here. 1.5 miles from home. Check it out here. April 20, 2020

GetOut! And Find Your Backyard Adventure. A quick primer on finding adventure in your neighborhood. Includes video of an unlikely summit bid up 620-foot Couch Mountain. Check it out here. April 17, 2020

The post Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide appeared first on GetGoing NC!.