Tag Archives: Falls Lake

Thinking of camping? These 9 campgrounds are our faves

As we look ahead to the upcoming summer camping season, we look with special attention to certain campgrounds. Here are some of our favorites.

Davidson River

With 160 sites you’d think scoring one would be a given. Not the case at this popular campground which takes advantage of both its proximity to the cultural offerings of nearby Brevard and its perch at the base of the recreation-rich Pisgah National Forest. read more

Fall Starts Wednesday! Avoid the Masses on These 10 Hikes

Editor’s note: This post originally ran at the start of last fall. We’ve tweaked it, and will continue to run a version of it at the start of every fall hiking season to help you avoid crowded trails in the most popular hiking season. 

Officially, fall starts tomorrow, Sept. 21, officially at 3:21 p.m. EST. Appropriately, a rainy front is ushering in cold air about the same time that will drop temperatures about 15 degrees, into the low 70s initially. By the weekend, expect highs in the upper 70s, lows around 50. read more

Solitude on the trail? You’ll find it here

Even with the temperature living in the 90s this summer, it’s been hard to find solitude on the trail. Everyone, now, is a hiker.

But not everyone knows to look for the more subtle stretches of trail. Trail, for instance, that doesn’t start from a visitor center, that doesn’t have a privy, that doesn’t even have paved parking — official parking, period. Finding these gems is tricky. But they’re out there. read more

Monday, Monday: A run of MST hiked ‘just enough’

A dozen summers ago I tried to hike a section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail off Redwood Road in Raleigh and was quickly thwarted. About 20 yards in, the trail disappeared into a sea of summer growth, of saplings and grasses and ground covers all prospering in the heat of the season. I was bummed, because I’d hiked this stretch, Day-Hike Section P, of the MST several times, but, apparently, every time in winter, when the less hardy species had gone into cold storage. The problem in summer: no one hiked this stretch, in large part because not many folks knew it was there.  read more

Get Out! Your Nudge for Weekend Adventure

Last weekend, we explored the longest uninterrupted stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Falls Lake in Raleigh: the 7 miles from NC 98 to Creedmoor Road. We were struck by how, seemingly overnight, the woods had gone from a hint of green to full-blown leaf-out. We caught glimpses of the lake; mostly, though, we were enveloped in green. read more