One thing we don’t do, though, is cite specific beginner trips we like. That is our goal here today.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to look far to find beginner-friendly hikes. More than half the hikes in my guidebook, “Backpacking North Carolina: 43 Can’t-Miss Trips,” fall into the good-for-beginners category. Which doesn’t mean they aren’t great adventures for more experienced backpackers; they just happen to meet the criteria for a good beginner trip, which includes:

• Moderate distances between camps (5-7 miles, tops)
• Obvious, flat campsites
• Easy access to reliable water
• Easy-to-follow trails

There’s more — you’ll just need to listen to the podcast to learn them. Now, on to our 5 favorite beginner backpack trips in North Carolina.

Neusiok Trail

Croatan National Forest, Havelock

20.1 miles

2-3 days

If you’re looking to bust out some miles on your first weekend, here’s your hike. There are three shelters along the way, letting you break down the hike into manageable days of roughly 4, 7 1/2, and 9 miles. But because this is likely the flattest 20.1 miles in the state, a two-nighter is easily doable. There’s water at the shelters, the trail is well maintained by the Carteret County Wildlife Club, and it’s perhaps the best winter hike in the state (winter being the only time you’ll want to hike through this otherwise buggy, steamy coastal forest).

Trip No. 42, “Backpacking North Carolina”

More info here.

Hunt-fish Falls

Wilson Creek area, Pisgah National Forest, Mortimer

2.8 miles in full pack, 13.6 miles in day pack

2-3 days

While we are big fans of backcountry camping, we aren’t quite as keen on putting in big miles with 30 pounds on our back. Thus, we gravitate to basecamp trips: hike in a short distance in full pack, establish basecamp, hike in a day pack from there. This hike is one of our favorite basecamp options, with a 1.4-mile hike to camp, an expansive, flat area along Lost Cove Creek. We like to spend one day on a roughly 6-mile hike along the creek and on the Timber Ridge Trail, a more casual day hiking about 3 miles up Gragg Prong and lolling in the numerous pools at the base of numerous falls. A good summer trip.

Trip No. 8, “Backpacking North Carolina.”

More info here.

Birkhead Wilderness

Uwharrie National Forest, Asheboro

7.4 miles

2 days

The quintessential one-night trip, used as both a first-time outing and to try out new gear. One reason the trip is so popular is its proximity to the state’s three prime population centers: Charlotte, the Triangle, the Triad. This 5,160-acre northern tip of the Uwharrie National Forest also carries the cachet of being a wilderness area — a wilderness area much of the state can reach within two hours. Camp 5 makes for a campsite capturing the morning and evening sun, Camp 3 is on water. This relic range in the heart of the Piedmont gives a sense of the mountains minus the extreme elevation.

Trip No. 35, “Backpacking North Carolina”

More info here.

Panthertown Valley

Cashiers

1 mile backpack in, 30 miles of day hiking

2-5 days

Pantherton is base camping taken to extreme. An easy hike in, a shelter, campsites on the water — and then the day hiking. There are multiple waterfalls (Schoolhouse, Frolictown and Granny Burrell are musts), there are views (Little Green Mountain is a good lunch spot because of the sweeping views). And then the miles and miles of trail, none of which will disappoint. Its appellation as “the Yosemite of the East” is a bit hyperbolic, but you’ll definitely see the resemblance.

Trip No. 28, “Backpacking North Carolina”

More info here.

Sam Knob Loop

Shining Rock area of the Pisgah National Forest, Waynesville

8.2 miles

2-days

Shining Rock is one of those bucket list backpacking areas in the Southeast, but the fact that much of it is a designated wilderness may deter the novice. That and the lack of reliable water and bear activity. But there is a way to ease yourself into Shining Rock, and that’s with the 8.2-mile Sam Knob Loop. You start from the same trailhead, Black Balsam off the Blue Ridge Parkway, but instead of heading north, hike west, toward 6.050-foot Sam Knob. Great views from both Sam and Little Sam, an abundance of water, and passage through a black balsam forest. And with surprisingly little elevation gain.

Trip No. 14, “Backpacking North Carolina” 

More info here.

* * *

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

What makes for a good first-time backpack trip? We tell you, on this week’s podcast. Give a listen here.

Backpacking North Carolina

Today’s recommended backpack trips for beginners were but 5 of 25 included in “Backpacking! North Carolina: The Definitive Guide to 43 Can’t-Miss Trips from Mountains to Sea.” Learn more here.

The post 5 trips made for the first-time backpacker appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Fastest Known Times — that is, the fastest known time that it’s taken someone to cover a stretch of trail. You may be familiar with the concept in terms of a major trail. The AT, for instance, which has seen intense competition over the years to see a new FKT record. The current record, for the 2,189-mile AT, btw, is 41 days, 7 hours and 39 minutes, set in 2018 by Karel Sabbe, a Belgian dentist. Or possibly North Carolina’s 1,175-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which saw a new record set last summer, when Tara Dower ran it in 29 days, 8 hours and 48 minutes.

But those are far from the only trails that boast FKTs, thanks to 2020 and the pandemic. With no trail races to focus their energy on, trail runners by the thousands set out to cover a myriad of trails, from Maine’s 6.5-mile Mount Agamenticus 3 Peaks to Skokie, Illinois’ 9.57-mile Skokie Valley Trail.

FastestKnownTime.com is the official record keeper of all things FKT. In 2020, the site received 14,640 FKT submissions — about 40 per day — from people claiming to have set the FKT record for a given trail, or stretch thereof. The really wacky news? FastestKnownTime.com recently proclaimed 2021 to be the year of the FKT, suggesting that 2020 was a mere warm-up.

To us stop-and-smell-the-roses types, the allure of the FKT may be a bit perplexing. Covering 42 miles per day for more than 29 straight days as Tara Dower (pictured above) did to set her 2020 MST record might have one asking numerous questions, starting with, “When do you have time to sleep?” (Answer: you don’t, much.)

Dower and fellow FKTers Tory Grieves and Kyle Curtin, who last year set the respective female and male record for the 62-mile Pitchell Run (the stretch of the MST between 5,722-foot Mount Pisgah and 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell) shared their stories and perspective at the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea trail’s annual gathering, this year called the “Ungathering” because it was conducted remotely, via Zoom. The Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail was gracious enough to share the audio of their panel discussion with our GetHiking! Southeast podcast, which you can listen to here. 

Where some of the FKTs set in 2020 for trails in the Southeast?

• Uwharrie Trail in the Uwharrie National Forest southwest of Asheboro, N.C., 37.4 miles: set, unsupported, by Jon Ziefle in 7 hours, 4 minutes, 57 seconds. (Ziefle was busy in 2020, also setting the FKT for the 33-mile Neuse River Trail in Raleigh and Clayton, running it in 3 hours, 45 minutes and 39 seconds).
• Mount Rogers via Massie Gap, Virginia, 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles): set, unsupported, by Ryan Woods in 36 minutes, 49 seconds (it was one of 7 FKTs set by Woods in 2020).
• Rocky Top – Thunderhead – Brier Knob Loop, Tennessee, 25.8 miles: set by Kevin Hoeper in 4 hours, 22 minutes and 34 seconds (that eclipsed the previous record, set three months earlier by Luke Bollschweiler, who beat the previous record set just a month earlier by Hank Hepperly).
• Long Cane Horse Trail, South Carolina, 32 miles: set by Kim Russell in 6 hours, 50 minutes and 56 seconds.
• Greenbrier Trail, West Virginia, 77.1 miles: set by Daniel Rau in 12 hours, 31 minutes and 57 seconds. 

Wondering how these FKTs are verified? You can find that out and get most of your other FKT questions answered at FastestKnownTime.com. Another cool thing you can do on the site: track FKT attempts in progress. Which leads us to wish Craig Millikin best of luck as he attempts to set a new record of the 217.5-mile Ouachita Trail in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Go Craig!

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

In this week’s podcast, listen to Tara Dower, Tory Grieves and Kyle Curtin share their tales of setting new FKTs on the MST in a rebroadcast of a panel discussion they conducted at the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’s annual gathering in March. Catch the podcast here. 

The post Were Record FKTs in 2020 a warm-up for 2021? appeared first on GetGoing NC!.