Today’s 90-Second Escape: GetHiking! on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

Content from GetHiking! on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail

Our GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes program spent this past weekend watching spring unfold above 5,000 feet in the North Carolina high country. Specifically, on a 16-mile stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail between Heywood Gap and Graveyard Fields along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

It was a great day on the trail. Tag along and see what we mean.

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When it’s 90 degrees, about the last think you think about is taking a hike. Unless …

Unless the trail spends a generous amount of time in and out of the water. That’s been the case with two of our recent GetHiking! summer hikes: at Wilson Creek and, this past weekend, along Basin Creek in Doughton Park.

Today, we share 90 seconds of those two hikes. Because you can only live vicariously so much, we also share five of our favorite summer water trails in North Carolina. Just the thing for the hiker who eschews heat yet hates to forgo trail time during the summer. We’ll start with the two included in today’s escape.

1. Wilson Creek area. This is the place to hike if you like water. Steep, narrow canyons that can barely accommodate a creek, let alone a parallel trail, mark this area at the base of Grandfather Mountain. Strap on the Keens, don the water shorts and go! More info here.
2. Basin Creek, Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway. From the remote Longbottom Road trail access, Basin Creek is your companion all the way to the Caudill Cabin, a total of five miles. There are a total of 15 creek crossings and numerous pools and waterfalls along the way. More info here.
3. Mountains-to-Sea Trail, from Graveyard Fields south, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 418.8. The Graveyard Fields access reopened earlier this month, with more parking and a restroom. The improved access makes all the more alluring a trek down the MST as it follows Yellowstone Prong. Falls and good pools highlight this stretch. More info here.
4. Linville Gorge. The Linville Gorge Trail follows the Linville River for 13 miles, offering access to assorted pools along the way. Access to the gorge can be a challenge — it’s 1,600 feet from rim to river; the savvy hiker enters from the Table Rock Mountain access, which offers the easiest access to the gorge. More info here.
5. Hanging Rock State Park. Live in the Piedmont and don’t have time for a trip to the mountains? Hanging Rock offers two options. Within the first half mile, Indian Creek Trail passes two waterfalls, Hidden and Window, offering opportunities to cool off. Or, hike the high trails (Moore’s Wall, Hanging Rock, Cook’s Wall), then take a dip in the park’s 12-acre mountain lake. More info here.

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Are the horses on the Outer Banks on your list of mysteries of the universe? Are you perplexed by pickelball? And what’s the deal with the Graveyard Fields Overlook, anyway?

Answers to these and other questions on how to spend your weekend follow.

Coast

We have questions when we venture into the wild. What kind of tree is that? Why is there poison ivy? Why is there a horse standing on the beach?

The latter is a question you might ask visiting Shackleford Banks, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. And it’s a question you might ask and find an answer to on Saturday’s Horse Sense and Survival Tour. A National Park Service ranger takes you on a tour of Shackleford Banks in search of the island’s wild horses. A ferry ride from Harkers Island is included, if you don’t have your own boat.

Logistics: Saturday, July 19, 8 – 11:20 a.m., Cape Lookout National Seashore (with ferry from Harkers Island). $15 for adults, $8 for kids 11 and under. Reservations required, by calling 252.728.2250, ext. 0. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 82, 30 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

Psst! Pickelball.

Seriously! It’s proponents claim its “America’s fastest growing sport,” and based on this video, it looks like a lot of fun. It’s a little tennis, a little badminton, a little pingpong, a little whiffleball, and it’s the focus of Saturday’s Pickelball Play Day at the Fuquay-Varina Community Center. The two-hour program features a demonstration clinic. Is there a pickelballer lurking within? Come find out.

Logistics: Saturday, July 19, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Fuquay-Varina Community Center, 820 Main St., Fuquay-Varina. Free. Call 919.552.1430 for more info.

Saturday forecast: High of 87. Partly cloudy? Mostly sunny!

Mountains

This weekend’s mountain recommendation is more of a do-it-yourself, work-it-in-when-you-can activity. The Graveyard Fields access on the Blue Ridge Parkway, closed since mid-April for installation of a bathroom and to expand parking, has reopened. The popular parkway pullout provides access to hiking and waterfall exploration in the Graveyard Fields area, as well as access to the Shining Rock Wilderness and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Good access if you want to go short, good access if you want to go long.

You’ve got all kinds of hiking options from Graveyard Fields. Among the most popular is the Graveyard Fields Loop, a four-mile hike that spends time along Yellowstone Prong, explores Second Falls and offers some good views. The National Forest Service’s Shining Rock map helps you plot a variety of hikes.

Logistics: Graveyard Fields, Milepost 418, Blue Ridge Parkway. More info here.

Weekend forecast: Highs around 70, chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

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Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Great Outdoor Provision Co.
Calendar includes three weekly events for each of its seven markets: Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Search by market.

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

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The post This weekend: Horses, hikes, pickleballs appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Come summer, with its 90/90 days (heat/humidity) the last thing on most of our minds is a long hike in the woods. Oceans of sweat, acres of trail-clogging cobwebs, no hydration pack big enough to sate your insatiable thirst. Very understandable, this hike aversion — if you don’t know where to go. For if you do, there are plenty of trails — from North Carolina’s steamy coast, to the stuffy Piedmont to the sun-drenched high country — ideal for summer exploring.

At the coast, you’re wise to incorporate a really large body of saline water in your hike plan. Water is likewise a key ingredient in the Piedmont, though the occasional alpine anomaly also offers relief. In the Appalachians, refreshing waterfalls and elevation combine to offer escape.

We’ve compiled a list of 25 hikes that are especially well-suited to a North Carolina summer, five at the coast, 10 each in the Piedmont and the high country. You can find additional information on each at the links provided and in the references mentioned, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” and “Backpacking North Carolina.”

Let your summer hiking adventure begin here.

The post 25 North Carolina hikes tailor-made to beat the heat appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Coast

This weekend, Saturday and Sunday, it’s the Kitty Hawk Kites Annual Outer Banks Stunt Kite Competition. This is competitive kite flying at its best, on the Eastern League Circuit (were you aware there was an Eastern League Circuit for sport kite flying?) and sanctioned by the American Kiting Association (ditto?). While the spectating promises to be swell, amateur kite flyers can get in on workshops, demonstrations and kite making for kids. Stuff to watch for: kite ballet competitions set to music and fast-paced team flying that blend a both kite control and speed.

More info at Kitty Hawk Kites.

Piedmont

This one’s a little pricey — $80 per person — but worth it. Saturday, join the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences on a daylong paddle on the Black River. This black water river meanders through Sampson, Bladen and Pender counties and boasts some of the cleanest water in the state. The Three Sisters section of the river aslo boasts some of the oldest trees on the East Coast — bald cypress believed to be nearly 2000 years old (to put that in perspective, Jesus would have been in his Wonder years when these trees were saplings). Fee includes equipment and a shuttle ride from the museum in downtown Raleigh. 919.733.7450, ext. 555 or or debbie.huston@ncdenr.gov to reserve a spot.

Mountains

Sunday, the Carolina Mountain Club goes high on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a 5.5-mile hike just outside the Shining Rock Wilderness. This afternoon hike — it starts at 12:30 p.m. from the Cold Mountain Overlook at Milepost 419.4 — takes in the Boundary Trail and Mountains-to-Sea Trail to Skinny Dip Falls, returning along the MST and through Graveyard Fields. Gorgeous area.

More info on the route here, more info on the hike by contacting hike leader Ashok Kudva at 828.674.1374 or ashok.kudva@att.net

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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

The post Weekend plans: By land, water, air appeared first on GetGoing NC!.