There’s strength in numbers, and to me the sturdy number for backpacking is three.

I recalled this bit of advice I used to hand out when I was contemplating my to-do list for 2024 — and realized I’d only backpacked once last year.

Once!

It wasn’t long ago that I was getting out about once a month. Sure, it was part of my job as a guide, but still, it felt natural. Once? Once did not feel natural.

So this year, I’ve vowed to follow my own advice. I’m scheduling three backpack trips. And I’m hoping you’ll go with me.

Here are the three, selected because they’re my three favorite. Click on the link for more information and sign up.

Standing Indian AT loop

Thursday – Sunday, April 25-28

Standing Indian Basin, a portion of which is in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness, is one of the few places where you can create a loop hike incorporating a large (about 20 miles) stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The AT portion of this hike is along the basin’s rim, offering expansive views of one of the most undeveloped regions in the Southeast. We meet Thursday evening at the Standing Indian campground (camping and welcome beverage and snacks included), hit the trail Friday morning.

Learn more and sign up here.

Virginia’s Triple Crown

Thursday – Sunday, June 20-23

On this 4-day, 35-mile trip you’ll visit the three most iconic spots on the Virginia portion of the Appalachian Trail: Dragon’s Tooth, Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob. Views abound on this trip, and you’ll work for them. This trip includes a training program that should whip you into shape for the challenge ahead. Note: Only one spot remains for this trip.

Learn more and sign up here.

AT from Carver’s Gap to US 19E

Friday – Sunday (Aug. 23-25)

The 14-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail between Carver’s Gap and US 19 E is perhaps the most scenic stretch of the AT in the Southeast. We take our time and savor this hike, over Round and Jane balds, over Hump and Little Hump mountains, and past all the scenic hardwood splendor along the way on this 3-day, 2-night backpack trip. Trip includes shuttle.

Learn more and sign up here.

The post Join us for 3 classic backpack trips in 2024 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

4-day trips

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness

• Sept. 16-19
• $145

Basecamp Backpack trip. On this four-day, three-night trip we hike in 1.5 miles, set up basecamp, then spend three days day hiking these adjoining wilderness areas. A wilderness that epitomizes the concept. $195. Learn more and sign up here.

Appalachian Trail at Standing Indian

• Oct. 28-31
• $195

We spend Night 1 at the Standing Indian group campground, then head out Friday morning for three days on the trail, mostly the AT as it follows a horseshoe-shaped ridge over Albert Mountain and Standing Indian Mountain. Great views along the way, great end-of-season color as well. $195. Learn more and sign up here.

Weekend Quick Escapes

Fall rolls around, you’re out of vacation time. With our Weekend Quick Escapes, you don’t need any PTO; these trips are designed to let you work a full day, then, when the whistle blows at 5, hop into your loaded car and drive to a trailhead requiring a short hike in to basecamp and two days of hiking in daypacks. 

GetBackpacking! Weekend Quick Escape: Doughton Park

• Oct. 22-24
• $105

It’s a flat, 1.5-mile hike to basecamp along Basin Creek. Saturday, it’s a long hike up Cedar Ridge Trail to the Bluff Mountain Trail and back down; Sunday, we hike 3.3-miles up Basin Creek to the Caudil Cabin at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment.  Learn more and sign up here.

GetBackpacking! Weekend Quick Escape: Rock Castle Gorge

• Nov. 19-21
• $105

The shortest hike in to basecamp, at just under a quarter mile, followed by a 10.8-mile loop Saturday on one of the iconic trails in the Southeast. Sunday on the drive out we stop at Fairy Stone State Park for a 4.5-mile hike.   Learn more and sign up here.

GetBackpacking! Weekend Quick Escape: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness in the Uwharrie National Forest

• Dec. 10-12
• $105

A great end of year trip, taking advantage of warmer Piedmont temperatures and a shorter drive to the trailhead. Basecamp is a 3-mile hike, followed Saturday by a 9-mile loop day hike. Sunday, we take a short hike to the best mountain view in the Uwharries. . Learn more and sign up here.

Backpacking for Non Backpackers

You’re an avid hiker but have yet, for whatever reason, tried backpacking. With our Basecamp Backpack option you can enjoy the best of both worlds — the solitude of a backcountry campsite and the ability to hike miles on end without 40 pounds on your back. We supply the basic backpacking gear — backpack, tent, sleeping pad, cook stove and coolest, plus guidance on how to use it all and be a backpacker. This option is available on our Basecamp Backpack trips that require on a short hike — between a quarter mile and 3 miles — to camp in full pack. We provide a list of everything you’ll need to bring.

• Backpacking for Non Backpackers: Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness, Sept. 16-19. $295. Learn more and sign up here
• Backpacking for Non Backpackers: Weekend Quick Escape: Doughton Park, Oct. 22-24. $195. Learn more and sign up here
• Backpacking for Non Backpackers: Weekend Quick Escape: Rock Castle Gorge, Nov. 19-21. $195. Learn more and sign up here.
• Backpacking for Non Backpackers: Weekend Quick Escape: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness in the Uwharrie National Forest, Dec. 10-12. $195. Learn more and sign up here.

Intro to Backpacking

Not a backpacker — yet? In just three sessions you can become a bonafide backpacker in time for the prime fall hiking season. We start with a gear session via Zoom, then meet for a 5-hour in-field training session before our weekend graduation trip to South Mountains State Park. Some loaner gear is available on a first-requested basis. We have four sessions scheduled for the fall. Click the appropriate link for details and to sign up. $225.

• Intro to Backpacking: Charlotte. Sept. 8, 11, 24-26
• Intro to Backpacking: Triangle. Sept. 8, 11, 24-26
• Intro to Backpacking: Triad. Sept. 8, 11; Oct. 1-3
• Intro to Backpacking: Greenville. Sept. 23; Oct. 9, 22-24

The post GetBackpacking! Fall 2021 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

On the water

North Carolina State Parks offers two ways to beat the heat this weekend on the water.

• 

  Canoe the Mayo River, Saturday, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., Mayo River State Park, Anglin Mill Access, Mayodan (north of Greensboro). It’s hard to imagine a better introduction to river paddling than this trip run occasionally by Mayo River State Park. For starters, the key gear — canoes, personal flotation device and paddles — are provided, as is a guide, in the form of a park ranger who will offer guidance and instruction. You just need to dress appropriately and bring drinks and snacks for this 4- to 5-hour paddle trip, which is free. The only catch: registration is limited to 11; call 336.427.2530 to reserve a spot. More info here.

• Canoe Hike, Saturday, 6 p.m., Carvers Creek State Park, Spring Lake (near Fayetteville). Also on the water — and in the cooling evening to boot — this guided paddle trip explores a cypress swamp, winding in out of these wading trees. Again, everything is provided, and, again, it’s free. But, again, space is limited: call 910.436.4681 to reserve a spot. More info here.

Along (and in) the water

Simply being along water makes you feel cooler. Being in it, even better! And here’s another thing being in the water does: it makes you feel like a kid again! 

Here are three of our favorite hikes along — and at some point in — the water. 

• 

  Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake, Day-Hike Section F, Wake Forest. Ever see those travel websites that boast of “undiscovered” beaches? They sound great, but they also seem to be half-way around the world. But you can find them close to home. One of our favorites is in the Triangle, along Falls Lake, which is otherwise known for its crowded beaches on summer weekends. This one, though, is a short distance from the Barton Creek Boat Ramp off Six Forks Road, located in a small cove that not only eludes beach-seekers, but the summer boat traffic so prevalent on Falls Lake. You’ll need to hike 0.6 miles on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail to get there, but the payout is well worth it. Check out our guide to this section of the trail for directions.

• West Loop, Avents Creek Access, Raven Rock State Park, Fuquay-Varina. Typically when you think of a summer water escape, you think of waterfalls and their resulting pools. And when you think of waterfall-fed-pools, you think of the mountains. You should also think of the Avents Creek Access to Raven Rock State Park, where 0.7 miles down the West Loop Trail (hiking clockwise) you’ll find a pair of cascades known as Jumping Fish Falls on Avents Creek. There’s a 5-foot drop (and resulting pool) followed by a 3-foot drop (ditto). The sand-and-stone bottom leave the water clear and refreshing. Check out our guide to this hike here. 
• Bobbit Hole/Cole Mill loop, Eno River State Park, Durham. There are two well-known swimming holes on the Eno River in Durham, Sennett Hole and Bobbit Hole. The former is just upstream from West Point on the Eno city park and tends to draw more attention; the latter is reached from the Cole Mill Access to Eno River State Park. Taking its namesake trail from the upper parking lot, hike through nicely aging piedmont forest for 1.2 miles before a short (a tenth of a mile) spur takes you to Bobbit Hole, a sizable pool formed by a bend in the river. On the hottest of days the water may be tepid at the surface, but dive down 4, 5, 6 feet and you should find chilling relief. Check out our guide to this hike here.

This weekend, let water be your carrot to GetOut! And enjoy.

The post GetOut! Cool ideas for a hot summer weekend appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We thought so. So are we. In fact, we can’t recall ever being so ready to get into the mountains and escape. To escape to a mountain top, to escape into an old growth forest, to spend our time between escapes along a calming mountain stream. 

Those are some of the key ingredients to what we look for in a mountain escape, and they are the key ingredients in our first GetHiking! Weekend Basecamp Trip of the fall — of 2020, actually: a three-day, two-night escape to the oldest portion of the Pisgah National Forest, the Curtis Creek area near Old Fort. The land along Curtis Creek was the first to become part of the Pisgah National Forest, in 1918. It’s an exceptionally rugged area: If you’ve ever wondered on the drive to Asheville why there’s no road over the mountains between Marion and Asheville — a distance of nearly 40 miles — there’s good reason: the Blue Ridge mountains here are especially rugged. From the base in Marion to the top of Mount Mitchell, the highest point on the East Coast, the mountains gain a mile in elevation (exactly, from 1,404 feet in Marion to 6,684 feet atop Mount Mitchell). A good reason to explore the area is that it was too inaccessible to be logged or developed.

Our Sept. 11-13 visit is a great way to kick off the fall hiking season, for several reasons:

• First, it’s relatively close to the state’s three main population centers: about a 2-hour drive from Charlotte, 2 1/2 from the Triad, 3 from the Triangle. You’ll spend less time driving, more time exploring.
• Second, the planned hikes are challenging, but not overly so for legs that have been confined to the Piedmont. Saturday’s all-day hike will be up to the 5,408-foot summit of Graybeard Mountain; on Sunday, we will hike from the campsite for a couple of miles into old growth forest.
• Third, it’s a basecamp trip. We check in at the Curtis Creek Campground Friday afternoon, we check out Sunday afternoon. Curtis Creek is a small campground along a gravel road that, for reasons we haven’t been able to figure out, tends to get overlooked. Mellow, relaxing, off the beaten path.

It’s a good reintroduction to mountain hiking, too, because the group size is capped at 10. An intimate gathering, which makes it easy to connect with your fellow hikers.

Connect? 

In the spiritual sense. Such a small group at a small campground makes it easy for us to make sure you can keep your physical distance from your fellow hikers while enjoying their company. How often do you get within six feet of a fellow hiker, anyway?

We are especially excited about the coming fall because we know you’re excited about it, too. Friday, we posted a backpacking trip to the Shining Rock Wilderness that sold out in less than three hours, a record for us.

Our Curtis Creek trip is just the start. We’ll be announcing more weekend hiking getaways over the next three weeks. As our Shining Rock trip shows, we expect pent-up demand will make these hiking weekends fill quickly, especially since they will all be capped at 10 hikers or fewer.

We don’t have our schedule in stone, so if there are places you’re especially interested in hiking, drop us a line at info@getgoingnc.com and clue us in. We’re focusing on trails that are either loops or interesting out-and-backs (we’re trying to avoid shuttles).

Fall is nearing. Maybe it hasn’t been the best year so far. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a memorable escape or two before it’s over.

Join us

For more information on our GetHiking! Curtis Creek Basecamp Weekend and to sign up to join us, visit our Explore With Us! page here.

Sign up for our weekly GetHiking! enewsletter. Every Thursday we send out our GetHiking! enewsletter, which includes news of the hiking world, tips, resources, gear recommendations, media suggestions and coming hikes and trips. And, so you don’t miss out on trips that fill shortly after they’re posted, we’ll give you a head’s up in Thursday’s enewsletter about trips that we will be posting Friday. If you aren’t already a GetHiking! enewsletter subscriber, you can become one by going here.

The post Fall hiking: We’re launching the season at Curtis Creek appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Some workweeks last longer than others. We’re guessing this will be a long one, even though for us it’s only four days. Friday, we’re turning on the “out of office” reply and slipping out the door for a wild weekend in Wilson Creek.

Wilson Creek, Linville Gorge’s little brother. It may not have the gaping chasm of its better-known neighbor, but it does have numerous smaller ones that offer intimate, less crowded and more accessible (somewhat) access to the bracing waters that drain from Grandfather Mountain’s southeast flank. Cascades and their resulting pools, where relief from an onslaught of 90-degree summer heat is found in so many spots, not just in the main gorge. And many of these pools are rimmed by polished granite, ideal for sunbathing. Take a dip, sunbathe until dry. Repeat. Imaging spending an afternoon — or the entire weekend doing — just that. 

Did we mention the views? Those, too.

Are we telling you this to make you envious? Not in the least. We’re telling you this because we’ve had two cancelations on our trip and we’re offering you the chance to come along. We’ll base camp for two nights below Hunt-fish Falls (just a 1.3-mile hike in), do a 7-mile day hike Saturday, culminating early afternoon at one of the sweetest rock-rimmed mountain pools around, and do a shorter day hike Sunday to South Harper Falls. Time permitting, we may even do a 1.7-mile hike to one of the more spectacular cliff-top overlooks along the Blue Ridge.

Intrigued? You can learn more about the trip and sign up here. 

The video

Today’s video is from a 2019 GetBackpacking! trip to Wilson Creek.

The post We’re looking forward to the weekend at Wilson Creek (and you can, too) appeared first on GetGoing NC!.