Certainly doesn’t inspire thoughts of a day on the trail. A long day, at least.

That’s why this time of year we pull out our Summer Shorts: hikes long enough to sate your thirst for trail, but short enough to prevent heatstroke.

I got into shorter trails when I moved north of Greensboro four years ago. The reason? There were no long trails close by. Initially, the Shorts came in handy when I simply didn’t have the time to invest a half day, drive included. They become even handier when the heat settles in. 

Today, a salute to Summer Shorts. Five hikes I turn to when the heat gets turned up.

MST James M. Johnston Nature Preserve

Hillsborough

320 Elizabeth Brady Road

2 miles out and back 

Just across from Historic Occoneechee Speedway, now part of the N.C. State Parks system, sits a small preserve that clings to a bluff overlooking the Eno River. And clinging to the bluff is a mile-long stretch of trail that includes elevation (150 feet), floodplain forest, and rhododendron and mountain laurel stretches that’ll make you swear you’re in the mountains. 

The trail itself is a mile in length; to get there from the Occoneechee trailhead you’ll need to tack on another mile (out-and-back). This flat stretch makes for a nice warm-up, especially in summer, for short-but-steep climb that awaits. Looking for more mileage? A loop on the speedway adds a half-mile; tack on another 1.5 miles on the MST west into Hillsborough, and another half mile, still on the MST, to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. What you wind up with here is a hike with a length for all seasons.

More info here

Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve

Hillsborough

2187 Moorefields Road

1.5 miles

I’ve been hiking Seven Mile Creek for a decade now and I still think only a handful of us know about this 360-acre gem. Granted, it’s small and with a mile and a half of trail it may not be worth a drive across the Triangle, especially if you’re looking for miles. But in summer there’s passage along the preserve’s namesake creek, which, like the Eno it deposits into a mile downstream, is more montane than piedmont. A mature forest offers a sun-sheltering canopy and good sightline through the understory. Get ambitious and you can cross the creek at low water and pick up an old roadbed across the way. Or head upstream for a little timberbashing. Even with those additions, don’t expect to hike much more than a couple miles total. 

More info here, at the Orange County website

Take a 87-second virtual video tour here

Richard P. Gravely Jr. Nature Preserve

Ridgeway, VA

2525 Eggleston Falls Road

2 miles

This was quite the unexpected find when I moved to Eden. I don’t what I expected to find on this 75-acre preserve just a 17-minute drive from home, but what I found was an outer loop that spends part of its time along a stretch of the Smith River rich with rhododendron and mountain laurel. A connectoin trail runs along a ridge with lush hardwoods and a cemetery dating back to the mid-1800s. Depending upon the time of year you’ll find a range of wildflowers — including trillium, bloodroot, and wild orchids— ferns and mushrooms. It’s also got some elevation, topping out at just under 750 feet.

More info here

Knight Brown Nature Preserve

Stokesdale

221Waterfield Lane

3+ miles

The hike: Few places do as good a job of quickly escorting you from civilization as the 189-acre Knight Brown Nature Preserve. Take the Beechwood Bottom Loop Trail from the trailhead and hike clockwise, and you quickly descend to Belews Creek. (As soon as you reach the creek, look across, to the north, for a cascade tumbling down the far slope.) Large sections of three trails run along the creek, which has forged a surprisingly deep valley: in just over a tenth of a mile, the terrain rises 80 vertical feet above the creek. The east-facing slope probed by the Leatherwood Loop Trail has some understory growth, but for the most part, the high canopy provides a protective roof above open terrain below. Nice in summer because it blocks out the sun but not the downslope breezes, nice in winter because the leafy canopy disappears letting the sun’s warming rays penetrate. Belews Creek, which runs west, then north through the preserve, offers rocky relief, spilling over car-size boulders in spots, before mellowing out on its journey to the Dan River. An exceptional hike in all seasons.

More info here

Hickory Creek Access: Mayo River State Park

Stoneville

Tyne Road (off of Bennett Road),

GPS: 36.5093, -79.9984

This access is so new it’s barely on the park website. It’s so new it doesn’t even have an address. It’s so new that to get there, you need old-timey written directions (from US 220, take the NC 770 ramp and head west on NC 770 for 6.8 miles; turn right onto Victory Hill Church Road for 3.1 miles; turn right onto Bennett Road for 0.6 miles; turn right onto Tyne Road and into Hickory Creek Access). The trailhead is atop a subtle summit where you’ll seem to have options: only one, well marked, is the actual trail. Take it for a leisurely 0.8-mile hike down a mellow ridge to the Mayo River. Much of this hike is on an old, barely detectable, roadbed. Reaching the Mayo is a bit anticlimactic as the river bottom is densely vegetated and views of the river are limited. Turn and hike back to the trailhead. Up for another mile or so? Just before where you parked is a gated dirt road which offers a half-mile or so of easy hiking before “No Trespassing” signs suggest it’s time to retreat. If the heat has yet to defeat you, it’s three quarters of a mile down the access road to the park entrance. All told, you can get in about 4 miles of quiet hiking.

More info here.

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