It’s the last week of the spring Hike NC session, the hiking program aimed at beginners launched by BlueCross North Carolina in 2016. The program is aimed at beginners and is a great opportunity to for beginners to finally take those first steps down the trail. On tap:

• Friday June 15, 6:30 p.m., Saxapahaw Island Park, Saxapahaw. 1.5 miles, easy.
• Saturday June 16, 10 a.m., Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, Charlotte. 3.8 miles, moderate.
• Saturday June 16, 10 a.m., Seymour Athletic Fields, Apex. 1.5 miles, easy.
• Monday, June 18, 6 p.m., Eno River State Park: Cox Mountain Trail, Orange County. 3.75 miles, moderate.
• Thursday, June 21, 5:30 p.m., Umstead State Park: Reedy Creek Bike & Bridle Trail, Raleigh. 3 miles, moderate.

You can find more events at the following:

North Carolina State Parks has a variety of adventures planned for the weekend. Check those options here.

• Right here, at GetGoingNC.com.

The post GetOut! Your Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Last weekend, we hiked more of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Falls Lake and saw our first mountain laurel bloom of the season — a lone bloom, but an impressively full and vibrant (if white can be vibrant) bloom about midway between the Shinleaf Recreation Area and NC 98. We also spent a little time exploring all the Eno River in Orange County and planning a trip next weekend to the Curtis Creek area of the Pisgah National Forest. It was a busy weekend on the trail.

We mentioned last week that we also saw our first traces of poison ivy. Traces? Tracts is more like it, ominously sneaking right up to the trail as if it intend to grab us by the ankle and wreak itchy havoc. That prompted us to put together an advisory on how to avoid poison ivy as well as ticks and mosquitoes as we head into our first 90-degree weekend of the summer. 90! Woo hoo.

With the temperature and Mom (Sunday’s Mother’s Day, remember) in mind, we bring you our three picks for adventure this weekend. Get Out and enjoy!

Saturday, May 12, noon. Wildflowers, Mount Mitchell State Park. When the temperature is 90 in the Piedmont wouldn’t you rather check out the evolving statewide wildflower bloom in a place where it may not even get out of the 60s? Grab your layers and follow a ranger on this 1-hour search for the wildflowers abloom above 6,000 feet. Learn more and sign up here.

Sunday, May 13, 8 p.m. Night Hike, Carvers Creek State Park, Spring Lake. You can go high (Mount Mitchell) to escape the heat, or you can wait until sundown and tag along with a ranger on a night hike! On this night, the plan is to hike, with flashlight or headlamp in hand (or on head), down to the millpond in search of “different types of birds, reptiles and amphibians, and any other crepuscular dweller.” Learn more and sign up here.

Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13, Paddle the Haw River, Saxapahaw. On both Saturday and Sunday, our friends at Haw River Canoe & Kayak Co. will be running trips on the damed stretch of the Haw River above Saxapahaw. Shuttled trips from Swepsonville River Park to Saxapahaw Lake (just under 5 miles of Class A flat water) run at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Or, put in near the dam and paddle upstream against an ever-so-subtle current at your leisure. For more information and to sign up, go here.

In addition:

• Several hikes are on tap this weekend with Hike NC, the BlueCross Blue Shield of North Carolina hiking program. Check out those mostly beginner-oriented hikes at gohikenc.com. 
• North Carolina State Parks have a variety of adventures planned for the weekend. Check those options here.
• Our GetHiking! program has hikes planned, including a a hike in Panthertown Valley. Learn more and sign up here.
• You can also find more adventures right here, at GetGoingNC.com.

The post Get Out! Your Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Discover new trails. One in particular caught our eye: Saturday’s hike on the Sand Live Oak Trail at coastal Carolina Beach State Park. “It is our newest trail,” says park ranger Carla Edwards, who will lead the hike. This trail takes you deeper into the park’s community of ancient live oaks, sprawling evergreen trees that seem to extend forever. You’ll encounter a variety of other coastal plant communities as well, including the park’s rare carnivorous plant gatherings. 3.5 miles.

Discover slap-your-forehead, why-haven’t-I-known-about-this-before? trails. Again this weekend, that includes Sunday’s 3-mile hike on the Bee Tree Trail at Pettigrew State Park.  One of the state’s off-the-beaten-path gems, Pettigrew State Park is located south of Creswell, which is east of Plymouth, which — it’s on the way to the Outer Banks, off U.S. 64. Here, you’ll discover a rim of the massive old growth hardwoods that shielded Lake Phelps—at 16,000 acres the state’s second largest natural lake—from the prying eyes of early Europeans for years. You’ll find some of the oldest trees in the state here.

Slow down and learn a thing. You may hike a lot, but how well do you know the terrain through which you’ve hiked? Several Hike NC hikes have an educational component: On Saturday’s Wildflower Hike at South Mountains State Park, Ranger Lance Huss will lead a 3/4-mile hike along the Jacob Fork River, identifying the many wildflowers now in bloom. And if you want to hike a little farther afterward, you can hike the 2.7-mile High Shoals Falls Loop and check out its 80-foot namesake waterfall. 

Discover trails in your own backyard. Again this weekend, on Sunday afternoon: a 4-mile hike on the Lake and Laurel Hills trails in Gaston County’s George Poston Park. One of the key partners in Hike NC is the N.C. Recreation and Parks Association, which represents the state’s various parks and rec departments. These NCRPA members have played a huge role in sponsoring hikes and getting more folks moving by showing off some of the great trails they have that you may not know about. “After doing Hike NC with you guys last year,” says Gaston County’s Josh Henderson, “we decided to implement our own hikes … because they have been highly attended.”

Break your routine. Are you in the habit of going to the same park and hiking the same trail? At Pilot Mountain State Park, for instance, folks drive lemming-like to the summit and hike the Ledge Spring Trail and other trails from the summit parking lot — even though on a brilliant spring weekend it can take a half hour just to find a parking spot. Well, your friends here at GetGoingNC and GetHiking! — did we mention that we are partners in Hike NC as well? — like the popular places, too, but we seek out the backdoor entrances. Saturday, we show you one of our favorite lesser-known entrances to Pilot Mountain. Where? You’ll have to visit the Hike NC website (details in a minute) to find out.

Not all of these hikes are beginner friendly. On May 5, our friends with the Buncombe County Parks and Rec. will lead a 6-mile hike on the Snowball Trail, high in the Craggy Mountains; on June 9, the same hike leaders will hike Sleepy Gap from the Walnut Cove Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway; and on May 6, we’re leading our favorite epic circuit in the Southeast: the 17.5-mile Doughton Park loop consisting of Cedar Ridge, Bluff Mountain and Grassy Gap Road trails. We’ll be adding some more challenging hikes over the next couple weeks.

We love being a part of Hike NC, for all the above reasons. If you love hiking, you should love Hike NC, too. 

Learn more about the program at gohikenc.com. To find hikes this weekend and to register (it’s free; they just like to know how many to expect), click on the links below:

• Saturday, 12:30 p.m., Carolina Beach State Park, Carolina Beach. 3.5 miles. Easy to moderate
• Saturday, 2 p.m., Haw River State Park, Greensboro. 2 miles. Easy to moderate
• Saturday, 11 a.m., South Mountains State Park, Connelly Springs. 0.75 miles. Easy
• Saturday, 5 p.m., Pilot Mountain State Park (Yadkin River section), Pinnacle. 3 miles. Easy to moderate
• Sunday, 2 p.m., Pettigrew State Park, Creswell. 3 miles. Easy
• Sunday, 3 p.m., Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve, Southern Pines. 2.5 miles. Easy
• Sunday, 3 p.m., George Poston Park, Charlotte. 4 miles. Moderate

Happy trails,
Joe

The post From Beginner to Backcountry expert, Hike NC returns with 60 Spring Hikes appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We like to ward off the beginning of the work-week blues with thoughts about life on the outside.

It’s only one day. But it’s a day that can make a difference.

Sunday is the first day of the new year. Dating back 4,000 years to the Babylonians, we’ve looked at the day as a time for renewal and rebirth. We vow to be better people, we pledge to take better care of ourselves. In fact, the latter, staying fit and healthy, is the most popular New Year’s resolution we make, according to at least one survey.

According to another, it’s the most common resolution we break.

Despite this dubious track record, we persist. Using the New Year as a crutch is especially attractive if the year about to pass failed to meet expectations. Judging from the woe-is-me Facebook rants we’ve been seeing the past couple weeks, Sunday could be a record-breaker for New Year’s resolutions. So we want to do our best to help make sure you at least get January 1 off to a good start.

On Sunday, thanks primarily to North Carolina State Parks, there should be no reason not to get the year off to an active start. On Sunday, more than 40 guided hikes are scheduled at North Carolina’s state parks as part of the nationwide First Day Hikes Program. The First Day program is relatively new, though the concept in North Carolina dates back more than 40 years at Eno River State Park. Last year, 3,469 hikers logged 8,228 miles on First Day hikes in North Carolina.

The hikes offer something for just about everyone. Don’t want to waste a second putting your 2017 resolution to work? Chimney Rock State Park’s hike starts at 12:01 a.m. (on a 7-mile hike that gains 1,200 feet of elevation). If it snows, Grandfather Mountain State Park will give its hikers snowshoes. At coastal Fort Macon State Park, they’ll break in the new 3.2-mile Elliott Caues Trail, while at Falls Lake State Recreation Area, four short hikes will include scavenger hunts.

It all sounds like an attractive and painless way to get the year off to a good, active start, no? It is, and you’re not the only person to think so: if the weather’s right, the hike at Eno River State Park has been known to draw as many as 800 hikers.

So while 40-plus hikes throughout the state may seem like a lot, we feel there’s always room for more. The Hike NC! hiking initiative launched by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina this fall (and in which we are a happy collaborator, along with N.C. State Parks, Friends of State Parks, N.C. Recreation and Park Association and Great Outdoor Provision Co.) is adding another six hikes to the list (learn more about the hikes and sign up, here). They are:

• Blowing Rock area: Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Holloway Mountain Loop, 2.4 miles, noon.
• Charlotte: Seven Oaks Preserve, part of the Carolina Thread Trail, 5.6 miles, 1 p.m.
• Greensboro: Laurel Bluff Trail (Lake Townsend), 4 miles, noon.
• Durham: Horton Grove Nature Preserve, Triangle Land Conservancy, 3 miles, 10 a.m.
• Raleigh: Mountains-to-Sea Trail at Falls Lake, Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, 2.5 miles, 2 p.m.
• Wilmington area: Stone Creek Gamelands, Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, 3-4 miles, noon

That’s our effort to help you get 2017 to an active start. And rest assured that our help doesn’t begin and end on Day 1. We’ll be here throughout 2017 to help you make it a fit and healthy year.

The post An active 2017 starts on Day One appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

The week after Thanksgiving, for some reason, is always a tough one to push through. Even more the reason we are so grateful that the holiday season is providing us a plethora of options to get out for what’s going to be another beautiful weekend.

Coast

December, when neighbors become a little more chatty, trees go up, houses become swathed in creative light designs. While all this excitement is in the air don’t forget to continue exploring, lest the stress of the season catch up to you.

One way to de-stress this weekend is on one of the numerous boat rides taking place at Hammocks Beach State Park. Whichever day works best for you — Friday, Saturday or Sunday — you’ll be able to enjoy a boat ride. Travel over to one of the unique islands of Hammock Beach and learn from one of the park rangers first hand what has shaped the area’s marine life, habitats and different ecosystems.

Logistics: Huggins Island History Hike, Friday, 10 a.m. to noon; Jones Island Eco-Tour, Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon; Bear Island Eco-Hike, Sunday, 10 a.m. to noon. All at Hammocks Beach State Park, Swansboro. Find out more, here.

Weekend weather: Highs in the 50s all three days, sunny on Friday, a little less sunny Saturday, downright cloudy Sunday.

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Looking ahead: Nature on the Queens, Dec. 7, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Hammocks Beach State Park. More info, here.

Piedmont

Can a park be all things to all people? Hagan-Stone, just southeast of Greensboro, gives it a heck of a shot. And you’ll get to see so much of what this park has to offer – from playgrounds and camping to fishing and general natural beauty — on this hike that piggybacks on one of the most popular high school and college cross-country courses in the region. The hike is an easy way to get in four miles and offers beauty everywhere along the way.

Logistics: GetHiking! / Hike NC! at Hagan-Stone Park, Saturday, 1 p.m., Hagan-Stone Park, Pleasant Garden. Find out more, here.

Saturday forecast: Partly cloudy, high of 53.

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Looking ahead: Holiday Hike and Baked Goods Jamboree, Sycamore Trail at Umstead State Park, Raleigh. Dec. 10, 10 a.m., 7.2 miles. More info, here.

Mountains

It’s a time of year where the curiosity of our young ones seems to be at its peak: they have questions and we do our best not to take the magic away! Helping with this is the Santa on the Chimney — Chimney Rock State Park that is.

Besides, haven’t you wondered as well how Santa magically gets up and down millions of chimneys around the world, all in just one night? Included in the admission to Chimney Rock you and your family can enjoy the magic of the holidays as you watch Santa practice climbing one of the world largest “chimneys,” with multiple 200-foot rappels. Live music and hot chocolate, too.

Logistics: Santa on the Chimney, Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Chimney Rock State Park, Chimney Rock. $13 for adults, $6 for kids. Find out more, here.

Sunday forecast: Partly Cloudy, high of 52.

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Looking ahead: Instant Replay: Santa on the Chimney, Dec. 10, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Find out more, here.

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

Coast

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