For much of the winter, the sun set long before we had a chance to enjoy it after getting off work. Now, it stays out later and later, and so do we. Sometimes later than we anticipated.
When we become drunk on sunlight and it leaves the party before we were expecting, it’s good to know a thing or two about navigating in the dark, and near dark. Today, we share some tips based on our experience of leading night hikes for the past 10 years.
I stood atop the outcrop overlooking New Hope Creek this morning and was reminded of how much I liked this particular trail. Moments later, as I continued upstream through Duke Forest, I was reminded of why I‘d never included this hike in our GetHiking! Sunday hike series.
We love hiking in winter. Its allure — cool temperatures to keep you moving, dry air, and awesome light, to name three — go largely unappreciated. Still, it’s a time for shorter hikes. Shorter hours of daylight, the rapidly disappearing late-day sun, the cold early and late. It’s a great time to be out, just not for prolonged periods of time.
A quick reminder that if you’ve got a house full of visitors, you’re probably wondering what to do with them. Well, take ‘em on a hike, of course.
Tuesday, we gave you 10 options across the state for hikes suitable for an outing with visiting friends and family that may not be regular hikers. Or regular anythings when it comes to exercise. Hikes that are generally short, are flat (or flatish), and that have some sort of esthetic payoff (a critical lure when trying to pry a recalcitrant participant off the couch). You can find that post — “10 Hikes for Holiday Visitors” — here. You can find additional hike options in our Hiking Guide library, here. And check out one visitor-friendly hike in the video above.
It was still on the murky side of sun-up when we gathered this morning for our weekly GetHiking! Friday Morning Hike. As we fine-tuned our clothing strategies for dealing with the cold — at 30 degrees, the coldest morning since April — we scanned the eastern sky for signs of the type of day ahead. Gradually, the rising sun revealed a mostly clear sky as it lit the autumn canopy above.
