The following is a version of a piece we run every year at this time, a time when our spirits are buoyed by day by cloudless skies and cooling temperatures, but bummed when those days of sun end earlier and earlier.
Most of us don’t expect the day — the daylight part, that is — to end so soon until the demise of Daylight Saving Time, which is Nov. 6 this year. So when we walk out the door on Oct. 6 expecting to get in a hike and discover a setting sun that will be completely set by 6:52, we’re taken aback. And a bit sad.read more
This summer, though, in deference to the heat, we’re mixing in some paddling trips. Beginner-oriented, on lakes and otherwise still water, one in an area where we hike (the Three-Rivers area of Falls Lake, which abuts Day-Hike Section S of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail), one where we don’t (Saxapahaw Lake).read more
I’d like to say I start every day with a 2- or 3-mile hike. Truth is, that doesn’t happen until I’ve been up 45 minutes. That first three-quarters of an hour is a general muddle that involves getting to the point where I’m able to take a 2- to 3-mile hike: staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, making coffee, reading. Once I’ve slapped myself into consciousness, I head down the block for a hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail here in Hillsborough.read more
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.read more
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.read more
