Tag Archives: hike

This weekend: Sun, warmth and the return Daylight Saving Time

Tired of the cold, wet and gray? This weekend promises at least a respite from our wearying winter. Plus, the outdoor adventurer’s old buddy, Daylight Savings Time, returns, gracing us with an extra hour of end-of-day daylight.

Get out and take advantage: You never know how long it will last. read more

This weekend: Birding, hiking

Tundra swans over Lake Phelps (photo courtesy N.C. State Parks)

North Carolina is forecast to be rainy in the east, sunny in the west. Either way, we’ve found plenty of incentive to get out this weekend.

Coast

Normally, we don’t get excited about hundreds of thousands of temporary visitors settling in for the season at the coast. But when the season is winter and the visitors are tundra swans, snow geese and assorted ducks, it’s a different story. read more

This weekend: Enjoy the warmth

Palmetto boardwalk (photo courtesy N.C. State Parks)

After a week of cold and snow throughout much of the state, the swing continues, with unseasonably warm temperatures returning to North Carolina. Get out and warm your bones with a nice hike.

Coast

After a week of snow and cold, doesn’t it sound appealing to spend some time in a warm, muggy swamp? Sure it does, and you can, Saturday, at Goose Creek State Park near Washington (our Washington). As the event notice explains, on the Palmetto Boardwalk Hike, you’ll get to, “See the Palmetto swamp as it transitions to a saltwater marsh without getting your feet wet.” (The later in reference to the “boardwalk” portion of the clinic name.) read more

90 Second Escape: A winter walk in the woods

Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb. read more

This weekend: Short days hikes

As available sunlight goes, we hit our annual nadir on Saturday: the winter solstice, officially commencing at 12:11 p.m. The sun rises at 7:19 a.m. and sets at 5:06, with just 9 hours and 47 minutes of daylight in between. From Saturday on, gradually at first, the sun starts setting a little later every day incrementally increasing our daylight for play. read more