We’re about hiking. Mostly.
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).
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.
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.
