Here’s our annual note for when the temperature seems too cold to hike.
Tomorrow morning the forecast calls for a temperature in the upper teens, rising to maybe 40. But it will be sunny, and a little sun can make up for a lot of cold.
North Carolina has, on average, 28 clear days every winter; only seven states see more cloudless days, according to data compiled from two climate agencies. Virginia averages 25 clear days. In short, you could live in much worse places to avoid feeling SAD
I got into exploring off trail more than a decade ago because after a while, hiking the same blazed trails over and over became surprisingly routine. When I began veering off trail, every outing became more of a true adventure. With no script, these freelance adventures revealed new discoveries every time.
All the leaves are gone and the sky is gray, meaning it’s time for our annual lecture on winter hiking. This is the tips for comfortable winter hiking lecture, not the why-you-should-do-it lecture.
We love winter hiking. Why? We’ll refer you to this post from two years ago to explain why. Today, as we do every year at this time, we trot out our tips for how you can take the perceived discomfort out of winter hiking, making it possible to better appreciate what to many hikers is the sport’s lost season.
We’ve reached late fall, the transition between glorious fall hiking and winter, a period many see as a three-month hiatus from the trail. Why? Well, we know not why: for us, it has become our favorite season to be on the trail. It’s a topic we’ve waxed on at length; here, for instance.
This post first appeared Nov. 23, 2022. It runs again now because of its timeliness, as we approach the end of one year, the beginning of another.
It was the podcast you hope for setting out for a long walk: a tale of adventure and intrigue from a distant time that makes you think, Man, I wish I’d been there. That sense of longing fades to wistfulness when you realize you could have been there. Or some place very much like it.
