The weekend forecast, no matter where you live in North Carolina, is essentially this: daytime high of 80, a good chance of rain.
We’ve had a fair amount of rain this year: in the Triangle, 31.58 inches of rain have fallen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport since the first of the year, more than six inches above the normal. Fortunately, though, much of that rain has come during the week.
Not, apparently, the case this weekend.
So what are your rainy day options?
There’s always the climbing gym, and with 14 across the state, odds are there’s one near you. Check out your options at our list of climbing gyms in North Carolina.
One of our favorite outdoor options in the rain: a hike. If you’ve got even the basic gear to keep dry, a hike in the rain can be a revelatory experience. First, though, you need that basic gear; this post from March 2012 gives you that direction.
Then, because some hikes are better hiked wet that others, here’s a rundown of seven of our favorite wet hikes near the state’s urban centers.

1. Charlotte: Crowders Mountain State Park, Crowders Mountain and Rocktop trails. 5 miles. This circuit takes the high road, at least assuring your feet don’t get soaked. Details here.
2. Winston-Salem: Hanging Rock State Park, Indian Creek Trail. 7.2 miles (out-and-back)Hanging Rock is coveted for its 360-degree views. When the clouds roll in, seek out its second key attribute: waterfalls, on the Indian Creek Trail. Details here.
3. Hillsborough: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, 3.5 miles. You get the best of both worlds on this circuit hike: the dryer heights of 867-foot Occoneechee Mountain (the highest point in the Triangle!) and time spent along the frisky, mountainlike Eno River. Details here.
4. Raleigh: Umstead State Park, Sycamore Trail. 7.2 miles. One of the best hiking experiences in the Piedmont is the mile and a half stretch along Sycamore Creek during or right after a good rain energizes this normally placid stream. Details here.
5. Wilmington: Carolina Beach State Park, Sugarloaf Dune Trail. 3.5 miles. Three reasons to hike here in the rain: fewer hikers, fewer bugs, the sandy soil drains the rain. Details here.
6. Greenville: Goose Creek State Park, numerous trails. 7 miles total. What’s more mysterious than hiking through a swamp? Hiking through a swamp in the rain. A series of strategically placed boardwalks keep you higher and dryer than you might expect. Details here.
7. Greensboro: Mayo River State Park, Mayo Mountain Ridge Trail. 2 miles. This short trail climbs a gentle ridgeline for a mile before returning, all through a maturing hardwood forest with a rain-shielding canopy. Details here.

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Jason Thomas had one concern when a climbing gym opened in his hometown of Cortez, Colo.
“Will it hurt my hands?”
Assured that it would not, he gave it a try.
“I was hooked immediately,” says Thomas. So much so that despite still being in high school and having now climbed once, he asked the head of the rec center housing the gym who was managing the wall. No one? Well, mind if I give it a go?
That led to an improbable trajectory that saw him head to the University of Colorado in Boulder (to major in Philosophy) because of the local climbing, a job at a Boulder climbing gym, and soon to Eldorado Climbing Walls, where he managed to talk his way into a construction job. That was in 2005. Today — literally today — he stood at the base of the “tall walls” at the freshly minted Triangle Rock Club North Raleigh talking with climbers about his latest creation as Eldo’s lead designer (officially, he’s the company’s Design and Creative Director).
To the untrained eye, the new gym, which opened at noon today, more resembles something you might find at the N.C. Museum of Art with a sign at the base reading “Do Not Climb.” The angular, vibrant orange and yellow walls cover 13,500 square feet, climb to 30 feet and are pocked with an array of equally artsy plastic holds. When Thomas explains his inspiration, though, he doesn’t refer to cubist influences, modernism or realism. He starts with the business of demographics.
“I think of areas in terms of different user groups,” says Thomas. Standing just inside the entrance to the gym, carved out of a cavernous former Gold’s Gym at Duraleigh Road and Glenwood Avenue, Thomas explains the crucial first impression he hopes to land.

To the left is a low-lying beginner wall. To a first-time climber it’s reassuring: I could do that, the novice thinks.
There’s an open area straight ahead, then slightly right of center is The Beast. The capstone of the gym’s expansive bouldering area, The Beast is an intense overhang — no more than 5 1/2 feet off the ground at the start before gradually swooping up to the ceiling.
“We want people to look at that, see people going up it, and think, ‘I want to do that!’,” says Thomas. “For any beginning climber it’s about progressions,” he says. “You need something to work toward.”
To the far right is the more advanced climbing area, dominated by a 30-foot spire. Again, progressions.
The gym is a collaboration of Eldorado’s wall building expertise — the company has built more than 110 gyms in the U.S. — and the Triangle Rock Club’s business model.
“They are the best in the business,” says Thomas.
The process began about six months back when Thomas flew into Raleigh to check out the future home of the North Raleigh TRC. At the time, the building was the gutted three-story remains of a Gold’s Gym. Thomas met with TRC managing partners Joel Graybeal and Andrew Katz, head route setter Scott Gilliam and facility manager Skinny Eney and kicked around some ideas. Then they went to Graybeal’s house, had dinner, drank a few beers and gathered around the big screen, where Thomas started to bring their shared vision to life with a 3D computer modeling program. Thomas went back to Boulder and within a month and a half they had a plan.
Thomas said TRC management was eager to improve on its gym in Morrisville. For instance, the intense bouldering area there is in a high traffic area. In North Raleigh, The Beast has plenty of room for passersby to get around.
“We didn’t want an 8-year-old at a birthday party getting landed on by someone bouldering,” says Thomas.
The bouldering area is particularly spacious, in large part to accommodate a key element of the sport: socializing.
“Bouldering is much more social,” says Jerad Wells, Eldorado’s CEO and a former professional climber. “People like to talk about the routes, they like to Tweet about it, they like to post about it.”
Another nice feature for the beginning boulderer: the beginning to intermediate bouldering area is in the back of the gym, where there are fewer eyes to watch your clumsy attempts at your first V2.
TRC also wanted the programming area — where classes are taught — separate from the main walls.
“They felt the classes were cramming the regular members [in Morrisville],” says Thomas.
The target market for the gym may surprise. Climbing gyms are viewed as the domain of lithe, athletic, 20somethings, but the Eldo crew had someone else in mind when they designed this gym.
Moms.
“Our demographic is the same for Home Depot and Starbucks,” says Wells. “We go after families, and moms in particular since they tend to be the decision makers.”
“When I design a gym I design 80 percent of it for the beginner climber,” says Thomas.
The Eldo crew has kept plenty busy trying to keep pace with the current climbing boom. Thomas says they currently have nine gyms in various stages of construction across the country, “but we’ve got about 25 in design through completion.”
And it’s not just private gyms such as the TRC keeping them busy. They do a lot of school and university walls, rec centers, and outdoor projects, including a 50,000-square-foot outdoor climbing structure for the Boy Scouts in West Virginia that was designed to resemble climbing in the nearby New River Gorge. They’ve even begun installing climbing walls in office buildings.
State-of-the-art as the Triangle Rock Club North Raleigh is, Thomas says climbing gyms are evolving by the day.
“Boundaries are being pushed every day,” says Thomas. “As long as there’s a surface to be on and hand holds to hang on to, people will climb it.”
The trick, he says, is appealing to the moms, the families and the beginner masses, while still enticing the devout. Motioning to The Beast, he adds:
“You still need to have that ‘wow!’ factor.”

* * *

For more on the Triangle Rock Club North Raleigh, go here.

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From Murphy (40-90 percent chance of rain, highs in the low 50s) to Manteo (up to a 90 percent chance of rain with highs in the low 50s),  it promises to be a wet, cool first weekend of Spring across North Carolina.
Not that that should keep you inactive. Or even indoors.
We refer you to two of our get-out-and-go directories, tailor made for weekends such as this.
Climbing walls. Check out our list of 14 climbing gyms across the state, nearly all indoors and impervious to the elements (unless the roof leaks, in which case you’ll have a little taste of being in the wild). If you’ve never climbed, this is the perfect opportunity to learn. Start with our primer, then dial up your neighborhood gym and inquire about instruction.
Hiking. Cool and wet — my favorite time to be on a local trail, especially since I have the gear for it. Basically, that gear would include water-resistant hiking boots or shoes and rain-resistant/proof outer wear. Honestly, if you can stay dry, a cold, wet day in the woods is hard to top. And because driving tends to be the biggest hassle you’ll face, check out our list, compiled in conjunction with Great Outdoor Provision Co. Five venues near each of North Carolina’s seven biggest metro areas.
Don’t let a little (or a lot, frankly) cold rain stop you this weekend: get out (or stay in) and

enjoy!

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