We generally refrain from hiking at the coast from late March through October. But once Halloween has passed and the flitting and slithering things that give us pause are subdued, our thoughts turn to the coast and some of our favorite hikes in the state. To local hikers, this is the real peak season. Pack a camera, a notebook, a handful of nature guidebooks. Camp, stay in cheap motels. Cook dinner over a camp stove, linger over breakfast, eat lunch on the go. And listen.

November especially is the time to listen to the outdoors. The seemingly constant breeze lets the trees, the grass, the plants tell their stories. Stories that began with a colorful birth in March, that celebrated the lazy days of summer, that grew melancholy come early fall and that ended, much like they began, in an explosion of color. The circle of life lived in just eight months. But what a story to be told at season’s end.

It’s a story told in one of three ways.

Long trails

If you’ve got the time, two coastal trails would love you stay a spell and listen.

• Neusiok Trail, 22 miles, Croatan National Forest, Havelock. The Neusiok runs from the Pine Cliffs Recreation Area southeast to Oyster Point Landing. No need to rush: there are three shelters/camping areas along the way where you can camp and take the time necessary to experience the pine savannah, the bay woods, the bluff overlooking the mile-wide Neuse River, the boggy areas traveled (mostly) by boardwalk. It can also be hiked in sections, the most diverse of which is the northernmost 6.8 miles, from Pine Cliffs south and east to NC 306. Read more here.

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  Weetock Trail, 11 miles, Croatan National Forest, Maysville. Such a tease, the Weetock. From its northern trailhead of N.C. 58 south of Maysville, it’s an open book for the first 6 miles. Maybe there’s a time or two where it plays coy and becomes discrete. But for the most part, no secrets. Then, right when you think you’ve got it understood, it crosses the gravel Jones Landing Road and spends the rest of its way trying to ditch you. This part of the Croatan has been ravaged by numerous hurricanes, the downfall covering large swaths of trail. Seemingly important swaths, because the only clues the trail shares from here on out are the unique metal-strip blazes (old newspaper printing plates) that catch the sun here and there. A challenge, but hey, who doesn’t love a good mystery? Read more here.

Easy beach hikes

Just as we love a good novel to read at the beach in summer, so, too, do we love an easy winter hike — easy in the sense that it’s simple to follow but has a compelling plot. Some of our favorites:

• Carolina Beach State Park, 9 trails, 9 miles, Carolina Beach. Carolina Beach is the Reader’s Digest condensed version of exploring the coast: in just 761 acres nestled between the Cape Fear River and Atlantic Ocean you’ll hike over forested dunes, through forests of turkey oak and live oak, around pocosins, past cypress swamps and through a carpet of carnivorous plants. The ecological sampling here is not to be matched. Learn more here.

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  Fort Fisher Hermit Trail (a k a Basin Trail), 2 miles, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Kure Beach. Just down the road from Carolina Beach (6 miles) is a trail that exposes you to one of the more unique views in the state: water in nearly every direction. At the midpoint, the trail passes a World War II bunker, a sturdy concrete structure that, after housing ordnance in WW II, housed Robert E. Harrill, the Fort Fisher hermit who fled here in 1956 and stayed until his unexplained death in 1972. More info here.

• Cedar Point Tideland Trail, Croatan National Forest, Cedar Point, 1.3 miles. No need to get your shoes mucky—an elevated boardwalk traverses much of the 1.3-mile Cedar Point Tideland Trail, in the wetlands where Dibbling and Boathouse creeks dissolve into the White Oak River (then, shortly, into Bogue Sound). In addition to keeping you dry, the boardwalk gives you get a bird’s-eye view of the fiddler crabs and other marsh life below. It is also an especially good spot for birding. More info here.
• Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve, 4 miles, Kill Devil Hills. At 1,100 acres, Nags Head Woods wrote the book on maritime forests. It’s one of the best examples of such along the East Coast, hence the reason The Nature Conservancy elected to save it beginning in the 1970s. Nearly four miles of trail take you through densely vegetated terrain that includes 11 separate species of oak alone. Also calling the preserve home are 5 species of salamander, 14  species of frogs and toads, at least 50 nesting birds, assorted turtles, lizards and snakes. More info here.
• Patsy Pond Nature Trail, 4.5 miles, Newport. Before the European invasion, about 90 million acres of the Southeast were covered with longleaf pines. Today, that number is closer to 3.3 million. Which makes walking the Patsy Pond Nature Trail like diving into a good history book. A good history in that the forest isn’t just about the longleaf, but also about its supporting characters, including the red-cockaded woodpecker, Carolina gopher frog, bladderwort, sundew and a cast, literally, of thousands. Learn more here.

Coastal plain

There’s nothing plain about these hikes, other than their coastal plain setting.

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  Jones Lake State Park, 6 miles, Elizabethtown. Every time I’ve hiked here it’s been: 1) in winter, 2) 40 degrees, 3) under cloudless skies. In short, perfect. Such a great experience has hiking the 4-mile Bay Trail been that I go back every couple of years to experience the open pine forest on the west side of Jones Lake, the dense bay forest on the east side. A Jekyll and Hyde hike with a total elevation gain of 3 feet. And if I’m hungry for more I can hop across the road (N.C. 242) and continue hiking at Turnbull State Educational Forest. Learn more here.

• Merchants Millpond State Park, 15 miles, Gatesville. Every time I visit I think of the 1950s schlock sci-fi flick, “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Although there might be alligators here, there have been no confirmed Gill-Man sightings at Merchants Millpond, despite the eerie similarity in swampy surroundings. The park may be known for canoeing on its 760-acre millpond, but the hiking here exposes you to some of the same treats, including bay woods and cypress and tupelo gum swamps. A great day trip. Learn more here.
• Pettrigrew State Park, 4.2 miles. Creswell,. When it comes to hiking you can go for distance or you can go to be awed. At Pettigrew State Park on the shores of Lake Phelps, the Morotoc Trail will certainly awe you with a collection of some of the oldest and largest trees of their kind in the state. Among the ancient oddities are various bay trees, sweet gums, persimmons, and pawpaws; the trunks of some bald cypress trees measure up to 10 feet in diameter; and, poplar trunks exceed six feet. “Vines as wide as human thighs wind their ways up trees as tall as 130 feet.” You’ll also see Atlantic white cedars that reach heights of 100 feet. Prepare for the slowest 2.8 miles of hiking in your life. Learn more here.

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Astronomically, fall doesn’t start until Sept. 22 at 2:19 p.m. EST.  Culturally, most of us associate the handoff of summer to fall with Labor Day weekend (this weekend). This year, however, it feels like fall is already well underway: for the past week or so morning temperatures here on the North Carolina/Virginia line have been in the low 50s, daytime highs in the upper 70s. If that doesn’t scream call in sick and grab your pack, I don’t know what does.

One other thing that screams fall?

Crowded trails.

Fall weather brings out the fair weather hikers. That is, everyone who hikes once or twice a year will be hiking come fall.

What’s a solace-seeking hiker to do?

Avoid the trails most traveled in favor of the spots that are just as nice, but not as well known. Here are 5 of our favorites.

Doughton Park: Long Bottom Road Access

Laurel Springs

Grassy Gap/Basin Creek trails

Trail: 9.8 miles (round trip)

Talk about being loved to death! The Blue Ridge Parkway must be the Southeast’s most sought-after date come autumn and the fall color show. Fortunately, Doughton Park has 30 miles of trail, including a 4.8-mile stretch that runs from the base of the escarpment up Basin Creek to the Caudill Cabin. The Grassy Gap portion is relatively flat, making for a nice warmup; Basin Creek adds elevation, but along a rocky, tumbling creek, the beauty of which is more likely to take your breath away than the hike itself.

Learn more here.

Jones Lake State Park

Elizabethtown

Bay Trail

Trail: 4 miles

Keep this one tucked in your back pocket for that first fall day when the temperature isn’t likely to get out of the 50s and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. On such days, the popular state parks will have to close before they open; you, on the other hand, will be enjoying a brisk walk around Jones Lake on a trail that goes through pine savannah and dense coastal woods as it circles this rare Carolina bay. Total elevation gain? Maybe 2 feet.

Learn more here.

Medoc Mountain State Park

Hollister

Trail: 10 miles of hiking trail, another 20 miles of multi-use

Despite the fact it’s just an hour and a half drive from the Triangle, Medoc Mountain continues to fly under the local hiking radar. Why? Beats us. The 10 miles of hiking trail offer a mix of hiking along a Piedmont stream, summiting 300-foot Medoc Mountain, exploring the first vineyard in the country (or what’s left of it). Plus, if you don’t mind sharing, another 20 miles of equestrian and mountain biking trail will give you the long aerobic workout you seek on a 60-degree day. Scenery and solitude, rarely found in the same place but you’ll find it here.

Learn more here.

Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Falls Lake Day-hike Section T

Red Mill Road in northern Durham County

Trail: 4.2 miles (one way)

There’s something oddly enchanting about this stretch of the MST. Heading west from Red Mill Road, the trail makes its way for a couple miles through bottomland forest, influenced by the nearby Eno River but far enough way that you don’t know it’s there. Then, the trail climbs a bluff overlooking the Eno. It’s not particularly high — maybe 70 feet above the river — but it’s just enough that in the winter, the canopy bare, you have a long view to the north (you can see the Eno below). One of the more quiet stretches of the MST through the Triangle.

Learn more here.

Shallow Ford Natural Area

Elon

Trail: 5 miles in four loops

With four loop trails, you can go short or long at Shallow Ford Natural Area. Got some non-hikers in tow and need to keep it short? The 3/4-mile Basin Creek Trail gives you a nice introduction to the preserve’s bottomland forest. Tack on the 2.2-mile Hidden Hill Trail and you’ll explore meadows and upland hardwoods. Another 2.2-mile option: the Homestead Trail, which takes you along a particularly rocky and impressive stretch of the Haw River. Hike it following a good rain and you’ll develop a keen appreciation for this river that once supported a vast textile mill industry.

Learn more here.

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Here are our 5 recommendations for the weekend.

Tanawha/Nuwati Wildflower Hike with a Park Ranger, Saturday, 2 p.m., Grandfather Mountain State Park, Banner Elk. This hike allots plenty of time (3 hours) to cover about 3 miles in search of spring wildflowers. You’ll want that time, too, to learn about the diverse terrain this hike covers along the southeastern flank of Grandfather Mountain. The hike begins at the Boone Fork Parking Area off the Blue Ridge Parkway (MP 299.9) and is limited to 15 hikers. Learn more here (including how to register).

Canoe Hike, Saturday, 2 p.m., Jones Lake State Park, Elizabethtown. Jones Lake is one of a half million Carolina bays in the Southeast, curious oval depressions whose existence has yet to be explained. Most of those bays have long since filled in, most of the remaining water-filled lakes are small, often less than 500 feet long. Jones Lake, however, is about 8,000 feet long and covers 224 acres, providing lots of room for exploring on this ranger-led paddle. All equipment is provided, participation is limited to 11 people, the first 11 people to register by calling 910.588.4550. Learn more here.

Naturalist Day Hike 2022, Saturday, Low Water Bridge Preserve, Montgomery County. The Low Water Bridge Preserve is in the Uwharrie Mountains, on the Uwharrie River just west of Ophir. On this hike, you’ll walk about 3 miles, with the main attraction the various neotropical migrating birds — warblers, vireos, tanagers, waterthrush and more — you’ll see along the way.  Your odds of seeing, or at least hearing, them? Darn good, since the hike will be lead by folks who know how to call a bird. Learn more here.

Lake Johnson Park Nature Explorers, Sunday, 1:30 p.m., Lake Johnson Nature Park, Raleigh. You know what most guided hikes lack? The chance to be a kid again, to flip logs and see what’s under them, to dig into the leaves and soil and see what’s going on, to see what’s living in creeks and streams. That’s the beauty of the Lake Johnson Nature Explorers events, because you can do all that and more with naturalists who can tell you what’s what. Learn more and sign up here.

Blood Moon Night Hike, Sunday, 8 p.m., Hammocks Beach State Park, Swansboro. We love night hikes for several reasons. For starters, there’s the light: this hike starts about 5 minutes before official sunset, then continues into the gloaming, with diminishing light for the next 25 minutes or so. Walking through dusk lets you participate in the natural world’s shift change, as daytime critters make way for their nocturnal cousins. You’ll also enjoy cooling temperatures, which becomes increasingly important as we head into summer.  And, of course, there’s the night sky on a night hike; on this particular night you’ll get to hike under the Blood Moon, a full moon that earns its distinction by occurring during a total lunar eclipse, which causes the moon to take on “a copper or reddish appearance.” This hike covers a half mile. Learn more here.

Again, a good weekend to GetOut! And explore.

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Night hike, anyone?

If Sunday evening’s Blood Moon hike tweaks your interest in evening hiking, then check out our upcoming GetHiking! Wednesday Night Hikes series, which begins Wednesday, May 18, and runs for 10 weeks. The hikes start at 6:30 p.m. and cover about 3 miles, wrapping up by 8. Apres hike frozen concoctions follow. Learn more and sign up to join us here.

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Until Sunday, when, once again, temperatures barely topping 40 accompanied by a wintry mix return. But, again, until then … . So what say we start the weekend a bit early, on Friday? If we do that, we have a couple of intriguing options:

Untitled Hike, Friday, 1 p.m., Eno River State Park, Durham. “Untitled Hike,” may not sound appealing, but read the description: “Join a Ranger to hike about 2 miles to the site of a cemetery of enslaved people on park property. We will discuss the role enslaved people of color played in the formation of the Eno River Valley as well as the history of enslavement in North Carolina. This hike will include discussions of the practice of slavery and will feature a short hike off trail (about 50 yards) as well as one creek crossing.” Off trail and history — two of the best things a hike has to offer. Free, but registration is limited; call 919.383.1686 to register. More info here.

Leaf Me Alone, Friday, 1 p.m., Pilot Mountain State Park, Pinnacle. “Leaf litter” — a somewhat derogatory term, no? While it can have some downsides, it’s also a positive. Learn more on this hike. Learn more here.

Then, on likewise glorious Saturday:

History of the Longleaf Pine, 1 p.m., Jones Lake State Park, Elizabethtown. Any chance to visit Jones Lake in the winter should be taken, especially when the weather promises to be sunny and cool/warm. This hike is at the Salter Lake portion of the park. Learn more here.

BioDiversity Hike: Uwharrie National Forest, Saturday, 2 p.m., Uwharrie National Forest. Charlotte’s Reedy Creek Nature Preserve sponsors this 5- to 7-mile adventure, part of a monthly series exploring “Biodiversity together on a monthly pilgrimage around North and South Carolina.” Specifics provided upon registration. Go here for details and to register.

That’s a sampling of what’s up this weekend, a weekend that you might want to start on Friday because Sunday may not be weekend-friendly. But whatever you do, just make sure to GetOut!

And enjoy!

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Looking ahead

Next weekend we’re holding our first GetOriented! Finding Your Way in the Woods map and compass session of the year, at Umstead State Park. Our 3-hour class gives you both the basic map and compass skills and the on-the-ground training to make you a more confident, competent hiker. We also have a lot of fun! Learn more and register to join us here.

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Bob and Henry aren’t free soloists; in fact, climbing may be the only outdoor adventure they don’t do. Among other things, Henry is section hiking the Appalachian Trail, while Bob starts his day with a 5-mile run, ends it with a 3-mile hike, and works in, say, a 20-mile mountain bike ride in between. The pair usually work in a paddle trip together every couple of weeks, a hike as well. Maybe they don’t scamper up El Cap without a rope, but for a couple of retired guys, they’re doing pretty good.

This morning’s adventure was a hike and while they were only going 8 miles, most of it was off trail. Some of it over cliffs, some through rhododendron hells, all of it on the 2-3 inches of snow and ice remaining from Sunday’s storm. I won’t reveal too much about the mile or so I hiked with them; for that, you’ll need to listen to next week’s GetHiking! Southeast Podcast. What I will say is that in retirement both have blossomed as adventurers, with both acknowledging that they are in far better shape today than when they left the workforce. 

“I’ll just keep going like this as long as I can,” Henry said early in the hike. 

Why do they remind me of Alex Honnold? Because among  their “golden years” cohort, what they do may seem similarly remarkable. Thing is, it’s not. While they may be the exception, they are not alone. And growing numbers of 50+ folks are joining the ranks and pushing themselves like never before. Folks who GetGoing After 50 is a topic we’ll be exploring at length in the coming months.

In the meantime, the 2019 post on Honnold follows. Marvel in his accomplishments, then think about what you might do that would cause you to flash your own Honnold “smile.”

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Talking with author/climber Mark Synnott earlier this week about his new book, “The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life,” I was touched by something vaguely familiar. Vaguely, and weirdly, because the book is about one of the most audacious physical and psychological feats of our time: Honnold’s ascent of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot near-sheer rockface in Yosemite National Park — without any form of protection to save him should he slip from one of the wall’s precarious microscopic holds. What could possibly be familiar about that?

Honnold has climbed, mostly without a rope, throughout much of the world on some of the globe’s toughest mountains. Despite living on what he describes as “the income of a moderately successful dentist,” he still prefers to live in his van, even when it’s parked in the driveway of his Las Vegas home. And after knocking off El Cap on June 3, 2017, at 9:28 a.m., how did he celebrate? By hanging for more than an hour on his Beastmaster Hangboard, a strip of hardwood with microscope indentions that he uses to build arm, finger and torso strength. Why the hangboard? Well, because he does this every other day as part of his training, and his epic climb just happened to occur on a training day.

So again, how could Honnold’s story even remotely feel familiar?

Then I thought about “the smile.” When Honnold successfully executed the hardest part of his El Cap climb — an especially tenuous move called the Boulder Problem — he turned to one of the camera’s documenting the climb for the film “Free Solo” and flashed a huge grin. That grin, says Synnott and others who know Honnold, is rare. “You see that smile,” says Synnott, “you stand in the presence of that, it washes over you.”

Then it hit me. I haven’t necessarily seen that smile before, but I have seen that look, the “one that washes over you.”

The look

On our backpack trip into the Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness a couple weeks back we were making our way down a particularly challenging stretch of the Slickrock Creek Trail. We were losing elevation at a dizzying rate — in one stretch, about 1,400 feet in less than a mile. The trail was overgrown, and it was criss-crossed by more than 30 downed trees — Joyce Kilmer-sized sentinels of ample girth. At one point, after a particularly challenging crossing, I looked up the trail expecting to looks of concern, at best, anger at the least. I didn’t see any Honnoldesque grins, but I what I did see surprised me. I saw people, many of whom were either retired or of retirement age, very focused on the task at hand. Not one person looked worried or defeated. All were in the moment. They knew a wilderness area would present challenges unlike what they’d seen hiking in a state park. That was why they were here: they were aware of the challenge, and they were embracing it.

Same thing a year earlier on our annual dive into Linville Gorge. A late start and a wrong turn left us a mile and a half from camp in waning light in the midst of a classic, homegrown Linville thunderstorm. We righted ourselves, then, a half hour later, wronged ourselves again. We ended up pulling into a makeshift camp at 11 p.m., low on water, wet, and five hours past feeding time. Yet the next morning, there was nary a word about the previous evening. Rather, everyone was eager for the day ahead.

I feel this presence on local day hikes. Someone who’s never hiked 5 miles before, who’s never hiked in 85-degree heat, shows up because she wants to push her limits. The hike may not be easy, it may not be entirely enjoyable. But they do it and you can feel their sense of accomplishment.

Facing the ‘impossible’

Some argue that Alex Honnold lacks a sense of fear, that his brain is wired in such a way that he doesn’t experience fear. Honnold pooh-poohs the notion (and an MRI scan of his brain reported in Synnott’s book appears to back him up), saying he feels fear all right, he’s just better at managing it than most (which he does in part by being extremely prepared). If you want something bad enough, he says, you figure out how to make it happen.

That’s what resonated with me, with Honnold’s story. The people who do our trips aren’t, for the most part, athletes who’ve dedicated their lives to training for the impossible. Most have jobs and have to deal with the day-to-day of survival. But, like Honnold, they’re driven by that spark to feel, even for just an afternoon or a weekend, truly alive. To feel good about themselves in a way that binge watching the latest Netflix series or buying a Tesla can’t touch.

To do for themselves what might seem, like the audacious free solo of a 3,000-foot rock face, the impossible.

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Test yourself

Eager to flash your own Honnold smile? Here are some upcoming opportunities:

GetHiking! Winter Wild Adventure Series. We have two Winter Wild off-trail hikes remaining in our 2021-22 series: Hanging Rock’s Three Sisters on February 5, 6-7 miles; Birkhead Mountains Wilderness, March 12, 8 miles. Learn more here.

GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking. Our three-part class — including a gear session via Zoom, a 5-hour in-field training session, and a weekend graduation trip — will turn you from nervous novice to competent, confident backcountry explorer in time for the spring backpacking season. Our spring session starts Feb. 23; learn more and sign up here if you live in North Carolina, here if you’re in Virginia.

GetHiking! Weekend Escape to Jones Lake State Park. Give your hiking legs some pre-spring training with this 15-mile weekend on trail at Jones Lake, Turnbull State Educational Forest and Bay Tree Lake State Natural Area. Learn more and sign up here.

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