Before you know it, maybe within a week or so, you’ll be out on the trail and you’ll see a bright yellow daffodil poking through the turf beneath a stately oak, near a loosely arranged pile of rocks. A non-native ornamental favored by early homesteaders to get them through the last half of winter, a harbinger of spring and warmer weather. They will be followed shortly by trout lilies, spring beauties and the rush of spring abundance. You may not be thinking about sleeping in a tent now, but it won’t be long. And you’ll want to be prepared.

Today, we offer 6 of our favorite backpacking destinations in the region. They’re our favorites, for different reasons. One we find to be the perfect weekend trip. Another we like because it avoids people. Another — well, let’s just get to it, shall we?

Best Weekend Trip

Face it, most of us only have time to do a weekend getaway, so that trip really needs to count. When we need to get the most value for our trail time, we head to the …

Appalachian Trail: Carver’s Gap to US 19E

• 19 miles along the North Carolina/Tennessee line
• Difficulty: moderate

You start with Jane and Round balds and views you don’t think could get better. Then you hit Little Hump and Hump mountains. Gorgeous Southern Appalachian hardwood forest surrounds the trail in between. Though the cavernous Overmountain Victory Shelter has closed, the meadow nearby isn’t and offers one of the best sunsets in the state (the “state” being North Carolina at this point) on Night 1; Night 2 is spent in the cozy and sheltered Doll Flats camping area. While you start high and end low, the climbs up Little Hump and Hump mountains do get your attention. 

# for this hike: vastviews.

More info here.

Best Winter Trip

We like the idea of a winter backpack trip and how it looks on our backcountry vitae, but the reality is something altogether different? Cold and the potential for ice and snow can have a sobering effect. But not necessarily on the … 

Appalachian Trail: Max Patch to Hot Springs

• 20 miles
• Difficulty: moderate

You start with the best view of the hike, atop the massive bald that is Max Patch. From there, you’re largely hiking through hardwoods that serve as protection from the weather, one of the reasons it’s a great winter trip. Another: the lower elevation, topping out at 4,686 feet on Bluff Mountain, bottoming out in Hot Springs, at 1,332 feet. Another highlight: the last few miles are downhill, and you finish in downtown Hot Springs, either in a bar or brewpub.

# for this hike: winterbraggingrights

More info here.

Best Basecamp Trip

Face it, would you rather carry a 5-pound daypack on your back or a 35-pound backpack? After all, aren’t you out in the wild to see as much as you can? You can’t do much better than a mile-and-a-half pack trip giving way to 30 miles of daypack hiking, which is the case at …

Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway

• 1.5-mile hike to camp, 30 miles of day hiking
• Difficulty: easy backpack in, moderate/strenuous day hiking when you start climbing the Blue Ridge Escarpment, even in a daypack.

It doesn’t get much easier than the flat 1.5-mile hike in to the primitive campsite along Grassy Gap Trail, which is both big and intimate. After pitching camp along Basin Creek, you have four options for hiking up to the meadow Doughton Park is known for: the 2.8-mile Bluff Ridge Trail is the shortest and hardest route, the 4.4-mile Cedar Ridge Trail is steep at first, but settles in after a half mile. A good second-day option: the 3.3-mile (one way) Basin Creek Trail to the Caudill Cabin.

# for this hike: meadowmeander

More info here.

Best Wilderness Trip

We love exploring a wilderness, and the Southeast is blessed with many. What we like most is the truer sense of adventure, the feeling that you really are on your own. A feeling especially pervasive in the …

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness

• 1-mile hike to basecamp, 123 miles of trail
• Difficulty: Strenuous. The hike to camp is mellow, everything else involves either creek crossings, steep terrain and/or trails covered in blowdown.

If you’ve hiked the adjoining Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and are thinking, “Ha! Piece of cake,” realize that the memorial forest and the wilderness are Jekyll & Hyde counterparts. While you’ll find old growth forest in both, what you won’t find in the wilderness are groomed trails catering to the Dorset Picnic Basket set. Sometimes you can tell where the trail goes on your own, but for the most part you’ll need GPS assistant. Blowdowns are common, tight passages the norm, tricky stream crossings always a concern.

# for this trip: whereami

More info here.

Best Avoid-the-Masses Trip

Ideally, you don’t want to see anyone on a backpack trip, save perhaps for the folks in your group (and even then … ). That’s what tends to keep us away from some of the more popular areas. Unless you happen to know where the back door is, such as this one to …

Shining Rock Wilderness, via Big East Fork

• 19-mile loop
• Difficulty: Strenuous, though about three quarters of the climbing is on Day 1.

There are days when the Black Balsam parking lot at the mouth of Shining Rock is more jammed than a Walmart lot on Black Friday. Everyone wants a piece of the Shining Rock/ Art Loeb/Tennent Mountain/Black Balsam action. But head in from the Big East Fork trailhead off U.S. 276 and you’ll think it was Christmas Day. Sure, there’s a challenging 4.5-mile climb to Shining Rock Gap, but the carrot — sunset from atop the white quartz outcrop — is so worth it. You’ll mix it up briefly with the BBM (Black Balsam Masses) on Day 2 as you cross the Art Loeb Trail, but lose them when you slip behind Graveyard Fields and head down Big East Fork. 

# for this trip: wildernesstomyself

More info here.

Best Trip, period

In our backpacking lives there comes a trip where you stop repeatedly and marvel, “This hike’s got it all.” “This hike,” in our case is the …

Virginia Triple Crown

• 35-mile loop
• Difficulty: Strenuous

On this trip you start (after 4 miles) with McAfee Knob — and it gets better from there. Mainly, that’s because you drop the hordes who hike this iconic outcrop for a trademark selfie. On Day 2 you hit Tinker Cliffs, with many of the same attributes, minus the crowds. An awesome and seemingly endless ridgeline hike marks Day 3, which is capped with a day-hike scramble up Dragon’s Tooth. The hike out includes passage through a blissful meadow.

# for this trip: illbeback

More info here.

* * *

Join us

Our GetBackpacking! program will lead three of this trips between now and summer. Click the link for more information and to sign up.

• Appalachian Trail: Max Patch to Hot Springs, February 25-27
• Shining Rock Wilderness via Big East Fork, April 22-24
• Virginia’s Triple Crown, May 19-22
• Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap to US 19E, June 17-19

Not a backpacker, but want to be?

Our Spring GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking classes are starting soon Each includes, among other elements:

• 1-hour Zoom Intro to Gear Session
• 5-hour in-field training session, covering all aspects of backpacking
• Weekend graduation trip

Learn more by clicking on the appropriate session:

• North Carolina
• Virginia

The post Our 6 Favorite Backpacking Destinations appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

It’s been cool most of the week throughout our blogging area, and it will be cool again at least on Saturday, making this the perfect summer weekend to get in a hike.

Mount Jefferson Downhill Skateboarding Event, Saturday and Sunday, starts at 9 a.m. both days, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, West Jefferson. Scratching your head, are you? Here’s the deal: The 1.6-mile road to the summit of 4,683-foot Mount Jefferson will be closed to vehicles both days to accommodate the mountain’s annual downhill skateboard race. Yup, youngsters on skateboards — more than 100 of ‘em — will skateboard down the mountain, dropping more than 700 vertical feet along the way. However, there will be shuttle service to the top of the mountain: park at the Lowe’s in West Jefferson and take a shuttle to the top, where you can hike the park’s 5 miles of trail. And you can check out the race as well. (FYI, one of the sponsors for the race, the Ian Tilmann Foundation, will be giving helmets to the first 100 kids who sign a pledge to wear a helmet while skateboarding.) Learn more about the race here and hiking at Mount Jefferson here.

Ranger-led Hike on the Profile Trail, Sunday, 10 a.m., Grandfather Mountain State Park,  Banner Elk. Think of Grandfather Mountain and you think of winging bridges and wild weather. That’s all on top of the mountain. At the base, on the massif’s northwest flank, lies the start of the Profile Trail, which revels in stately Southern Appalachian hardwoods and tranquil hiking. Join a ranger to explore this softer side of old Grandad on a 2-mile, 2-hour hike. Learn more and sign up here.

Sunday Morning Birdwalk, Sunday, 8 a.m., Eno River State Park, Durham. Ever walk through the woods in the early morning, hear the avian chatter and wonder who’s talking — and what they’re saying. Eavesdrop with a ranger on this leisurely 2-mile hike. Learn more and sign up here.

GetHiking! this weekend

What are our GetHiking! groups in North Carolina and Virginia up to this weekend? Plenty, thanks for asking …

Live the video

The Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness in the Nantahala National Forest, coupled with the adjoining Citico Creek Wilderness in adjoining Tennessee, make up more than 35,000 acres of some of the wildest terrain on the East Coast. GetBackpacking! spent four days exploring the wilderness this past weekend, and will return next year. Until then, learn more about the area’s trails here.

More options

Looking for more options for weekend adventure? Check out our GetOut! Find An Adventure resource page here.

The post GetOut! Your Friday Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

As we made our way up the north bank of New Hope Creek, I could hear the gradient increasing upstream, the sound of water cascading over rock a bit more intense than we’re used to hearing in the Piedmont. As the noise grew, some mild scrambling was required; we shinnied up a rock outcrop overlooking the creek and emerged on a slab 30 feet above the water.

Whoa! 

Suddenly, I was in the Southern Apps, specifically along Gragg Prong in the Wilson Creek area of the Pisgah National Forest. Gragg Prong is known for its succession of pools linked by 20- and 30-foot falls and stone slabs perfect for sunning. 

“We’re coming back here this summer,” I told the hikers.

Sometimes, all it takes is that one spot, that one perfect storm of scenery and circumstance to make you say, “Yeah, I’ll be back.”

That Whoa! moment is key when we’re deciding where to hike and backpack. A location has to have at least one spot where we’re assured that our hikers will have a stop-in-their-tracks, this-is-awesome moment. In our mind, it’s the kind of impact we hope will make hikers determined to keep hiking and accumulating more Whoa! moments.

We’ve listed five of our favorite Whoa! moments — which happen to be on hikes we’re taking this summer (look for specifics on each of hikes trips at the end of this post).

1. Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap north to US 19E. At the start, you’ll likely think your Whoa! moment is after the short (distance-wise) climb up to adjoining Round and Jane balds. Could there possibly be better views in the entire Southeast? Why, yes there could, and they come about eight miles later atop Hump Mountain. The views atop Hump are 360, but it’s the one west into Tennessee that is especially mesmerizing. Even on a hazy day you can see four or five ridges distant; on a clear day — say, after a cold front sweeps the sky clean — I’ve seen seven ridges before the curve of the Earth cuts me off. Spectacular.

2. Linville Gorge. I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain from atop Shortoff, but I’ve also seen sunsets that I thought would never end. Get comfy on the rock outcrop that offers numerous La-Z-Boy opportunities and spend the last hour of the day watching the sky go from yellow-pink to red to purple across the west rim. Then stick around for the stars, because on a clear night you’ll be able to take in more constellations than you dreamed possible. And stay as late as you like: it’s only a matter of yards back to your tent in Camp Shortoff.

3. Wilson Creek. I mentioned Gragg Prong earlier: last summer, I experienced a time warp here. Three hikers were lazing around a particularly generous pool at the base of a 20-foot drop. “Water’s nice,” said the one. “Jump in!” So I did, and was magically transported back 40 years to the brisk waters of Horsetooth Reservoir along Colorado’s Front Range, where the recent snowmelt worked spiritual wonders on those willing to sample it off a 30-foot cliff. Gragg Prong: the fountain of youth.

4. Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness. Early one November a decade back I made a late-season passage up Slickrock Creek. Supposedly, there’s a trail along the creek, but mostly, the trail was in the creek. The densely wooded walls of the steep canyon created an especially acute sense of isolation: if aliens had landed and were now running the show I would have been none the wiser. I was losing sunlight (it was shortly after the time change) and I should have been keen on hurrying up a side trail leading to the rim and back to my car. But the growing darkness made me increasingly spellbound by the sense of isolation. A little scary, but a powerful moment.

5. Standing Indian Recreation Area. The hiking here is great, make no doubt. But twice we’ve done this trip and twice it’s been the campground bonhomie that’s stuck with me. After one particularly hot August hike of 12 miles, we returned to camp and plopped down in Kimsey Creek, which runs through the campsite. A bunch of adults, sitting like 6-year-olds and splashing about. After returning from another hike we started a fire around 4 p.m., early by campground standards. Soon, hikers began appearing with their camp chairs, settling in around the fire, chatting. Before we knew it it was dusk, then dark, then time to scootch our chairs closer to the fire to ward off the cold. What time is it, anyway? someone asked. It was almost 11. Fourteen of us with varying levels of familiarity had managed to sit and talk for 7 hours. When was the last time that happened? I wondered. The 1950s?

Those are some of our Whoa! moments. We’d love to share them with you over the next few months.

Happy Trails,

Joe

Join us for your Whoa! moment

Details on the trips mentioned above:

Appalachian Trail: Carvers Gap north to US 19E. This weekend, June 28-30. This two-night backpacking trip proved so popular we’ve scheduled a second to handle the overflow. This weekend’s trip is sold out; find details on our June 28-30 trip, go here. 

Linville Gorge: an Introduction, May 17-19. Hiking Linville Gorge in full pack is a whole ‘nother level of backpacking. For backpackers not sure they’re at that level, we offer this introduction: Hike in two miles in full pack to set up basecamp at Shortoff Mountains, then hike with a daypack into the gorge to see what you’re dealing with. Learn more here.

Wilson Creek, May 31-June 2.There’s a theme to this trip: Going Solo. We spend the first night as a group, exploring, among other things, the aforementioned Gragg Prong. On the second night, we deposit backpackers in roughly 150-yard intervals to spend the night on their own. Great opportunity for backpackers interested, but uncertain, about going solo. Learn more here.

Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness, July 18-21. We hike in about four and a half miles on this trip, establish base camp at Naked Ground, then spend two days day hiking before hiking out. Learn more here. 

Standing Indian, Aug. 15-18. From our car camp basecamp we’ll have two and a half days of hiking: Friday, an 11-mile loop taking in the Appalachian Trail and topping out on Standing Indian; Saturday, a 7.5-mile hike topping out on Albert Mountain and also including the AT; Sunday, two short waterfall hikes before heading home. Learn more here. 

The post 5 of our favorite Whoa! Moments appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

That’s one of the many joys of backpacking: once you’re on the trail, you don’t have to leave. Stay a night, or two or three.

If you’re already a backpacker, we’ve got some great trips planned for fall. Some are ideal for folks new to backpacking (Intro to Linville Gorge, the Neusiok Trail), some are for more experienced backpackers (Joyce Kilmer/Citico Creek Wilderness). Then there’s the Appalachian Trail trip from Carvers Gap to 19E, a trip that should be on every backpacker’s resume.

If you’re not a backpacker, there’s no better time to start, and no better people to start with than us. If you’re intrigued by the notion of backpacking but need to dip a toe in before committing, we have our new Overnight Sampler. If you’re pretty sure backpacking is for you, check out our comprehensive Intro to Backpacking class.

Either way, fall’s the time to backpack. We hope to see you on the trail. For additional information on each event, click on the link below.

Intro to Backpacking, September session. Our comprehensive learn-to-backpack program includes a two-hour session on gear and how to pack a backpack; a six-hour session at Morrow Mountain State Park where be go over everything from setting up camp to cooking to hanging food, to breaking down camp; and, finally, a weekend graduation trip to South Mountains State Park.

GetBackpacking! Overnight Sampler, Sept. 15-16, Eno River State Park, Durham; Oct. 20-21, Raven Rock State Park, Lillington. You like the idea of backpacking, but you aren’t ready to make a full-on commitment — you’d like to take a test-drive first. That’s what our Overnight Sampler is all about: we provide the key backpacking gear and food, you get to see what it’s like to hike in a full pack and camp in the backcountry overnight.

GetBackpacking! AT from Carvers Gap to 19E, Burnsville. Sept. 21-23. A two-night, three-day 14-mile trip that may be the most scenically spectacular run of trail in North Carolina. We start at Carvers Gap and top Jane and Round balds right off the bat, meander through forests of mountain ash, then encounter more stunning views from atop Little Hump and Hump mountains.

GetBackpacking! Intro to Linville Gorge, northwest of Morganton, Oct. 5-7. Linville Gorge can provide a rewarding (and intense) immersion into backpacking. But on this trip, we’ll take a more relaxed approach, setting up basecamp on Shortoff Mountain, then day packing into the gorge.

Joyce Kilmer/Citico Creek Wilderness, Oct. 25-29, adjoining wilderness areas in North Carolina and Tennessee near Robbinsville. Its remote location and ruggedness helped spare this area from extensive logging, making it an easy choice for Wilderness designation. Participants will play a role in the actual planning of this trip, at a two-hour planning meeting a week before the trip.  

Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, New Bern, Nov. 30-Dec. 2. Late fall is the time to hike the coastal Croatan National Forest. Pesky flying things and slithering denizens of the dirt are kept at bay by the cool weather, and the fall color continues to linger along this 21-mile trail that starts all coastal but delivers some surprising twists at the end. 

Happy trails,

Joe

More info

Class: Intro to Backpacking

Class: GetBackpacking! Overnight Sampler (September)

Class: GetBackpacking! Overnight Sampler, (October)

Trip: Appalachian Trail from Carvers Gap to 19E

Trip: Intro to Linville Gorge

Trip: Joyce Kilmer/Citico Creek Wilderness

Trip: Neusiok Trail

For more information on our fall 2018 programs in general, go here.

The post With backpacking, there’s no reason to leave the trail appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

It’s one of our favorite things to hear, because it means we’re meeting one of our key goals: leading you into the unknown. Sure, we hike a lot of trails more than once, and for good reason: they’re worth it. Our Charlotte group goes to South Mountains State Park regularly, our Charlottesville crew loves the Jones Run/Doyles River Circuit in the Shenandoah National Park. And with 120 miles of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail running through the Triangle, I’ve lead a goodly number of hikes on the statewide path along the Eno River and the south shore of Falls Lake. 

But it’s the new discoveries most hikers really love.

“Show of hands,” I said at the beginning of a recent hike at the Shallow Ford Natural Area north of Burlington: “How many of you have hiked here before?” 

None of the eight hikers raised a hand.

Ditto a recent after-work hike at the two-year-old Brumley Nature Preserve in Chapel Hill, at Little River Regional Park on the Durham/Orange county line, and on the Great Blue Heron Loop Trail at Haw River State Park’s Iron Ore Belt Access area. Some of these gems are new, some simply off the beaten path. We’re constantly on the lookout for both.

This week, we thought we would highlight a few upcoming adventures to places that may be new to you.

• Confluence Natural Area, day hike, Hillsborough, July 22. The Eno River Association is one of those land trusts whose work frequently flies under the radar. If you’ve hiked in Eno River State Park, or at Little River Regional Park, you’ve likely hiked on land preserved by the ERA. They typically buy land in the Eno watershed, then, eventually, turn it over to North Carolina State Parks. This spring, though, the ERA opened the 200-acre Confluence Natural Area, its first preserve open to the public, where we’ll explore 2-miles of newly blazed trail.

• Standing Indian Recreation Area, hiking/camping weekend, Nantahala National Forest, Aug. 24-26. Standing Indian was new to me when I scouted it in 2009. I was finalizing which trips to include in my book “Backpacking North Carolina” and noticed this big network of trails west of Franklin. It seemed worth a chance — and it was. On this trip, the main hike is an 11-mile loop consisting of a mellow climb up Kimsey Creek to the Appalachian Trail at Deep Gap, then hiking north to 5,498-foot Standing Indian and back to camp on the Lower Ridge Trail. We’ll do a shorter hike Sunday.
• Curtis Creek, hiking/camping weekend, Pisgah National Forest, Sept. 28-30. The Curtis Creek area of the Pisgah outside Old Fort is hardly new: in fact, it’s the oldest tract in the Pisgah National Forest, dating back more than a century. It’s also not new in that it’s home to some of the oldest old growth in the Pisgah. We’ll explore here and in the nearby Montreat Wilderness area with a climb up 5,592-foot Graybeard Mountain.
• Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock/Citico Creek Wilderness, four-day backpack trip, Nantahala and Cherokee National Forests, Oct. 25-29. This is the mountain land that time forgot. Too rugged and remote to draw much interest from logging concerns, the area was a natural for inclusion as a designated Wilderness Area. The area may be popular with locals — what locals there are — but it’s largely untouched by us outsiders.
• Nags Head Woods Preserve, hiking/camping weekend, Outer Banks, Nov. 2-4. Usually, when you head to the Outer Banks, your thoughts are on the beach, not the trail. Yet there’s some stunning hiking to be done, none more so than through the maritime forest at The Nature Conservancy’s thousand-acre Nags Head Woods Preserve. Five miles of trail explores everything from dense woods to the sound. That’s Saturday; on Sunday, we’ll do another five miles amid some of the oldest trees in North Carolina, in Pettigrew State Park.

Interested in expanding your adventure horizons? Find more information on each adventure in the links below and join us.

Happy trails,

Joe

Explore!

Learn more about the new places we’ll be exploring by clicking on the links below.

• Confluence Natural Area
• Standing Indian
• Curtis Creek
• Joyce Kilmer-Slicrock/Citico Creek Wilderness
• Nags Head Woods

The post Finding new places for you to explore appeared first on GetGoing NC!.