Another hot, summery weekend is on tap, which means you have two choices for outdoor fun: get wet or go high.

Coast

Not that you need a reason to visit the Great Dismal Swamp, but if you did …

Saturday, join a ranger on an intimate Summer Paddle of the Dismal Swamp Canal at Dismal Swamp State Park north of Elizabeth City. Everything you need — boat, paddle, PFD, basic instruction — is provided. That last part — basic instruction — should be even more incentive for those of you who’ve never paddled.

About the “intimate” part: though the trip is free, it’s limited to eight boats. Pre-register — before it’s too late.

Logistics: Summer Paddle, Saturday, July 8, 10 a.m., Dismal Swamp State Park, South Mills. Free, but pre-registration is required because there are only eight boats, by calling 252.771.6593.

Saturday forecast: Mostly sunny and a temperature of 84 at 10 a.m.

* * *

Looking ahead: Too short of notice? This summer paddle will be repeated next Saturday, July 15. More info here.

Piedmont

Too hot for a hike? How about a boat race — using tiny boats you craft out of recycled materials?

First, at Saturday morning’s Build-a-Boat at Eno River State Park, you’ll craft a boat out of recycled materials — bring your own or they’ll have some on hand. Then, you’ll race against other boat builders in the cool waters of the Eno, at Fews Ford.

Logistics: Build-a-Boat, Saturday, July 8, 9 a.m., Eno River State Park (meet at the Piper Cox House at the park’s Fews Ford Access. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Sunny, with a 9 a.m. temperature of 79.

* * *

Looking ahead: Can’t make Saturday morning’s Build-a-Boat? The event repeats Saturday, July 29 at noon. More info here.

Mountains

D’ja ever wonder about the weather on top of a mountain? About the highest wind gusts ever recorded? Lowest temperature? Most snow?

Likewise, who hasn’t wondered how they record that information? Saturday is your chance to have these questions answered at Mount Jefferson State Natural Area. Setting out from the picnic area, you’ll make the short clime to MJ’s 4,683-foot summit, home to a North Carolina Climate Office data collection tower, where the mountain will reveal her climatological secrets during the Mount Jefferson’s Climate Tower program.

Logistics: Mount Jefferson’s Climate Tower, Saturday, July 8, 2 p.m., Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, West Jefferson. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Mostly sunny with a high of 76.

* * *

Looking ahead: Can’t make Saturday’s hike, but intrigued all the same by Mount Jefferson? Then consider the Rock Outcrop Hike at the park on Saturday, July 29. More info here.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below. 

Coast

The post This weekend: Get wet, go high  appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Saturday sees a return to seasonable temperatures and sun, suitable for a day of adventure. Sunday … not so much. Unless you’re going skiing, check out our Saturday recommendations.

Coast

One of the big struggles of modern parenting is motivating our kids to move. Back in the day, it was no problem: you could stay inside and watch one of the four channels (three of which were airing mom’s soaps) on the Zenith, or you could go outside and get into mischief. Nearly all of us went the mischief route.

Today, there are so many more reasons not to get into outdoor mischief, thanks to our assorted electronic devices. It’s so easy to spend the day getting lost in a world of faux mischief that, shoot, who has time for the real thing?

We’re guessing that a bit of history in the making in the Wilmington area this weekend could change that for your brood. Saturday and Sunday, at Brunswick Nature Park in Leland, the fledgling N.C. Interscholastic Cycling League will hold its first-ever mountain bike race. Twenty-five teams from across the state are expected to compete on the five-mile network, kids in grades 6 through 12, some competing on school teams, some on “composite” teams made up of kids from various schools, including home schoolers.

Bring your kids, watch the action. Worried about your kid getting hooked on a sport you can’t afford? Don’t be. The NCICL offers scholarships to riders in need, and has alliances in the bike industry (take a bow, Trek) that can help make mountain biking affordable. Remember how transformative it was to tool around the neighborhood on your BMX bike as a kid? Imagine that feeling amplified riding through the woods.

Logistics: Race 1: N.C. Interscholastic Cycling League, Saturday and Sunday, March 11-12, New Brunswick Nature Park, Winnabow (which is near Leland, which is outside Wilmington). More info here.

Weekend forecast: Sunny and 55 on Saturday, rainy and 55 on Sunday.

* * *

Looking ahead: N.C. Birding Trail Hike, Thursday, March 16, Halyburton Park, Wilmington. More info here.

Piedmont

Last fall’s wild fires in the mountains raised questions about the devastating effect they would have on the places we love to visit: Chimney Rock, South Mountains State Park, parts of the Nantahala.

True, fires of this magnitude can have devastating consequences. But fire in its natural place is vital for the forest, crucial, in fact, to the forest’s health. Certain flora rely on periodic fires to reproduce, certain fauna rely on it to replenish their food supplies. The role of fire is complex.

Saturday, though, you can start making sense of the role fire plays on the Fire Ecology Hike at Pilot Mountain State Park. There, controlled burns have been employed to replicate the natural order of burns; join a ranger to understand how this seemingly contradictory situation — fire breeding life — works.

Logistics: Fire Ecology Hike, Saturday, March 11, 2 p.m., Pilot Mountain State Park, Pinnacle. More info here.

Saturday forecast: Mostly sunny, high of 49.

* * *

Looking ahead: First Day of Spring Hike, Monday, March 20, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area. More info here.

Mountains

If you haven’t made it to the mountains to ski yet this winter and had doubts that you’d be able to in light of the warm weather of late, the weather gods have issued a reprieve. Cold weather and snow return to the mountains starting Saturday and lasting into midweek, making mid-March skiing a reality. That is, for those resorts that choose to capitalize on the returning cold and crank up their snow machines.

At this point, say our friends at SkiSoutheast.com, only Snowshoe, Appalachian and Sugar Mountain appear committed to more snowmaking this late in the season. Keep your dial tuned to the aforementioned SkiSoutheast.com for the latest details on who’s blowing how much snow where.

Logistics: Get the latest ski report at SkiSoutheast.com

Weekend forecast: Cold, with snow possible.

* * *

Looking ahead: Flight of the American Woodcock, Saturday, March 18, New River State Park. More info here.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below. 

Coast

The post This weekend: Saturday, rather than Sunday  appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Act I: Leave it to poor cholesterol

The scene: Lunchtime at Grant Avenue Grammar School as Larry and Gilbert sit down to eat. Let’s listen.

Gilbert: Lunchables?
Larry: Yeah, why?
Gilbert: Ya knucklehead! Don’t you realize that the lifestyle choices you make today can have a profound effect on your cholesterol levels as an adult? Hey, there’s Judy! Load up a spitwad in your straw, would ya?

Hopefully Larry followed Gilbert’s sound advice (on the lifestyle choices, not the spitwad), for a study by researchers at the University of Tasmania in Australia and Finland’s University of Turku has found that smart lifestyle choices made in adolescence can affect cholesterol later in life. Researchers tested the cholesterol and triglyceride levels of 539 youngsters — aged 9, 12 or 15 — in 1985 (they also recorded their height, weight, waist circumference, skin-fold thickness and smoking behaviors). In 2005, they remeasured the now not-so-youngsters and found  that the ones who had good LDL, HDL and total cholesterol levels as kids only maintained those levels if they ate wisely and didn’t smoke; the kids who let themselves go saw their cholesterol levels go to pot. Similarly, the kids with poor readings in youth were able to improve their cholesterol levels through good living.

“Our findings are important for two reasons,”wrote the study’s authors. “First, they suggest that beneficial changes in modifiable risk factors (smoking and adiposity) in the time between youth and adulthood have the potential to shift those with high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in youth to low-risk levels in adulthood. Second, they emphasize that preventive programs aimed at those who do not have high-risk blood lipid and lipoprotein levels in youth are equally important if the proportion of adults with high-risk levels is to be reduced.”

For more info, go here.

Act II: Of changing voices and devastating deltoids

The scene: It’s after school at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. High School as 7th graders Kevin and Paul decide what to do.

Kevin: We could ride our Stingrays downtown to see if any new comic books are in.
Paul: Ya, ya, we could. But I feel like getting pumped up instead.

And that, despite a persistent but erroneous belief that weight training in youth may inhibit bone growth, would be a good after-school activity for a 12-year-old. In fact, medical non-profits from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the American College of Sports Medicine agree that weight training can help prevent injuries, improve sports performance, play a key role in rehabilitating an injury and enhance long-term health no matter one’s age. Studies back up the notion (including a University of Connecticut probe that found that teenage boys who engaged in Olympic style weightlifting had bone mineral density values 20 percent to 35 percent higher than their non-lifting peers) and gyms are starting to encourage supervised lifting programs for youths.

Here’s a good first-hand account by a father of a weightlifting 12-year-old who’s also a certified strength and conditioning coach.

Act III: The ultimate energy drink?

The scene: A highchair in anyhouse USA. A 3-month-old aspiring Olympian watches annoyed as his mom plucks a bottle of formula from the fridge and warms it on the stove.

Annoyed 3-month-old (via a thought bubble): What’s she trying to do, kill my chances for gold in the high jump at the 2032 Olympics!?

It’s true, according to a study of 2,567 adolescents by the University of Granada, those who were breastfed wound up with stronger leg muscles.

The study has more far-reaching implications than simply fueling a field of extra-good high jumpers. Read more here.

Photo: Easy on the gravy, Beav.

The post Your kid’s health: A report in three acts appeared first on GetGoing NC!.