A learning experience at the coast, stargazing in the Piedmont, and in the mountains, drawing inspiration from some true rock stars.
Coast
Can you tell an oak from a hickory, a beech from a boxelder? Maybe in summer, when a full canopy displays each tree’s distinctively shaped, tell-tale leaves. But in winter, when the leaves have vacated, identifying the dendrologic denizens of the forest can be more challenging.
Let March know you’ve been waiting for it with a big outdoor welcome this weekend. Paddle the month in at the coast, greet it from on high in the Piedmont, or acknowledge its arrival with a classic hike on the Appalachian Trail near Hot Springs.
The second weekend of summer is perfect for paddling a Carolina Bay, for a taking a high-country hike and for running five races in one.
Coast
Summer is ideal for paddling. But it you don’t have your own canoe or kayak, a leisurely day on the water takes on potential hassles. First, you have to find a place to rent a boat (which we’ve made easy with this handy list). Then you have to get the boat to decent place to paddle (again, we’ve got help with that). And you have to watch the clock to make sure you get the boat back on time (sorry, no help there).
With high temperatures expected to soar into the mid-70s in parts of North Carolina this weekend, you have no excuse for not getting into the wild, be it learning to reconnoiter at the coast, scoping birds in the Piedmont or hiking the Blue Ridge escarpment.
Saturday is National Trails Day, a day set aside for paying homage to the nation’s more than 200,000 miles of trail. In most cases, that involves grabbing a rake, a pickax, a shovel and sprucing up the trails that on the other 364 days of the year we love to death. It’s a day underscoring that without volunteer labor, our trail systems simply wouldn’t exist. Last year, for instance, 190,350 volunteer hours were logged at nearly 2,000 registered National Trails Day events. That represents roughly $3.9 million in labor that our cash-strapped federal, state and local land managers simply couldn’t afford to pay for.