With the weather expected to remain exceptionally summerlike this weekend, we get out the divining rod to show us the way to sensible adventure. Let’s see where it takes us.
Coast
At the coast, our rod points to … the marshlands of Bald Head Island, where wet relief is but a paddle-splash (or better still, a capsize!) away. On both Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the BHI Conservancy leads Kayaking the Creeks, a paddle tour exploring and explaining “the beauty and importance of the salt marsh.” If you’ve done this trip before, you haven’t necessarily done this trip: “Each trip offers a unique perspective of BHI and great views of wildlife,” promises the conservancy.read more
Chalk Banks, Lumber River. Photo courtesy N.C. State Parks
This week’s offerings all come courtesy North Carolina State Parks, where on any given weekend (and on a lot of days throughout the week) you’ll find an array of interesting — and usually free — programs. Check out the State Parks curriculum here, and read on for suggestions on how you can live and learn in the great outdoors this weekend.read more
A cool bike ride in the mountains or a leisurely day on the water in the Piedmont and coastal plain: Those are but three of your options this weekend in North Carolina.
Coast
What better place to spend a muggy, 90-degree day than on a river? And not just an hour or two of the day, but at least half of it.read more
You can’t escape the heat and humidity, but you can work with it. Paddling on the Lumber River, for instance. Or playing and partying at the Triangle’s biggest outdoor festival. Or taking a high country hike with a National Park Service ranger.
Abbey Nature Preserve (photo courtesy N.C. Coastal Land Trust)
A 5K through an old plantation at the coast, a paddle on a Piedmont river, a waterfall hike through the Pisgah National Forest. A weekend doesn’t get much more North Carolina than that.
Coast
Chances are you aren’t familiar with the Abbey Nature Preserve just north of Wilmington. Chances are you don’t know that in addition to the preserve, there’s the historic Poplar Grove Plantation and a museum documenting the Foy family’s nearly two centuries of farming on the land. And chances are you didn’t know that Saturday is a great day to explore the grounds as part of the Abbey Nature Preserve Autumn 5K. Run through Cedar forests, on trail beneath a leafy canopy, past a scenic pond and across a wooden footbridge.read more
