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.

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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!.

Not hardly.

Not when you live in part of the country where you can experience a rare coastal forest escape, hike on the country’s most iconic trail, and explore a high country oasis all while enjoying the cold embrace of the season, minus the threat. Sure, it can get cold and there can be snow. But not to the extent you need extreme weather gear to survive. Rather, winter here offers a stark beauty that can be enjoyed in solitude. And if you really don’t like the “cold,” but can tolerate cool, winter backpacking at the coast offers an experience you can’t have any other time of year.

This winter, GetBackpacking! offers three trips that capture the best of what backpacking has to offer during a season too often associated with hibernation, not exploration. Two are classics that we’ve done the past several years, one is new to our GetBackpacking! program.

January

Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, Havelock 

• 21 miles
• 2 nights

The 21-mile Neusiok Trail takes you backpacking where most people least expect to go backpacking: a coastal swamp, But it’s more than just that. For our hike, we start late Friday afternoon and hike 2 miles to camp. It’s a hike at dusk, where the sun sets over the expansive Newport River, dipping below the horizon about the time we turn inland to camp. Day 2 takes us through coastal woods so dense the only clearing is the wide-foot-wide  path that slices through bay thickets and a variety of bushes before opening into pine savannah. On a cold, sunny winter’s day it doesn’t get much better. Day 3 begins the same, then morph’s for 5 miles into rolling terrain and woods more reminiscent of the Piedmont before concluding with a mile-long run along the mile-wide Neuse River, which at this point more resembles the Pamlico Sound it will shortly feed into.

Dates: January 28-30 

Learn more and register here.

February

Appalachian Trail between Max Patch and Hot Springs

• 21 miles
• 2 nights

Part of the thrill of this 21-mile trek — and the reason we do it every February — is that you never know what to expect. Three years ago, the forecast, at one point, called for up to 20 inches of snow and temperatures dropping to 7 degrees (we postponed that one). Another year, the temperature hit 70 degrees and, I swear to Colin Fletcher, we saw spring beauties popping up at 4,500 feet. We begin Friday afternoon taking a shuttle from Hot Springs to Max Patch; we soak up the view, then hike 2 miles to camp for the night. Saturday is 11 miles of AT delight, hiking mostly through classic Southern Appalachian hardwood forest, passing through a couple of gaps, hiking over 4,692-foot Bluff Mountain, then dropping into Garenflo Gap, to camp. The 7-mile hike out on Sunday ascends Lamp Knob, then mellows out, for the most part, with a descent into Hot Springs — where a variety of burger options awaits.

Dates: February 25-27 

Learn more and register here.

March

Mount Rogers, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia

• 20 miles (basecamp backpack)
• 2 nights

The Mount Rogers area of southwest Virginia is one of the most scenic and popular backpacking destinations in the Southeast. It includes the two highest points in Virginia and open terrain akin to what you might expect out West. If you’re a backpacker and it’s not on your bucket list, it should be. On this trip we hike in a mile or so east from Elk Garden off Whitetop Road and set up basecamp. Saturday, we don daypacks for a 12.5-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail into the heart of Mount Rogers (including summiting the 5,772-foot peak, returning on the Virginia Horse Trail. Sunday, we hike to 5,525-foot Whitetop for more great views.

Dates: March 11-13 

Learn more and register here.

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Thru-hikes on shorter trails in 2022

Also on tap for 2022, we will lead four thru-hikes on the state’s shorter long trails. They are:

• Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, 21 miles. Jan. 28-30 (see above)
• N.C. Bartram Trail, Nantahala National Forest, 50 miles (approx), summer, date tbd.
• Art Loeb Trail, Pisgah National Forest, 31 miles, fall, date tbd.
• Foothills Trail, North Carolina/South Carolina line, 77 miles, date tbd.

We will have details on the last three hikes soon. In addition, we will offer a winter/spring training program pertinent to these trips but also appropriate for anyone who plans to have an ambitious summer and fall of backpacking. Maybe you’re planning your own long hike, maybe you’re planning a trip out west. Our program will help get you where you need to be by the end of spring. Details coming shortly on this program, as well. 

The post GetBackpacking! Winter 2022 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: GetBackpacking! in Winter on the Appalachian Trail.

Mountain weather is a game of chance, the stakes elevated in winter. In the case of backpacking, it’s a matter of hoping that the forecast for snow comes through — to some extent. An inch or two covering the land, throwing a blanket of quiet over your world is the ideal. Much more than that and you begin confronting a series of potential problems, from simply being able to follow the trail (especially when an icy coat sticks to trees, obscuring blazes) to being able to trudge through a deep, heavy snow.

This weekend, our GetBackpacking! group lucked out with snow on the light side. Not even an inch, but oh what a glorious portrait it painted on the 20.7 miles of Appalachian Trail between Max Patch and Hot Springs, N.C.

Here’s 90 Seconds of our wintery weekend. Brew a cup of tea and enjoy.

* * *

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The post 90 Second Escape: GetBackpacking! in winter on the Appalachian Trail appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

In 2015, we launched our GetHiking! Classic Hikes program with GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes. Over the course of the year we hiked a dozen of North Carolina’s most notable areas: Shining Rock, Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains, Panthertown Valley, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the Appalachian Trail, to name a few.

Now, if there were only a dozen Classic Hikes in North Carolina, we could declare mission accomplished and be done. In fact, there are so many more than a dozen Classics in the state (I’ve written a book that documents 100, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina,” Mountaineers Books). And there are so many more Classics throughout the Southeast.

Thus, our mission continues in 2016, with the expanded GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes series.

First, we’re not abandoning North Carolina. In fact, we’re only adding two out-of-state hikes in 2016, both in Virginia (a stretch of the Appalachian Trail near Lynchburg and the Grayson Highlands/Mount Rogers area). And while we are repeating two hikes from 2015 (Panthertown Valley, by popular demand, and Doughton Park, because it’s a good late winter mountain hike), we’ve got a North Carolina lineup that will expose you to even more great hiking than you thought possible. We’ll get to a full calendar of hikes, with descriptions, in a sec. But first … .

Why join this fee-based hiking program? We had about 90 hikers participate in the 2015 program, all with their own personal motivation. Basically, though, they boiled down to two key motivators: the challenge, and the chance to explore more of the state’s wild areas.

The Challenge

Right about now you’re likely thinking what most people are thinking on the cusp of a new year: how can I be more active in the year ahead? Hiking is a great option. First, just about anyone can do it, and unlike many other “active” options, it’s something you can be active at late into life. (Of our 90 or so 2015 hikers, at least half are over 50.) Hiking requires some basic equipment: hiking boots/shoes, good socks, a day pack, for starters. But once you’ve got the basics, it’s cheap fun: transportation and food are your key expenses.

If you’re new to hiking, you might be intimidated by the “Classic” designation, equating “Classic” with epic and visions of a death march rather than an enjoyable day in the woods. First, our hikes are actually two hikes, a longer hike and a shorter hike. For instance, our first hike, on the Neusiok Trail in the coastal Croatan National Forest, gives you the option of hiking the entire 20.4-mile trail, or a 6-mile stretch. Start with the shorter options, maybe you’ll want to go longer after three or four hikes. Plus, the monthly hikes are good incentive to do shorter, local hikes in the interim.

If you’re looking for an activity you can embrace for the longterm and one that doesn’t seem like work (as is often the case with a traditional “workout,” hiking is a good option. Likewise, if you seek a sense of accomplishment and reward, you’ll find it in a hike (just ask the folks who did our 13.4-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail north of Carvers Gap in September).

And if you’re worried about being left in the woods, don’t be. Our hikes are led from the rear, guaranteeing that no one, not the slowest hiker, is dropped. This approach benefits our more experienced hikers as well; with direction supplied before the hike, they become more confident in their ability to navigate in the backcountry.

Explore New Trails

Even if you’re an avid hiker, how many of the state’s — and region’s — trails have you hiked? Or are even familiar with? Drop down and take a look at our lineup for 2016: if you’ve hiked half of these trails, you’re doing pretty good. Odds are there are one or two you haven’t heard of.

We aim to expose you to the wealth of hiking opportunities in the Southeast. Take the October hike. Perhaps you’ve heard of, even hiked in the Shining Rock area. But Sam Knob? Its neighbor to the west offers a more varied hike: the views, meadows and black balsam forests Shining Rock is known for, plus rock outcrops and waterfalls. As for the July Standing Indian hike, we’re guessing that one’s got you scratching your head. After the weekend of July 16-17, 2016, you’ll be boasting it’s one of the best circuit hikes around.

Again, check the schedule below for descriptions of 2016’s hikes.

New in 2016

If you’re a veteran of GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes, we’ve added a few new twists to GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes:

• Weekend trips. Over the past year, several of you commented that you loved the mountain trips, but you wished there was more hiking to justify the long drive. This year we’ve added six camping weekends in the mountains. Drive up Friday afternoon/evening, camp, hike Saturday, camp Saturday night, hike Sunday. Camping will be in group campgrounds near the trails we will hike; in some cases we can hike directly from camp. Our one group camp experience in 2015, at Mills River, was a big hit, highlighted by a potluck dinner Saturday evening.
• Aren’t a camper — but you’re interested? This year, we’ve added a Discover Camping option to our weekend trips. We provide the tent and sleeping mattress, give you a list of household items you can use to supplement your other camp needs, and are there to help take the mystery out of camping.
• Lodge/hostel weekend on the AT out of Hot Springs. Over the three-day Veteran’s Day weekend (November 11-13) we’ve reserved the Laughing Heart Lodge in Hot Springs, North Carolina. Hike the Appalachian Trail during the day, return to the lodge/hostel for a civil evening of rest in a warm environment (see schedule for details).

Membership: what you get

Basic membership to GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes is $75, which applies to your first three hikes. (If you’re first three hikes are weekend trips, that’s a savings of $30). Your membership includes:

• Three hikes, as mentioned above. After that, each single-day hike is $25, weekend trips are $35.
• Monthly emagazine with detailed information on that month’s hike, including an overview touching on the trail’s highlights; map of the hike with points of interest; elevation profile; photos; info box with key information, including trail access, length, elevation gain and more. Also in each emag: information on camping and lodging near each hike, as well as hiking tips and resources pertinent to this particular hike.
• Swag bag for each hike. For each hike you’ll get a goody bag filled with hiking-appropriate swag.
• Joining gift. TBD. Last year, members received either hiking socks, a camp towel or a GetHiking! T-shirt, courtesy Great Outdoor Provision Co.
• Loaner gear. Curious about trekking poles but never tried them? Here’s your chance. We’ll also have loaner headlamps (if you’re worried about finishing after sunset).
• Ten percent discount on hiking gear at Great Outdoor Provision Co.

If you think you’ll make all the hikes, save $60 by joining the Classics Club for $300. That covers all the hikes, plus the Discover Camping program, and get a $35 gift card from Great Outdoor Provision Co.

How to join

Sign up today and we will send you pertinent information about the program, as well as details on our first hike, on January 24 on the Neusiok Trail. Pay via PayPal, below, or send a check to GetGoingNC, 4909 Waters Edge Dr., Suite 206, Raleigh, NC 27606.

Hike schedule

Here’s the full schedule of our 2016 GetHiking! The Southwest’s Classic Hikes.

January: Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest
Havelock
Sunday, Jan. 24
Long Hike: 20.4 miles (entire length)
Short Hike: 6.4 miles (northern trailhead to NC 306)
$25
We start the year in a coastal forest, on a lowland trail that spends much of its eastern length in pine savannah and on boardwalk elevated above a shrubby bog, its western end in forest that has odd flashes of the Appalachians. The Neusiok is a trail best hiked in winter, when the flying pests common to the coast are less pesky. As you might guess, there’s little elevation on this hike, making it a good hike to start the year.

February: Uwharrie National Recreation Trail, Uwharrie National Forest
Asheboro
Saturday, Feb. 20
Long Hike: 17.8 (Sections 3-8)
Short Hike: 6.3 (Sections 3-4)
$25
The Uwharries, in the heart of the rolling Piedmont, may have long since eroded from their 20,000-foot peak, but they still present a nice challenge. A challenge not without its reward: especially Sections 3 and 4, where the trail reaches its high point (King Mountain, at 1,013 feet) and offers its best view, a 360 from the top of Long Mountain. Both hikes include this stretch; the longer hike lets you build endurance as you probe deeper into this largely hardwood forest.

March: Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway
Roaring Gap
Saturday, March 19
Long Hike: 18 miles (Longbottom Loop)
Short Hike: 10 miles (Longbottom to Bluff Mountain)
$25
One of the few repeats from the 2015 Classic Hikes season, and for good reason. For starters, it’s an early-season opportunity to get into the mountains. Located on the Blue Ridge escarpment north of Wilkesboro, both hikes begin with a steady 4.5-mile climb before topping out in the rolling mountain meadows of Doughton Park. The short hike finishes at Bluff Mountain, the long brings it back around down a descending ridgeline to the Longbottom Trailhead. Great views from the top — and early spring wildflowers to boot.

April: Appalachian Trail, Virginia
Lynchburg, Va.
Saturday, April 2
One hike: 10 miles (Punchbowl on the Blue Ridge Parkway to James River)
$25
Think of day hiking the Appalachian Trail and you immediately think of driving half the day to western North Carolina. In fact, the AT is closest to the Triad and Triangle, at least, in Virginia. Where the AT crosses the James River west of Lynchburg is an especially scenic stretch of this iconic trail. From the Blue Ridge Parkway, the trail climbs to Punchbowl, then stays along a ridge for about 7 miles, offering an ongoing supply of views, both east to the Piedmont and west to the Shenandoah Valley and George Washington National Forest.

May: Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Craggy Mountains
Pisgah National Forest
Saturday/Sunday, May 7-8
Group camping: Briar Bottom Group Campground
Saturday: Buck Creek Gap to campground (hike lengths to be determined)
Sunday: NC 128 to Craggy Gardens (hike lengths to be determined)
$35
The first of six weekend hikes with group camping. Arrive Friday night, set up camp at the Briar Bottom Group Campground at the base of Mount Mitchell, then hike from Buck Creek Gap back to the campground on Saturday. A potluck Saturday night, followed by more hiking, at Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Sunday. A good sampling of a stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail that doesn’t get hiked much because of its remote location.

June: Davidson River / North Mills River
Brevard
Saturday/Sunday, June 18/19
Group Camping: White Pines Group Campground
Saturday: Art Loeb (hike lengths tbd)
Sunday: Fish Hatchery / John Rock loop (7 miles)
$35
Our lone group camping experience in 2015 at Mills River was a hit. We return to the area, this time to the White Pines Group Campground in the adjoining Davidson River area of the Pisgah National Forest for a weekend of hiking. Saturday, we’ll hike a stretch of the Art Loeb Trail heading down from the Blue Ridge Parkway, then return to camp to kick back and enjoy a pot-luck dinner. Sunday, we’ll do the popular 7-mile John Rock Loop, enjoying lunch and views of Looking Glass Rock from the trail’s namesake attraction.

July: Standing Indian / Appalachian Trail
Franklin
Saturday/Sunday, July 16/17
Group camping: Kimsey Creek Group Campground
Saturday: Kimsey Creek/AT/Lower Trail Ridge (hike lengths tbd)
Sunday: Timber Ridge / AT / Bear Pen Gap loop (hike lengths tbd)
$35
On our third Saturday/Sunday hike we visit the Standing Indian area west of Franklin. The Standing Indian group campground is ideally situated for our purposes. Saturday morning, head out your tent door and onto the Kimsey Creek Trail for a climb up to the Appalachian Trail, returning via Lower Ridge Trail. Sunday, we do another AT loop, up Timber Ridge to the AT and back via Bear Pin Gap.

August: Great Smoky Mountains National Park /Deep Creek
Bryson City
Saturday/Sunday, Aug. 13/14
Group camping: Deep Creek Group Campground
Saturday: Noland Divide Trail/Pole Road Creek Trail/Deep Creek Trail (hike lengths tbd)
Sunday: Indian Creek/Deeplow Gap/Thomas Ridge trails (hike lengths tbd)
$35
August too hot for hiking? What if your hike ends with a tube trip down a mile-long stretch of mountain creek. That’s an option both days, on hikes that start and end from our group campsite at Deep Creek, just outside Bryson City.

September: Grayson Highlands / Mount Rogers

Saturday/Sunday, Sept. 23/24
Group Camping: Grayson Highlands State Park
Saturday: AT/Mount Rogers (hike lengths tbd)
Sunday: AT (hike lengths tbd)
$35
Our second trip of the year to Virginia is our first to the Grayson Highlands / Mount Rogers area of southwest Virginia. Grayson Highlands/Mount Rogers is one of the most popular trail networks in the Southeast, in no small part because the rocky and open terrain has more of a western U.S. feel. Also, the wild ponies.

October: Sam Knob / Panthertown Valley
Cashiers
Saturday/Sunday, Oct. 22/23
Group Camping: Kuykendall Group Campground
Saturday: Sam Knob (8 miles)
Sunday: Panthertown Valley (12 miles, with shorter options)
$35
Our last weekend group camping trip of the season sees us return to Panthertown Valley for waterfalls, views and great fall color, then head up to the Shining Rock Area for a diverse 8-mile loop at Sam Knob. Both areas are known for rock outcrops, open spaces and waterfalls.

November: Appalachian Trail: Max Patch to Rich Mountain
Hot Springs
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Nov. 11-13
Friday: AT (5 miles)
Saturday: AT/Rich Mountain Loop (12.7 miles)
Sunday: Max Patch (7 miles)
Lodging: Laughing Heart Lodge in Hot Springs
$35 (does not include lodging)
Three days of hiking (it’s over Veteran’s Day weekend) and two nights at the Laughing Heart Lodge in Hot Springs. The hiking includes various stretches on the Appalachian Trail, from Max Patch to Hot Springs. The lodging is at the laid-back Laughing Heart Lodge, where we’ve blocked out space for the weekend. Stay in the lodge, stay in the cabin, stay in the economical hostel. Off trail, we’ll explore one of the AT’s classic trail towns.

December: Mount Mitchell
Pisgah National Forest / Mount Mitchell State Park
Saturday, Dec. 31
$25
We wrap up the year with a celebratory climb up the highest peak in the East, 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell.

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