Astronomically, fall doesn’t start until Sept. 22 at 2:19 p.m. EST.  Culturally, most of us associate the handoff of summer to fall with Labor Day weekend (this weekend). This year, however, it feels like fall is already well underway: for the past week or so morning temperatures here on the North Carolina/Virginia line have been in the low 50s, daytime highs in the upper 70s. If that doesn’t scream call in sick and grab your pack, I don’t know what does.

One other thing that screams fall?

Crowded trails.

Fall weather brings out the fair weather hikers. That is, everyone who hikes once or twice a year will be hiking come fall.

What’s a solace-seeking hiker to do?

Avoid the trails most traveled in favor of the spots that are just as nice, but not as well known. Here are 5 of our favorites.

Doughton Park: Long Bottom Road Access

Laurel Springs

Grassy Gap/Basin Creek trails

Trail: 9.8 miles (round trip)

Talk about being loved to death! The Blue Ridge Parkway must be the Southeast’s most sought-after date come autumn and the fall color show. Fortunately, Doughton Park has 30 miles of trail, including a 4.8-mile stretch that runs from the base of the escarpment up Basin Creek to the Caudill Cabin. The Grassy Gap portion is relatively flat, making for a nice warmup; Basin Creek adds elevation, but along a rocky, tumbling creek, the beauty of which is more likely to take your breath away than the hike itself.

Learn more here.

Jones Lake State Park

Elizabethtown

Bay Trail

Trail: 4 miles

Keep this one tucked in your back pocket for that first fall day when the temperature isn’t likely to get out of the 50s and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. On such days, the popular state parks will have to close before they open; you, on the other hand, will be enjoying a brisk walk around Jones Lake on a trail that goes through pine savannah and dense coastal woods as it circles this rare Carolina bay. Total elevation gain? Maybe 2 feet.

Learn more here.

Medoc Mountain State Park

Hollister

Trail: 10 miles of hiking trail, another 20 miles of multi-use

Despite the fact it’s just an hour and a half drive from the Triangle, Medoc Mountain continues to fly under the local hiking radar. Why? Beats us. The 10 miles of hiking trail offer a mix of hiking along a Piedmont stream, summiting 300-foot Medoc Mountain, exploring the first vineyard in the country (or what’s left of it). Plus, if you don’t mind sharing, another 20 miles of equestrian and mountain biking trail will give you the long aerobic workout you seek on a 60-degree day. Scenery and solitude, rarely found in the same place but you’ll find it here.

Learn more here.

Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Falls Lake Day-hike Section T

Red Mill Road in northern Durham County

Trail: 4.2 miles (one way)

There’s something oddly enchanting about this stretch of the MST. Heading west from Red Mill Road, the trail makes its way for a couple miles through bottomland forest, influenced by the nearby Eno River but far enough way that you don’t know it’s there. Then, the trail climbs a bluff overlooking the Eno. It’s not particularly high — maybe 70 feet above the river — but it’s just enough that in the winter, the canopy bare, you have a long view to the north (you can see the Eno below). One of the more quiet stretches of the MST through the Triangle.

Learn more here.

Shallow Ford Natural Area

Elon

Trail: 5 miles in four loops

With four loop trails, you can go short or long at Shallow Ford Natural Area. Got some non-hikers in tow and need to keep it short? The 3/4-mile Basin Creek Trail gives you a nice introduction to the preserve’s bottomland forest. Tack on the 2.2-mile Hidden Hill Trail and you’ll explore meadows and upland hardwoods. Another 2.2-mile option: the Homestead Trail, which takes you along a particularly rocky and impressive stretch of the Haw River. Hike it following a good rain and you’ll develop a keen appreciation for this river that once supported a vast textile mill industry.

Learn more here.

The post 5 Hikes that avoid fall crowds appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sure we dare, because they’re probably the first to admit that unless there’s not a cloud in the sky, unless the temperatures not 66 degrees (plus or minus 4 degrees), and unless there’s some pretty flower blooming or some tree putting on a color show, they’ll be doing things indoors, thank you.

But while the weather is perfect and pretty things are popping out of the ground, well, the trails are fair game. At least, the ones the seasonal know about. The ones that are easy to find and, for the most part, easy to hike.

Last week, we told you how to find those trails on your own. This week, we share five of our favorites (one of which we’re hiking this weekend!).

Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Lands

10+ miles of trail

Bahama

Recommended routes: 4.5 miles, 6 miles

In the Triangle, the two most popular places to hike are Umstead State Park with roughly 5,600 acres, and Eno River State Park with 4,319 acres. What if we were to tell you that there’s a on the north side of Falls Lake more than four times that size with miles of trail? Plus, it’s flat and rarely gets hiked? That should be enough — but we’ll give you a smidge more. The hiking here is open, on gravel access roads that pass meadows and impoundment ponds designed to attract wildlife. Especially good on cool days because of the exposure, especially good on Sundays, since these are gamelands (currently, there is no hunting on Sundays — or from Memorial Day through Labor Day). And again, flat and no crowds. Our guides (see below) highlight a 4.5-mile hike from the Butner Depot and a 6-mile hike from the Flat River Access.

Trailhead: Butner Depot: 4209 Brickhouse Road, Bahama; Flat River Access: Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment, 5094 Old Oxford Road, Durham.

More info here.

Uwharrie National Forest: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness lollipop loop

11.8 miles
Asheboro
Starting from the trailhead off Tot Hill Road, you’ll hike the Birkhead Mountain Trail south for two miles before hitting the popular loop that Boy Scouts, among others, have been using for years to cut their backpacking teeth. Where the Robbins Branch Trail enters from the right, continue straight on the Birkhead for two miles. Note along the way that despite the fact this is a designated wilderness, the trail is well blazed. After two miles, go right on the Hannahs Creek Trail, where, for the first time, you abandon ridgelines in favor of passages along holly-clogged creeks. After a mile and a half, go right on the Robbins Branch Trail, which climbs a rocky (for the Piedmont) ridgeline before dropping to its namesake creek and rejoining the Birkhead after 3.2 miles. Go left for the two-mile return to your car. You can filter water from Hannahs Creek and Robbins Branch, though both run low in summer and during dry weather.
Trailhead: 3091 Tot Hill Farm Road, Asheboro.
More info here.

Pilot Creek Trail

Pilot Mountain State Park

6.6 miles (out and back) 

When we first began recommending uncrowded trails more than a dozen years ago, we recommended the trails accessed at the summit of Pilot Mountain. But since 2012, those trails have been discovered: on nice weekends it can take a half hour or more just to score a parking spot up top. Now, our favorite Pilot Mountain trail is Pilot Creek, which starts from an access off Boyd Nelson Road north of the park and works its way along the north flank of the mountain to connect with the Grindstone Trail. Pilot Creek offers much of what hikers flock to Pilot Mountain for: rocky terrain and some moderately challenging climbs. You won’t get the views (it sticks to the base of the mountain), but you won’t get the crowds, either.

Trailhead: Pilot Creek Access, Pilot Mountain State Park, 382 Boyd Nelson Road, Pinnacle

More info here.

Rock Castle Gorge Loop

Rocky Knob Recreation Area, Blue Ridge Parkway (Virginia)

10.4 miles

This is one gorgeous hike that the masses aren’t likely to undertake. And they certainly aren’t going to pick it up from its hidden trailhead at the bottom of the gorge. Pick up the trail and hike counterclockwise, hiking up Little Rock Castle Creek through a spectacular hardwood forest. Mellow at first, the trail has a steep climb requiring some scrambling, before entering another mature hardwood forest and, shortly, reaching the Parkway. From there, it’s about 3.5 miles along the ridge, through several open meadows, before descending back into the gorge. The last 2.5 miles is a relaxing downhill along Rock Castle Creek.

Trailhead: Primitive camping trailhead at the base of the gorge, off VA 8. From the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Rocky Knob Campground, take VA 8 headed south. After 3.6 miles, go right on Rock Castle Road, which will terminate shortly at the trailhead. Hike in about 200 feet to pick up the trail.

More info here.

Bluff, Stream, Dam Site and Discovery trails melange

Medoc Mountain State Park, Hollister

6 miles

Medoc Mountain is on the cusp of the coastal plain, but its demeanor is decidedly Piedmont. Low hills are divided by the clear Little Fishing Creek, which carves a steep bluff on the south side of the park. We’ll hike atop that bluff, through splashes of holly and mountain laurel and past the site of the first winery in the U.S. (the park gets its name from a province in the Bordeaux region of France known for its vineyards). Perhaps best of all, because of its off-the-beaten-path location it is one of the least-visited state parks in North Carolina.

Trailhead: The Visitor Center is at 1541 Medoc State Park Road, Hollister, NC. The trailhead for the described is 1.3 miles to the south, off Picnic Area Road.

More info here.

* * *

GetHiking! Guides

We have guides from our GetHiking!- and GetBackpacking!-run trips for four of the hikes described. Check ‘em out by clicking on the appropriate link:

• Butner Game Land: Butner Depot Hike
• Butner Game Land: Flat River Access
• Birkhead Mountain Wilderness Hike
• Medoc Mountain loop

The post 5 Trails for avoiding Spring crowds appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Officially, fall starts tomorrow, Sept. 21, officially at 3:21 p.m. EST. Appropriately, a rainy front is ushering in cold air about the same time that will drop temperatures about 15 degrees, into the low 70s initially. By the weekend, expect highs in the upper 70s, lows around 50.

In other words, perfect hiking weather. Perfect weather that will bring out the fair weather hikers. That is, everyone who hikes once or twice a year will be hiking this weekend.

What’s a solace-seeking hiker to do?

Avoid the trails most traveled in favor of the spots that are just as nice, but not as well known. Spots such as:

Crowders Mountain State Park: Boulders Access

Kings Mountain (near Charlotte)

Ridgeline Trail

Trail: 7+ miles

Being so close to Charlotte, it’s no surprise that Crowders Mountain is loved to death. But that lovin’ is mostly at the Sparrow Springs Access and at the Linwood Road Access. The Cinderella access at Crowders Mountain: the Boulders Access near the South Carolina line. Here, you can pick up the Ridgeline Trail and hike 5.5 miles north to The Pinnacle, or head south into South Carolina and miles of hiking at Kings Mountain State Park and Kings Mountain National Military Park. And if it’s a particularly nice weekend and the Boulders Access is crammed, N.C. State Parks offers you a backup plan.

Learn more here

Doughton Park: Long Bottom Road Access

Laurel Springs

Grassy Gap/Basin Creek trails

Trail: 4.8 miles (one way)

Talk about being loved to death! The Blue Ridge Parkway must be the Southeast’s most sought-after date come autumn and the fall color show. Fortunately, Doughton Park has 30 miles of trail, including a 4.8-mile stretch that runs from the base of the escarpment up Basin Creek to the Caudill Cabin. The Grassy Gap portion is relatively flat, making for a nice warmup; Basin Creek adds elevation, but along a rocky, tumbling creek, the beauty of which is more likely to take your breath away than the hike itself.

Learn more here.

Hanging Rock State Park: Tory’s Den Access

Danbury

Tory’s Den Trail

Trail: 2.4 miles (one way)

If you’ve never been to Hanging Rock State Park and the 1.3-mile trail to the top of its namesake knob, here’s a visual: picture an anthill and its residents in an endless line heading up and back. From the Tory’s Den Access off Tory’s Den Road, however, you may see an equestrian or two along the way, but no ants. If you’re itchin’ for a view when you reach the Moore’s Wall Loop Trail, head north on that trail for a little more than a mile to the outlook atop Moore’s Knob.

Learn more here.

Jones Lake State Park

Elizabethtown

Bay Trail

Trail: 4 miles

Keep this one tucked in your back pocket for that first fall day when the temperature isn’t likely to get out of the 50s and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. On such days, the popular state parks will have to close before they open; you, on the other hand, will be enjoying a brisk walk around Jones Lake on a trail that goes through pine savannah and dense coastal woods as it circles this rare Carolina bay. Total elevation gain? Maybe 2 feet.

Learn more here.

Medoc Mountain State Park

Hollister

Trail: 10 miles of hiking trail, another 20 miles of multi-use

Despite the fact it’s just an hour and a half drive from the Triangle, Medoc Mountain continues to fly under the local hiking radar. Why? Beats us. The 10 miles of hiking trail offer a mix of hiking along a Piedmont stream, summiting 300-foot Medoc Mountain, exploring the first vineyard in the country (or what’s left of it). Plus, if you don’t mind sharing, another 20 miles of equestrian and mountain biking trail will give you the long aerobic workout you seek on a 60-degree day. Scenery and solitude, rarely found in the same place but you’ll find it here.

Learn more here.

Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Falls Lake Day-hike Section H

Shinleaf Recreation Area, Wake Forest

3 miles (one way)

The statewide Mountains-to-Sea Trail spends 60 miles along Falls Lake north of Raleigh, with 18 access points. One of the most accessible sections of the trail is at the Shinleaf Recreation Area, where you can hike east or west. We favor hiking east, through a carpet of running cedar, beneath a mature hardwood canopy and in and out of the coves along the lake’s south shore. This is a rolling section of trail: you’ll find numerous climbs, none long or steep, that provide enough variety to keep your attention. Hike to NC 98, then return the way you came.

Learn more here.

Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Falls Lake Day-hike Section T

Red Mill Road in northern Durham County

Trail: 4.2 miles (one way)

There’s something oddly enchanting about this stretch of the MST. Heading west from Red Mill Road, the trail makes its way for a couple miles through bottomland forest, influenced by the nearby Eno River but far enough way that you don’t know it’s there. Then, the trail climbs a bluff overlooking the Eno. It’s not particularly high — maybe 70 feet above the river — but it’s just enough that in the winter, the canopy bare, you have a long view to the north (you can see the Eno below). One of the more quiet stretches of the MST through the Triangle.

Learn more here.

Pilot Mountain State Park: Pilot Creek Trail

Pinnacle (north of Winston-Salem)

Pilot Creek Access

Trail: 3.3 miles (one way)

The relatively new 3.3-mile Pilot Creek Trail wraps around the base of the Pilot Mountain’s northern flank, picking up it’s namesake creek and traversing the rocky terrain that gives Pilot Mountain it’s mountain-like appeal. The trail ends at the camping area. It’s a worthy hike on its own, but if you’re hankerin’ for the summit, you can pick up the Grindstone Trail to the top.

Learn more here.

Seven Mile Creek Natural Area

Hillsborough

Trail: about 1.5 miles

Mature forest, a little-known Piedmont creek, a vast field of ferns, an old cemetery, and natural surface trails wide enough and smooth enough to accommodate hikers of just about any ability. Orange County’s Seven Mile Creek Natural Area is one of those quiet getaways for when you want to getaway quick, but not necessarily go far. Escape comes quickly at this 360-acre preserve, where the creek, a tributary of the Eno that mimics the latter’s mountain vibe, is a 10-minute walk from the car. And located on a gravel road that’s off a gravel road that’s off a remote two-lane, it tends to be a nicely kept secret.

Learn more here.

Shallow Ford Natural Area

Elon

Trail: 5 miles in four loops

With four loop trails, you can go short or long at Shallow Ford Natural Area. Got some non-hikers in tow and need to keep it short? The 3/4-mile Basin Creek Trail gives you a nice introduction to the preserve’s bottomland forest. Tack on the 2.2-mile Hidden Hill Trail and you’ll explore meadows and upland hardwoods. Another 2.2-mile option: the Homestead Trail, which takes you along a particularly rocky and impressive stretch of the Haw River. Hike it following a good rain and you’ll develop a keen appreciation for this river that once supported a vast textile mill industry.

Learn more here.

Explore with us!

We have guides available for five additional hikes that tend to avoid the masses, even in fall. Click on the appropriate link for more information — including maps, trail descriptions, directions to the trailhead, amenities and an overview — and to purchase the guide.

• Avents Creek Access: Raven Rock State Park, Lillington. While hikers are queued up waiting to get in on the south side of Raven Rock, here’s what you can explore on the quiet north side. (See video.)
• Cane Creek Natural Area, Alamance County. Explore this new preserve on 2.5 miles of trail that takes you to the 900-foot summit.
• Fews Ford 7-Miler: Eno River State Park, Durham. You may see some folks at the start, but not after a half-mile or so, when you veer into a lesser-visited portion of this popular park.
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve, Stokesdale (north of Greensboro). Three interconnected loops explore a secluded valley.
• Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Day-hike Section P, Durham. This 2.9-mile run of the MST east from the Hickory Hill Boat Ramp at Falls Lake is flat, fast, and fun.

GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

Learn how to identify your own Trail Less Traveled on today’s GetHiking! Southeast Podcast. Give a listen here.

The post Fall Starts Wednesday! Avoid the Masses on These 10 Hikes appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Last weekend we were frozen in snow and ice, today it’s 70 and raining, it may snow again Wednesday but it definitely will be cold again. Real cold. But this weekend is looking hiking perfect. Temperatures Saturday will be around 50, in the upper 30s Sunday, all under mostly sunny skies. So no time to quibble: you need to get out.

Our Piedmont Explorer group kicks off its 2018 season Saturday with a 7-mile hike at Medoc Mountain State Park, the focus of today’s Nudge. It’s the first in a monthly series of hikes intended to showcase the best hiking in the Piedmont you may not have done. Learn about that series here, discover more hiking in our GetHiking! program here.

The post Your Friday Nudge … appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Of course, I said. “So you’re in town for the weekend?,” I asked, being the sociable — and a little nosy — hike leader. “What else are you doing?”

“No,” she replied. “We just drove down to hike. We’re driving back afterward.”

Eight hours of driving to hike at Umstead State Park? Now, I love Umstead: I hike, run or bike there two or three times a week. But it’s 10 minutes from my house. Would I put in eight hours behind the wheel for a day trip?

Why Umstead? I asked.

“It was the closest place I could find,” she replied.

For future reference, I rattled off several alternatives much closer to her home:

• Merchants Millpond State Park, 9 miles of hiking trail just 1 hour 15 minutes from Virginia Beach.
• Medoc Mountain State Park, 10 miles of trail, 2 hours 20 minutes.
• Goose Creek State Park: 8 miles, 2 hours, 30 minutes.
• Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve:  5 miles, 1 hour, 40 minutes
• Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges, both with miles of gravel roads, both within a couple hours.

She was surprised. None of those options turned up in her Google search.

I shared this story last Wednesday with members of the Northeast Commission, one of seven statewide regional economic development organizations created in the 1990s by the General Assembly (and defunded as of June 30 this year by the same). The Northeast Commission represents 16 counties in the northeast corner of the state, and one of their focus areas has been figuring out how to boost ecotourism in the region. Hence, the preponderance of shaking heads at the table.

Getting the message out about northeast North Carolina’s adventure potential has been an ongoing challenge.

The woman from Virginia Beach should have quickly learned of the hiking options in her own North Carolina backyard. She should also have learned that there was no better time to hike a coastal swamp or forest than on a day when the daytime high wouldn’t get much above 60, remaining just cool enough to keep the local pest population from activating.

And hiking isn’t even what the region is known for. Or should be known for.

It’s a paddling paradise.

Paddling intimate blackwater creeks; paddling lazy rivers, paddling mysterious swamps, paddling marshes, sounds, the ocean. Some of the best flat-water paddling in the country, and it remains a well-kept secret, much to the Northeast Commission’s dismay.

There are hundreds of miles of designated paddle trails in the northeast region. For years, access was pretty much by word-of-mouth; only the locals knew which underpass made for a good put-in, which little-known boat ramp a decent take-out. Then, in the 1990s came the North Carolina Coastal Plain Paddle Trails guide, which identified access points on more than 2,500 miles of waterways in the coastal plain. Helpful, but it doesn’t offer a sense of what each section is like. You get more of that in Paul Ferguson’s “Paddle Trails of Eastern North Carolina.” But as I told the NEC, in order to lure folks you need to give them a good sense of what they’re driving from, say, Philadelphia — or even Raleigh — for.

There are some sparks of that.

• Roanoke River. It doesn’t take but 30 seconds on the Roanoke River Partners website before you’re ready to reserve one (or several) of the 16 camping platforms on the river. For each platform there are photos, details about the campsite and an enticing description. You can reserve a site immediate, online.
• Pamlico County Paddle Trails. This site includes the necessary details and esthetic insights helpful in planning a trip. Waterways coverd are the Bay River, Goose Creek, Bay River to Oriental, Oriental, Oriental to Upper Broad Creek.
• Albemarle Regional Paddle Trails. This site acts as a clearinghouse for more localized maps in the Albemarle region.

That’s a start to help you plan a paddle trip to the northeast part of the state.

Another way to learn the area? Attend an event, where you’ll be guided and have the opportunity to rub shoulders with local paddlers, who may, if you seem like a decent sort, share a local favorite trip or two.

Two upcoming events we know of:

• Roanoke River Paddle Days, Sunday, April 6, 7:30 a.m. Coffee and “breakfast snacks” start the day, followed by a 12-mile paddle from Jamesville to Plymouth. There’s a rest stop at the Bear Run Camping Platform (so you can check and see what that’s about), followed by lunch back in Jamesville, at the Cypress Grill. Cost is $35, with proceeds benefitting the Roanoke River Partners. A great introduction to the Roanoke.
• Paddle for the Border, Saturday, May 3, 8 a.m., Dismal Swamp Canal. You know those promotions where someone dumps about 400 little rubber ducks into a river for comic effect? That’s the image that comes to mind with Paddle for the Border, an annual occurrence where 375 canoes and kayaks paddle the 7.5 miles from North Carolina’s Dismal Swamp State Park in South Mills north to Chesapeake, Va. $40 fee includes shuttle, breakfast and lunch. Adding to the paddle’s allure is the Great Dismal’s colorful past. If you sign up, plan to read Bland Simpson’s “The Great Dismal: A Carolinian’s Swamp Memoir”beforehand.

This is the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a start. We’ll work to explore beneath the northeast’s surface in the months ahead.

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