So with our predilection for post-sunset saunters, we were pleased to see that as part of Merchants Millpond State Park’s Holiday Decorations program with Gates County Community Events, the park will also be closing later, at 8 p.m. as opposed to 6 p.m., both this Friday and Saturday and next (Dec. 10, 11, 17 and 18). That means you can come and check out the holiday decorations, then enjoy about three hours of nocturnal navigation. 

Merchants Millpond (pictured above) is an especially intriguing spot for a night hike. It’s setting in the swampy northeast corner of the state (it’s a neighbor to the Great Dismal Swamp) gives it a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” feel — at night. Spanish moss drips from bald cypress and tupelo gum, casting eerie shadows on a breezy night. A chorus of frogs in the surrounding wetlands provides a surreal soundtrack. And there’s the park’s “Enchanted Forest.” Again, all this in the dark.

Learn more about how to take advantage of Merchants Millpond after dark and enjoy the park’s holiday decorations by going here.

* * *

Two loves of mine from childhood: 1. Being outside, 2. Reading. That may explain why an event Sunday at 12:15 p.m. at Lake James State Park captures our fancy. The event: Story Walk: ‘The Hike.’ Targeted to preschool and kindergartners, the event focuses on the book, “The Hike,” by Alison Farrell. According to Goodreads.com: “This book tells the story of three girls’ friendship—and their tribulations and triumphs in the great outdoors. Here is the best and worst of any hike: from picnics to puffing and panting, deer-sighting to detours.” In short, it sounds like just the thing to spark an impressionable youngster’s love of the outdoors.

Learn more about “The Hike,” the book, here, the “The Hike”, the hike, here.

* * *

Here’s another thing we love: winter. Specifically, exploring the outdoors come winter. This isn’t the place to wax about our love of the season (but this is). Suffice it to say it’s a misunderstood season, one that could, like so many things, be better appreciated with a little knowledge. Knowledge like the kind you’ll get Sunday at 2 p.m. at Lake Crabtree County Park in Morrisville, when a naturalist talks about the winter woods. 

On the Winter Tree Walk you’ll “learn about some evergreen plants that are still brightening up the landscape and try to identify some trees that have lost their leaves for the winter.” 

Free, but preregistration is required, by going here.

* * *

As I mentioned at the top, I love a night adventure. Rarely, though, do we see a night adventure that extends from one day into the next. But if you want to catch the peak of a meteor shower, that’s the price you must pay. And that’s the only price for the Geminid’s Meteor Shower program Monday and Tuesday at West Point on the Eno city park in Durham.

Starting at 10 p.m. Monday and lasting until 2 a.m. Tuesday, you can hang out at West Point’s Eno Environmental Educational Pavilion and watch up to 120 meteors per hour streak across the sky. Again, the event is free but space is limited and preregistration is required, by going here.

Weekend Weather: It gets toasty (and perhaps a little wet) Saturday, with temperatures rising into the low 70s; a late-day cold front Saturday brings temperatures back into the seasonal range Sunday, with highs in the low 50s. Get a more specific forecast for where you are here.

Explore with us!

We have all sorts of GetHiking! hikes and trips planned for winter, including our just-begun Holiday Hiker series, with hikes Sunday afternoon, Tuesday evening, Friday morning and on the Wednesdays preceding Christmas and New Years. Check out the action here.

The post GetOut! A millpond by night, ‘The Hike,’ meteors and more appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Many trails — but not all.

Finding the trails less traveled was the focus of our first Lunch with GetHiking! gathering at noon today. If you missed it, you can catch it in reruns here.

While we won’t spoil the entire half-hour session, we will share one aspect: a quick look at some of the State Parks that tend to attract less attention. We highlight four of those parks with guided hikes being held this weekend. Do the hike, then do a little additional exploring on your own — we’ll share a quick thought on what else to explore.

Cedar Loop Hike/World Cleanup Day, Saturday, 10 a.m., Jones Lake State Park, Elizabethtown. A park ranger leads a hike on the mile-long Cedar Loop Trail; the ranger tells you about the bay forest and sand ridge communities you’re passing through, while you pick up any trash along the way as part of World Cleanup Day. Learn more and sign up here. 

Make it a day: Hike the 4-mile Bay Trail that circles the park’s namesake Carolina bay (which you’ll likely learn about on the ranger-led hike).

Coleman Trail Hike, Saturday, 2:30 p.m., Merchants Millpond State Park, Gatesville. A 2-mile, ranger-led hike through a coastal forest that includes encounters with the park’s 760-acre millpond, which is home to bald cypress and tupelo. A good opportunity to learn about forests at the coast. Learn more and sign up here.

Make it a day: On the north side of the millpond hike the recently expanded Lassiter Trail, a fast 6 miles that takes you deeper into the woods.

3 Mile History Hike, Sunday, 5 p.m., Carvers Creek State Park, Spring Lake. This hike has a little of everything, from the nature of a pine savannah to a millpond (pictured above), to remnants of the James Stillman Rockefeller farm that remains largely in tact. Bring water, bring a camera. Learn more and sign up here.

Make it a day: Make the short drive to the park’s Sandhills section for 10 miles of hiking through pine savannah. 

Harvest Moon Night Hike, Sunday, 7 p.m., Hammocks Beach State Park. Under the pert-near-full Harvest Moon hike the half-mile Live Oak Trail, as the natural world’s day shift gives way to the evening crew. Learn more and sign up here.

Make it a day: Arrive early and hike the other three trails at the Visitor Center (totaling 2 miles).

Good options that make for a great weekend.

GetOut! And enjoy!

The post GetOut! Explore our lesser-known State Parks appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

North Carolina

1. Jones Lake State Park

Bay Trail, 4 miles

Easy

Elizabethtown

Hiking clockwise from the Visitor Center: On a particularly cold but sunny day you’ll love the first part of this loop around the lake as it passes through an exposed pine savannah, where lots of warming sunlight bounces off the forest’s sandy floor. By the time the trail reaches the midpoint and loops back, you’ll be warm enough not to mind that the sun has been blocked by a dense sea of bay trees and pond cypress.

More info here.

2. Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve

Blueberry Ridge Trail, 3.75 miles

Moderate

Nags Head

This 420-acre preserve was spared in 1992 by The Nature Conservancy and the Town of Nags Head, thus saving one of the largest remaining maritime forests along the East Coast. A favorite way to explore the preserve and get a sense of its more than 550 plant species (including oaks more than 500 years old) and 50 known species of butterflies, is on the 3.75-mile Blueberry Ridge Trail.

More info here.

3. Carolina Beach State Park

Sugarloaf Trail, 3 miles

Easy

Carolina Beach

How much eco-diversity can a person take on one 3-mile hike? Carolina Beach puts that question to the test, starting you off from the marina trailhead with a hike along the tidal marsh banks of the Cape Fear River, then through a coastal evergreen forest, a coastal fringe sandhills forest, a longleaf pine savannah and to the top of 60-foot-high Sugarloaf Dune, which is forested now but once proved an excellent spy tower for spotting Union ships sneaking into Wilmington.

More info here.

4. Fort Fisher State Recreation Area

Basin Trail (a k a Hermit Trail), 2.2 miles

Easy

Kure Beach

It’s 2.2 miles roundtrip and it features an abandoned WW II bunker. Of course it’s abandoned, you say — the war ended more than 70 years ago. In fact, it’s only been abandoned since the early 1970s; before that, it was occupied for several years by the Fort Fisher Hermit, a recluse who took up residence in the bunker for more than a decade. And that’s just one reason to hike this trail. The other is at trail’s end: a sweeping view of where the Cape Fear River blends into the Atlantic Ocean amid the Zeke’s Island reserve.

More info here.

5. Merchants Millpond State Park

Lassiter Trail, 6 miles

Moderate

Gatesville

Six miles, you fret, that might be a little long. Or it might not, for two reasons. One, this meandering trail navigates a swamp (the wetter sections are elevated by boardwalk), and nothing makes a hike zip by like the prospect of running into the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Truly, there’s something enchanting and weird about hiking along ponds carpeted in duckweed and harboring bald cypress and tupelo gum dripping with Spanish moss, and through a bevy of other aquatic plants Seussian in nature. So much to see, even in winter.

More info here.

Virginia

1. First Landing State Park

Cape Henry Trail, 6.1 miles

Moderate

Virginia Beach

Hard to believe a popular trail in a popular state park can offer seclusion, but this one does, as it encompasses stretches of dense forest, marsh and swamp. And, because the trail is wide and generally smooth, you can pay attention to these great features along the way rather than having to watch where you step. Good for either a peppy aerobic jaunt or an easy saunter to take in nature.

More info here.

2. York River State Park

Taskinas Trail, 2 miles

Easy

Williamsburg

You might think that an estuary where salt and fresh water combine to create a habitat rich in marine and plant life would be a paddler’s paradise, and it is. But with 30 miles of trail, it’s also a great place to explore on foot, to learn about the rich natural and cultural history (the park houses fossil beds and Colonial and Native American artifacts) and to experience the quiet of a coastal winter. The Taskinas Trail offers a good introduction.

More info here.

3. Great Dismal Swamp

Various canal trails

Easy

Suffolk

The fan of short hikes will like this trail for the same reason the long hiker likes it: how far you go is up to you. Hike 30 minutes out from the refuge office, or from Jericho Lane, or Big Entry Ditch, then turn and hike back. This is hiking for the mind: long passages of quiet, flat trail with minimal distraction.

More info here.

Check out our GetHiking! and GetExploring! hikes at the coast:

• GetHiking! Virginia Beach: Northwest River Park, 5.5 miles on the Indian Creek Trail, Otter Point Trail and the Molly Mitchell Trail., Southeastern Chesapeake. Sunday, Feb. 4, 10 a.m. More info and sign up here.
• GetExploring Greenville: Trailblaze Challenge Training Hike at A Time for Science, 6 miles, Grifton. Saturday, Feb. 10, 10 a.m. Open to all hikers. More info and sign up here.
• For more coastal hikes in North Carolina, consult “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” (2007, Mountaineers), here.

Happy trails,

Joe

The post As winter plugs along, hike the coast appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Coast

So many mysteries contained in Merchants Millpond, the nearly 200-year-old, 760-acre water assemblage that spreads throughout the State Park bearing its name. Is it a pond or a swamp (sure seems like the latter)? What are those weird, prehistoric fish you occasionally see near the surface? Are there alligators?

These questions and more answered Saturday afternoon on a 2-hour guided canoe trip on the pond. Canoe, paddle, pfd and guide provided free; you bring the sunscreen and questions.

Logistics: Canoe the Pond, Saturday, June 17, 1 p.m., Merchants Millpond State Park, Gatesville. More info and sign up — it’s free, but there are a limited number of canoes — by going here.

Saturday forecast: High of 85, chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

* * *

Looking ahead: Black Bears of Pettigrew State Park, Saturday, July 1, Pettigrew State Park, Columbia. More info here.

Piedmont

Wondering what to get Dad for his big day, Father’s Day, which is Sunday? You know what he’d love, don’t you?

A big ‘ol hike!

For instance, the Father’s Day Jomeokee Hike at Pilot Mountain State Park. It’s the perfect hike for darn near any dad: it’s a mellow distance — just under a mile — and he’ll learn all sorts of facts that he can pepper his conversations with for years to come. Facts like where the trail got its name, how the Pilot Mountain pinnacle got its distinctive shape, why birds of prey are always circling overhead.

Logistics: Father’s Day Jomeokee Hike at Pilot Mountain State Park, Sunday, June 18, 10 a.m., Pilot Mountain State Park. More info here.

Sunday forecast: High of 85, chance of a thunderstorm.

* * *

Looking ahead: Basic Orienteering, Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, Saturday, July 16, Southern Pines. More info here.

Mountains

You do the Sunday morning Father’s Day hike at Pilot Mountain and Dad emerges really jazzed about the outdoors. His sense of adventure kindled, suggest that you drive the hour and a half to New River State Park for the 2 p.m. paddle trip on the New River. You needn’t have paddling experience; you’ll get basic canoe instruction at the start. Then, enjoy a couple hours on this mellow mountain river.

Logistics: Guided Canoe Trip, Sunday, June 18, 2 p.m., New River State Park/US 221 Access. Free, but boats are limited; call 336.982.2587 to reserve a spot.

Sunday forecast: High of 77, chance of a thunderstorm.

* * *

Looking ahead: Night Hike, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, Friday, July 7, West Jefferson. More info here.

* * *

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

Coast

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The post This weekend: Fun with Dad  appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Detach your kids from their electronics and get them to live in the present (at least for 45 minutes) at Merchants Millpond; expose them to true culture shock with a look at how kids used to play in Saura times; or, head to the mountains and catch skateboarders on the fast track.

Coast: Coleman Trail Hike

The weather is expected to be great this weekend; why not take advantage and head to the coast! Merchants Millpond State Park is hosting a Kids In Parks Track Trail hike. Come participate in some simple animal exercises, and investigate the plethora of nature to be found along this 2-mile trail. Meet at the Boat Ramp area at the Coleman Trailhead on Sunday.

Sunday forecast: High of 75, low of 49, sunny.

Vital Stats: Kids In Parks Track Trail hike, Merchants Millpond State Park, Gatesville, Sunday, 1 p.m., meet at the Boat Ramp area of Coleman Trail head. Contact: 252.357.1191 or merchants.millpond@ncparks.gov. For more information, go here.

Looking ahead: Six-mile Nature Hike at Pettigrew State Park, Columbia, Sunday, May 15, 1 p.m. More info here.

Piedmont: Outdoor play in olden times

Ever wonder how people played before hover boards and drones? Or marbles and jacks?

Saturday and Sunday, come see how the Saura Indians played hundreds of years ago at the Saura Indian Games at Hanging Rock State Park. A park ranger will demonstrate how the Sauras kicked back after a long day of hunting and gathering.

Weekend forecast: Daytime highs in the upper 70s under mostly sunny skies both days.

Vital Stats: Saura Indian Games, Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 p.m. both days. More info here.

Looking ahead: C.A.S.T. Catch A Sure Thing at Lake Jordan, geared towards youth who have minimal experience with fishing. April 30, 9:30am-11am. More info here.

Mountains: North Carolina Downhill Skateboard Race

Downhill skateboard? Racing?

Yep. Mount Jefferson State Natural Area hosts its second annual NC Downhill Race on Saturday and Sunday. Nearly 100 participants are expected to race, catapulting down the steep park road — Mount Jefferson rises 1,600 feet above the surrounding countryside — on skateboards and longboards reaching speeds in excess of 50 mph. Take a look at this year’s promotional video. Food and vendors, too. Meet at the old Lowes Food at the base of the mountain to catch a shuttle up to the spectator area.

Weekend forecast: Saturday: high of 66, low of 43; Sunday: high of 74, low of 51.

Vital Stats: NC Downhill Race, Saturday and Sunday,, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area, West Jefferson. Call 336.246.9653 for more info. To register to participate, if that’s your thing, and to find more information, go here.

Looking ahead: Wildflower walks at Grandfather Mountain State Park. Saturday May 7, 1:00pm. More info here.

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