Moore's Wall Archives - GetGoing NC!

This weekend: All paths lead to good times

JoeMiller — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 16:32:10 +0000

Leave the driving to a park ranger on a boat trip up the Scuppernong River, hike Hanging Rock with GetHiking! Triangle, or hike into history in the Swannanoa Valley.

Not the boat you'll be touring the Scuppernong, but a boat with keen significance to the area.

Coast

Pettigrew State Park offers frequent tours of the Scuppernong River. Usually, those tours are by canoe, a great way to experience the Scuppernong but not everyone’s cup of tea-colored water. Saturday, the park lets you leave the paddling to others on its afternoon Scuppernong River Tour. One advantage: without having to deal with navigation you can focus on the waterway’s abundant wildlife and natural beauty.

Logistics: Saturday, Nov. 23, 1:30 p.m. Free, but space is limited and preregistration is required, by calling 252.797.4475.

Saturday forecast: High of 54, 40 percent chance of rain.

Curious about the boat pictured? Learn more here.

Piedmont

Our GetHiking Triangle! hikers wind up their fall season with a 10-mile hike at Hanging Rock State Park north of the Triad. We’ll start with the 4.3-mile Moore’s Wall Loop Trail, pausing for the great views atop Moore’s Wall. Upon returning to the trailhead at the park’s Visitor Center, we’ll head out for Hanging Rock and Wolf Rock, about a 5-mile loop before returning to the Visitor Center. Finally, we’ll do a short hike to Upper Cascades Falls.

All hiking abilities welcome; our hikes are led from the rear, making it impossible to get dropped

Logistics: Saturday, Nov. 23, 9 a.m., Visitor Center at Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 54, 30 percent chance of rain.

Mountains

Among its programs, the Swannanoa Valley Museum in Black Mountain sponsors various hikes throughout the year. No surprise, the hikes focus on the region’s rich cultural and natural history; as such, they often take advantage of long-established paths that were once the I-40s of their day. Saturday’s Swannanoa Creek and Tunnel Hike is just such a hike, following a route that intially served as a key Native American trade route, later as a route used by Gen. Griffith Rutherford in the Revolutionary War, and after that served as a popular stagecoach route.

Saturday’s hike is four miles and described as “mostly downhill, very rough and rocky in places.”

Logistics: Saturday, Nov. 23, 9:30 a.m. Hike departs from the Swannanoa Valley Museum, 223 W. State St., Black Mountain. Free, but pre-registration is required: info@swannanoavalleymuseum.org or 828.669.9566.

Saturday forecast: High of 54, 60 percent chance of rain.

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

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Great Outdoor Provision Co.
Calendar includes three weekly events for each of its seven markets: Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Search by market.

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

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The post This weekend: All paths lead to good times appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

25 North Carolina hikes tailor-made to beat the heat

JoeMiller — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:05:00 +0000

Hiking up Basin Creek at Doughton Park.

Come summer, with its 90/90 days (heat/humidity) the last thing on most of our minds is a long hike in the woods. Oceans of sweat, acres of trail-clogging cobwebs, no hydration pack big enough to sate your insatiable thirst. Very understandable, this hike aversion — if you don’t know where to go. For if you do, there are plenty of trails — from North Carolina’s steamy coast, to the stuffy Piedmont to the sun-drenched high country — ideal for summer exploring.

At the coast, you’re wise to incorporate a really large body of saline water in your hike plan. Water is likewise a key ingredient in the Piedmont, though the occasional alpine anomaly also offers relief. In the Appalachians, refreshing waterfalls and elevation combine to offer escape.

We’ve compiled a list of 25 hikes that are especially well-suited to a North Carolina summer, five at the coast, 10 each in the Piedmont and the high country. You can find additional information on each at the links provided and in the references mentioned, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” and “Backpacking North Carolina.”

Let your summer hiking adventure begin here.

The post 25 North Carolina hikes tailor-made to beat the heat appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Beat the rush to Hanging Rock

JoeMiller — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:04:57 +0000

I realized a few weeks back when I went to find a picture of Hanging Rock State Park in my computer archive that it had been a while since I’d paid a visit. The reason: I didn’t have a Hanging Rock file, let alone a single photo of the photogenic state park north of the Triad. Because I always take my camera when I hit the trail, that meant I hadn’t been to Hanging Rock since my dark PC days — at least five years ago. (Re: “the dark PC days” — The first/last PC I’ve had ate my photo library not long after my “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” came out in 2007. Shame on me, yes, for not backing up. But shame on the PC for having such a convoluted and vulnerable system. Rant over; moving on … .)

Saturday, my Ultimate Hike group went to Hanging Rock for a long trail hike in preparation for our 28.3-mile hike of the Foothills Trail on Oct. 1 (more about that here). The first thing that went into my pack (OK, the second thing, after the Snickers energy bars): my camera.

It was a day you dream about hiking, especially at the likes of Hanging Rock.

Hanging Rock is the rooftop of the Piedmont. The easternmost of three mini-massifs in the ancient Sauratown Mountain range, the nearly 7,000-acre park tops out at just a little over 2,500 feet. Compared to its neighbors the southern Appalachians to the west, which top out at nearly 6,700 feet, that may not seem like much. But considering the surrounding countryside is about 800 feet above sea level, that’s some significant elevation change (roughly 1,700 feet for the math challenged).

It’s a difference that makes for a great training hike and, on a crisp fall day, remarkable views. Though we were on a training hike Saturday and eager to add up some miles, when we reached the top of Moore’s Wall, there was no question that we would take a moment to savor our summit. Packs came off, trail snacks and water bottles came out. We spread out across the rocky, open summit and savored views in all directions: of the Piedmont rolling off to the east, of Winston-Salem to the south, of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia to the north, of sister peaks Sauratown Mountain and Pilot Mountain to the west. Hanging Rock affords not only the best 360-degree view in the Piedmont, but one of the best in the state.

Not only can you see just about every ecological zone in the state from Hanging Rock, you can hike through many of them as well. The lower reaches of the 5.5-mile Sauratown Loop Trail took us through trademark Piedmont hardwood forest, the upper reaches of Hanging Rock and Moore’s Wall trails takes you through thickets of alpine rhododendron and mountain laurel, and when the temperature gets into the mid-70s, the pungent scent of galax is ever-present. The Indian Creek Trail has the best waterfall hiking east of the Blue Ridge escarpment.

Here’s the secret to Hanging Rock: In another month, the park will be over-run with leaf watchers. On a clear day such as Saturday, you can not only appreciate the color change at Hanging Rock, you can appreciate it from the Blue Ridge deep into the Piedmont — and many people do. During leaf season, the 1.3-mile trail from the Visitors Center up to Hanging Rock is a conga line of one-a-year hikers.

Avoid the rush and go now. The accompanying slide show should provide the inspiration, this link to Hanging Rock’s Web site should provide the direction.

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