Coast

Got a kid or kids you’ve been trying to entice onto the trail, only to encounter interference — typically of the electronic kind?

• Saturday is National Kids to Parks Day, and as part of the celebration Fort Fisher State Recreation Area is conducting a nature hike on the Basin Trail. This hike is especially good for kids because:
• It involves the beach and the promise of a dip at hike’s end.
• It’s not long, about 1.5 miles total.
• It’s a cool area: you can see forever and the intriguing nature along the way will be explained by a park ranger.
• It encounters a concrete bunker from World War II. And not just any bunker, but a bunker that was inhabited for years by Robert Harrill, the “Fort Fisher Hermit,” who abandoned society in search of a simpler life.
• There’s the prospect of seeing critters.
  Let’s see Donkey Kong compete with that.

Logistics: Saturday, May 16, 10 a.m., Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Kure Beach. Free. For more information, contact Alyssa Taylor at 910.458.5798 or alyssa.taylor@ncparks.gov.

Saturday forecast: Mostly sunny, high of 75.

Looking ahead: Friday, May 22, 8:30 a.m., Kayaking at Hammocks Beach State Park, Free. 910.326.4881

Piedmont

It’s Mountains-to-Sea Trail Month; this weekend, Eno River State Park will celebrate the fact that several miles of the MST runs through it with three hikes, two on Saturday, one on Sunday, all on particularly effective wilderness escapes through an urban area.

Saturday at 8:30 a.m., a ranger will lead a hike from the park’s Pleasant Green Access to the Eno Quarry. Highlights: a mature floodplain forest, passage through a mountain laurel thicket on a bluff overlooking the Eno, the Eno Quarry, more mountain lake than abandoned rock mine. Out-and-back distance: 3 miles. Then, at 1 p.m., they’ll hike from the Cabelands Access downstream to the Pump Station Access. Highlights: more elevation in the form of climbs and drops, often through rocky sections. Total distance: 5 miles.

Sunday at 1 p.m., they’ll hike the stretch from Pump Station downstream to the Guess Road boundary of the park. Highlights: more rocky passages, more mature floodplain forest, the old Guess Road dam and long-abandoned Durham water works. Total distance: 4.4 miles.

Logistics: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m., Eno River State Park. Free. For information on where to meet and other details, call the park at 919.383.1686.

Weekend forecast: Mostly sunny Saturday with a high of 83, mostly cloudy Sunday with a high of 86 and a chance of Thunderstorms.

Looking ahead: Intrigued by the geology of where you hike but clueless about what it is you’re looking at? Again, along the Eno, on Saturday, May 23, there’s a Geology Hike at Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough at 2 p.m., a Geology Hike at Cox Mountain in Eno River State Park at 9 a.m. More info: 919.383.1686

Mountains

Looking down at Lake James a couple weekends ago from Shortoff Mountain, we couldn’t help but think about all the great things to do below: swim, bike, run … .

Saturday, they’ll be doing all of the above, in that order, quickly, at the Lake James Triathlon. A 750-meter swim in the cool, Linville River-fed waters of Lake James; a 22-mile bike ride around the lake; a 5K trail run — what a great way to spend the day. Tend to sink in the water? There’s a duathlon as well.

Logistics: Saturday, May 16, day-of-race registration from 6-7:30 p.m., both races commence at 8 a.m. Lake James State Park, Nebo. $65 for triathlon, $55 for duathlon. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 84, chance of thunderstorm (but likely in the afternoon).

Looking ahead: Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24, is the 15th Annual Mountain Sports Festival in Asheville. Trail races, mountain bike races, standup paddleboarding, kayaking — pretty much everything you might expect at a mountain sports festival in Asheville. Read more here.

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

The post This weekend: Park your kid, hike the MST, Tri Lake James appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: A Month of the MST

May is Mountains-to-Sea Trail Month. We plan to celebrate North Carolina’s statewide trail with a series of hikes along its 1,000-mile width. First up: a 10.6-mile hike along a stretch of the MST along Falls Lake north of Raleigh. (Find details of that hike and sign up, here.)

To get you in the mood for hiking the MST this spring, we take you back to spring 2014 for a hike on the MST, also along Falls Lake.

Enjoy, and we’ll see you on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail this month.

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This weekend offers a reprieve from the recent run of summerlike weather. With highs no higher than 75 forecast statewide, the weather should be good for just about any pursuit, from birding at the coast, to hiking in the Piedmont to ride in the mountains.

Coast

We find the outdoor experience is enhanced when we know a little more about the outdoors we’re exploring. When we’re exploring the coast, which is especially rich in flora and fauna, that can be a real challenge.

That’s why we’re recommending Sunday’s Birding on the White Oak River. Actually, becoming more creek-smart is just one reason we suggest this event. Also: 1) it’s on the White Oak River and Bogue Sound, which goes from intimate to expansive in a short distance, enhancing its intrigue; 2) it benefits a worthy organization, the N.C. Coastal Federation, which does a great job protecting our coastal resources; and, 3) it’s led by local birding expert Joanne Powell. The trip is on a covered ferry.

Logistics: Sunday, May 18, 10 a.m., Swansboro. $20. More info at 252.393.8185 or here.

Sunday forecast: High of 74, mostly sunny skies.

Piedmont

The Piedmont hiking season will soon draw to a close: somehow, warm, muggy summer weather fails to inspire a soul to hike a cobweb-crossed trail.

But this weekend, the weatherpeople have given us a reprieve: a cold front arriving shortly will drop weekend temperatures into the mid-70s under sunny skies — perfect weather, in our opinion, for a hike. A long hike. Which is what GetHiking! Triangle has planned for Sunday: as part of its ongoing celebration of Mountains-to-Sea Trail Month, the group will hike a 15-mile stretch of the MST along Falls Lake, from NC 50 west to Santee Road. (Shorter options of 7 and 11 miles are available).

Added attraction: Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Executive Director Kate Dixon joins the group to answer any question you may have about the MST and its march to become an 1,150-mile statewide trail, linking Clingman’s Dome on the Tennessee line with Jockey’s Ridge at the coast.

Logistics: Sunday, May 18, 7 a.m., Santee Road Access. For more information and to register, visit GetHiking! Triangle.

Sunday forecast: High of 75, mostly sunny skies.

Mountains

Mountain rides can be intimidating, in part because most are centuries that offer, as an “easy” option, a metric century. Sixty-two miles in the take-no-prisoners Appalachians may be easier than 100, but still a heck of a challenge, especially for those of us residing in the more casually undulating terrain of the Piedmont and coastal plain.

That’s one reason we recommend Saturday’s Joyride out of Carrier Park in Asheville. Yes, it’s got a monster 77-mile route and a slightly less monstrous 50-mile version. But for those of us yet to get our climbing legs under us, it also has a civil 25-mile option. (There’s also a much shorter Fun Ride for kids.)

The other reason we recommend it is the cause it supports. For that, we refer you to Karen Chavez, outdoors editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times, who covered the ride in yesterday’s paper. Read Karen’s story here.

Logistics: Saturday, May 17,  1 p.m., Carrier Park, Asheville. $5.15 for the Fun Ride, $51.50 for the longer rides (Karen’s story explains the curious pricing structure). More info: rdudasik@ymcawnc.org, 828.210.9607 or 828.210.9622, or go here.

Saturday forecast: High of 61, 40 percent chance of rain.

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

Like us on Facebook and get health, fitness and outdoors news throughout the day.

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The post This weekend: Great weather, great times appeared first on GetGoing NC!.