Saturday, will be cool (50s) and rainy in the Piedmont. If you’ve got stuff you need to get done (yardwork excluded), this would be the day to get it done because —

Sunday will be dry, sunny and cool (50s) in the Piedmont. Sunday could also be your last chance to catch good fall color in the region. Wondering where to go?

* NCHikes November hike recommendations. NCHikes.com, our sister site, has just posted its six recommendations for hikes especially suited to November. Why November? You’ll have to go here to see. www.nchikes.com
* BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Health & Wellness Blog recommendations, Piedmont. Earlier this month we recommended five hikes in the Piedmont with great color and minimal crowds. Check ‘em out here.
* BlueCrossBlueShield of North Carolina recommendations, Coast. On Wednesday, we recommended five hikes at the Coast that should be starting to pop. Check those out here.
* GetGoingNC. Earlier this week, we posted five short urban walks/hikes where you’ll find good color. Revisit that post here.
* Great Outdoor Provision Co. Online Hiking Guide. If a hike close to home is a priority there’s a good chance you’ll find one on the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Online Hiking Guide, which we collaborated on. Find that guide, with 55 hikes near the state’s major metro areas, here.

One last reminder that winter weather is hitting the high country starting tonight. That means:

* Drop the ropes! One or two ski areas could open. With as much as 10 inches of snow forecast for higher elevations, and snowmaking-friendly cold temperatures, we might see two north North Carolina ski areas in operation (at least briefly). SkiSoutheast.com will keep you updated on the situation, as will the two areas most likely to open, Cataloochee and Sugar Mountain.
* Travel may be affected. Snow will close the Blue Ridge Parkway, check its status here. Check road conditions on North Carolina roads and highways here.
* North Carolina State Parks at higher elevations may be affected. Check NCparks.gov before heading out.

Have a swell weekend!

The post Last call for fall, weekend winter advisory appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Some rue the passing of summer, some despair over the approach of winter.

Others — hikers — revel in the fact it’s October.

With cooling temperatures, generally sunny skies, dry air and the natural world in transition, it’s hard to imagine a better time to be on the trail. Early in the month, the change begins on mountain peaks above 5,000 feet. As the days progress, the palette of autumn slowly descends — 4,000, 3,000, 2,000 feet. Finally, it reaches the Piedmont. And by the beginning of November it’s at the coast.

It’s certainly the time to hike. But where? Here are three places to start:

• NCHikes.com: Our sister site has just posted its hike recommendations for October, five trails where you’ll especially appreciate autumn’s attributes.Check ’em out here.
• BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina Health and Wellness Blog. Can we really limit ourselves to five trails for this, the best month to hike in North Carolina? No. That’s why you’ll find five more of our recommendations here.
• Great Outdoor Provision Co. Trips & Tips online guide. We can’t limit ourselves to just 10 recommendations, either. Go to the Great Outdoor Provision Co. online guide and you’ll find more than 50 additional recommendations we’ve made with our buddy Trusty. Check those out here.

October, take advantage. It won’t last forever.

The post October: made for hiking appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Once a week, and sometimes twice, I lead a hike through GetHiking! Triangle. I enjoy every hike, often for different reasons. Sometimes it’s for the views, sometimes for a particularly scenic stretch, sometimes for a seasonal treat, such as wildflowers. Always, I look forward to hiking with friends, including ones I’ve yet to meet.
I’m a little more excited than usual, though, about this Saturday’s hike in the Wilson Creek area at the base of the Blue Ridge escarpment below Grandfather Mountain. It’s a deceptive area: it doesn’t have elevation in mountain numbers; rather, what it does have, it has in concentration. Steep climbs, steep descents, lots of rock, lots of water. It’s exhilarating, occasionally exasperating (the trails aren’t always well marked or easy to follow). The topography is extreme.
As I was planning this trip — about eight miles on the North Harper Creek and Harper Creek trails — I came across a trip report from 2011 on our sister site, nchikes.com. It comes from husband-and-wife explorers Juli and Keith Spring, who hiked a nearby section of Wilson Creek as part of the “Backpacking North Carolina Challenge.” The report is short, but gives a good feel for the Wilson Creek experience. It starts below, and makes for a nice, quick escape on a Tuesday.
Enjoy!

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Congratulations to Keith and Juli Gibson Spring, the first hikers to take on the Backpacking North Carolina Challenge. Keith and Juli did Trip No. 8 in “Backpacking North Carolina,” the Hunt Fish Falls Loop in the Wilson Creek Area, a hike that Juli, the more avid backpacker of the Durham couple, had been hesitant to take because of reports that the trail was hard to follow, a common lament of the Wilson Creek area.

Juli usually backpacks with some girlfriends (they’ve been doing a couple of trips a year for the past 10 to 15 years; their email list now totals about 25), but convinced Keith to tag along on a recent scouting trip of the area. Here’s how their trip went.

“Our plan was to hike in to the first camping area downstream, about 1.5 miles in. Then we would hike one loop with the remainder of the day on Saturday and the other loop on Sunday.”

Before they reached the trailhead, an ominous feeling befell Juli.

“You know that nagging feeling you get when you know you forgot something important? Like, hiking boots?” Read more here.

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Through March in the Piedmont we’d seen only scant evidence of spring: first-responder wildflowers including trout lilies (which can appear as early as late February), bluets and a sorrel or two. Spring was kept in the deep freeze in March, was good news if you were otherwise occupied during the month and couldn’t get out.

Finally, though, come April the situation is changing. Sunny skies, warm weather and spring are finally here, and you can see evidence of it through the state. Assuming that you, like us, have been desperate for signs of the season, our sister site, NCHikes.com compiled its April list of recommended hikes with spring viewing potential in mind. Five hikes in all, one at the coast, two each in the Piedmont and mountains.

Here’s a quick preview. For more information, visit NCHikes.com.

Coast

Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve, an 1,100-acre maritime forest oasis on the Outer Banks houses an array of coastal flora and fauna (including some of the biggest cottonmouths around).

Piedmont

Raven Rock State Park, where the only thing that may outnumber the wildflowers are the migratory birds.

Morrow Mountain State Park, home to both wildflowers and some of the biggest hills in the Piedmont.

Mountains

Linville Gorge, a wilderness and one of the wildest spots on the East Coast.

Three Top Mountain, a rare bit of forest open to the public in the state’s northern mountains, made even more rare by an abundance of trees more common to a northern hardwood forest.

Again, visit NCHikes.com for details.

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Rafting, for instance, which I would be doing if I were in Charlotte, where the mercury is supposed to hit 97 Sunday. Sounds like a good reason to visit the National Whitewater Center. Other thoughts (in addition to yesterday’s suggestions):

Dry weather bodes well for dry trails and mountain biking. Looking for a place to ride? Look here.

Hot weather is always conducive to paddling. If you’re not crazy about going far from home, check out the Great Outdoor Provision Co. list of places to paddle near seven North Carolina cities, here.

Don’t mind sweating on the trail? Our sister site, NCHikes.com, just posted its recommended hikes for August; check it out here. nchikes.com If you’re looking for a place close to home, we again refer you to the Great Outdoor Provision Co. site and a rundown of hikes we’ve compiled for them.

Too hot for you? Then check out your neighborhood climbing gym. Find it here.

And greenways are always cool, no matter what the temperature. Find greenways across the state here.

Get out and enjoy!

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Your weekend weather …

Asheville: High of 82 Saturday and 81 Sunday, 30 percent chance of rain both days.

Charlotte: High 90 Saturday, 97 Sunday, 30 percent chance of rain both days.

Winston-Salem: High of 86 Saturday, 88 Sunday, 20 percent chance of rain both days.

Chapel Hill: High of 88 Saturday, 90 Sunday, 20-30 percent chance of rain.

Wrightsville Beach: High of 88 Saturday, 91 Sunday, with a 20-30 percent chance of rain.

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