For instance, when we think of goals we tend to think in terms of physical goals. New Year’s goals have come to be associated with physical health, specifically with weight loss. So while our stated goal may not be to lose 35 pounds by swimsuit season by hiking, that may well be our underlying motivator. “I’m going to hike twice a week,” or I’m going to hike 20 miles a week,” may not be overtly about weight loss, but that might well be the underlying factor. The problem? Having such a metric-driven goal may diminish the joy you get out of hiking. Rather than looking for a 5-mile hike with lots of scenic stops for a given Saturday, you may opt instead for a longer hike where you’ll burn more calories, but derive less enjoyment. Eventually, it becomes like going to the gym. And we all know how successful that New Year’s goal generally is.

You hike because you want to. So make your hiking goal for 2024 in synch with your passion. Some examples.

Complete a hiking challenge

When you think of a hiking challenge, you likely think of things such as thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or section hiking the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. And what if you don’t have a half year to hike the AT, or a year or more to section hike the MST? You have reasonable and admirable options:

• South Beyond 6000 Challenge. There are 40 recognized peaks with elevations in excess of 6,000 feet in the Southeastern U.S.. Climb all 40 and you get not only bragging rights and a patch, you get to explore the 6 highest mountain ranges in the Southeast: Smokies, Plotts, Balsams, Craggies, Blacks and Roans. And if you think the challenge too widespread to complete in a year, consider: 39 of the 40 peaks are in North Carolina or on the N.C./Tennessee line (Mt. LeConte is entirely in Tennessee). Also consider that in one extremely vigorous day of climbing in the Black Mountains you could conceivably knock off nearly a quarter of them, from Mt. Hallback north to Celo Knob along the Black Mountain Crest.
• Pisgah 400. Maybe you’re more driven by the need to make sure you get to the mountains on a regular basis. The Pisgah 400 patch is awarded every hiker who completes every trail in the Pisgah Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest (Shining Rock, the Davidson River and North Mills River areas, Bent Creek, Lake Powhatan). Probably the best hiking in the Pisgah N.F.

You can find additional challenges at the Carolina Mountain Club website (see below).

Complete a long trail section

Again, recognizing that you have limited time — perhaps not enough to hike the 2,175-mile AT or the 1,200-mile MST — what about a section of a long trail. A popular goal in the Triangle, for instance, is to hike the 60-mile stretch of the MST along Falls Lake, or maybe the 120-mile run from the Pleasant Green Access at Eno River State Park to Clayton. Or perhaps the 90.3 miles of the MST along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Devil’s Garden Overlook south to Beacon Heights. 

As for the AT, maybe you want to hike the 95.7 miles in North Carolina. Or perhaps the 224.7 miles that straddles the North Carolina/Tennessee line. Or both.

Complete a shorter long trail

There are a number of shorter long trails that offer challenge cache in their own right.

• 

  Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, Havelock. This 21-mile trail could be done in a day. It could also be done in a weekend — preferably a weekend in winter, before it warms ands activates the local buzzing and slithering population.

• Uwharrie National Recreation Trail that now runs 20 miles north to south through its namesake forest. An advantage to this goal: it’s challenging hiking close to Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle.
• Art Loeb Trail, Pisgah National Forest, Brevard. The perfect challenge for a week-long mountain vacation, this 31-miler includes the Shining Rock Wilderness and the Davidson River area. A mix of exposed mountain meadows, balsam forest and classic Southern Appalachian hardwoods.

Master a trail

Acquaintance of many trails but master of none? Wouldn’t it be great to be the go-to person for a given trail or trail network? “You want insight into hiking Hanging Rock? Well, you’ve absolute got to talk to Jane Doaks!” 

How to make this happen? You don’t need to hike an area exclusively, but you should hike it in all four seasons, and you should hike every trail in it in all four seasons. Again, using Hanging Rock as an example, there are 15 hiking trails covering roughly 25 miles (a little less, since about 7.4 miles of the MST, which is an official park trail, piggybacks on other trails). You should also plan to hike each trail in both directions (which you’ll likely do anyway, since most are out-and-backs). That commitment would definitely make you the go-to person for Hanging Rock.

Hike a different trail every time

Maybe that’s a bit extreme and a little counterproductive since most of us have a trail or two we love for various reasons (convenience, a certain scenic hook, etc.) But what if you vowed to hike a new trail a month, or every other week? A goal that would get you out of your been-there-hiked-that rut.

Figure out a schedule for getting new trails into your life.

Tackle a challenging, but realistic one-time goal

The one doable challenge that always comes to mind for me as a hiker: climb Mount Mitchell, the highest point on the Easy Coast, at 6,684 feet. And no asterisks here: summiting Mitchell from the mountaintop snack shop 50 yards from the summit does not count. 

This challenge involves starting at the Black Mountain Campground at the base of Mitchell and hiking the 5.5-mile Mount Mitchell Trail to the summit. If that doesn’t sound like much, we forgot to mention that the hike gains more than 3,700 vertical feet on its way to the top. You don’t just pass through an assortment of ecozones, from Southern Appalachian hardwood forest into a black balsam forest more commonly associated with Canada, you feel like you pass through epochs. 

There are other worthy climbs of note: for instance, in the Smokies, the 9.1-mile climb from Campsite 64 to the top of 6,643-foot Clingman’s Dome gains more than 4,000 vertical feet. But the cache of summiting Mitchell, the highest peak east of South Dakota’s Black Hills, puts this one atop our list.

Plan a mountain outing in the West

There’s not better motivation to get your mountain legs under you than the prospect of summiting 14,000-foot peaks. Granted, dealing with the altitude is another issue. But if you’re planning a weeklong vacation, say, to Rocky Mountain National Park, and your goal is to hike every day, then you better be in the best shape of your life to make that happen. And your preparation starts here, with regular hikes locally and frequent visits to the Southern Appalachians. In fact, a trip out West could be just the thing to help you meet one of the other goals mentioned above. Two birds! Can’t beat that.

Note: If you do decide on a goal such as Rocky Mountain National Park, check with the appropriate land manager now to see if they require a permit. A growing number of National Park Service properties do now, and many go early in the year.

Your goal, your motivation

These are just some goal suggestions, some ideas you might not have thought of. The goal of today’s post? To encourage you not just to set a goal, but to set a goal that taps into your true passion for hiking. If that’s losing 35 pounds so you can squeeze into a Speedo by summer, great. If it’s mastering your local state park’s trail network — and you just happen to lose 35 pounds in the process — all the better.

Whatever your goal, just make sure it’s one that will keep your attention.

* * *

More info

For more information on the goals mentioned above, click the appropriate link below:

• South Beyond 6,000 Challenge
• Pisgah 400
• Carolina Mountain Club Challenges page
• Mountains-to-Sea Trail
• Uwharrie National Recreation Trail
• Neusiok Trail
• Art Loeb Trail
• Mount Mitchell Trail
• Appalachian Trail

Make a commitment 

And to better insure that you get a jump on meeting your 2024 goals, consider committing yourself to our hike that start in GetHiking! Winter/Spring 2024 Hike Series. We do one guided hike the first Sunday of every month, January through June, and prescribe recommended hikes for the off weeks. Learn more about the series here.

The post Mulling a 2024 goal? Make it the right one appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Not hardly.

Not when you live in part of the country where you can experience a rare coastal forest escape, hike on the country’s most iconic trail, and explore a high country oasis all while enjoying the cold embrace of the season, minus the threat. Sure, it can get cold and there can be snow. But not to the extent you need extreme weather gear to survive. Rather, winter here offers a stark beauty that can be enjoyed in solitude. And if you really don’t like the “cold,” but can tolerate cool, winter backpacking at the coast offers an experience you can’t have any other time of year.

This winter, GetBackpacking! offers three trips that capture the best of what backpacking has to offer during a season too often associated with hibernation, not exploration. Two are classics that we’ve done the past several years, one is new to our GetBackpacking! program.

January

Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, Havelock 

• 21 miles
• 2 nights

The 21-mile Neusiok Trail takes you backpacking where most people least expect to go backpacking: a coastal swamp, But it’s more than just that. For our hike, we start late Friday afternoon and hike 2 miles to camp. It’s a hike at dusk, where the sun sets over the expansive Newport River, dipping below the horizon about the time we turn inland to camp. Day 2 takes us through coastal woods so dense the only clearing is the wide-foot-wide  path that slices through bay thickets and a variety of bushes before opening into pine savannah. On a cold, sunny winter’s day it doesn’t get much better. Day 3 begins the same, then morph’s for 5 miles into rolling terrain and woods more reminiscent of the Piedmont before concluding with a mile-long run along the mile-wide Neuse River, which at this point more resembles the Pamlico Sound it will shortly feed into.

Dates: January 28-30 

Learn more and register here.

February

Appalachian Trail between Max Patch and Hot Springs

• 21 miles
• 2 nights

Part of the thrill of this 21-mile trek — and the reason we do it every February — is that you never know what to expect. Three years ago, the forecast, at one point, called for up to 20 inches of snow and temperatures dropping to 7 degrees (we postponed that one). Another year, the temperature hit 70 degrees and, I swear to Colin Fletcher, we saw spring beauties popping up at 4,500 feet. We begin Friday afternoon taking a shuttle from Hot Springs to Max Patch; we soak up the view, then hike 2 miles to camp for the night. Saturday is 11 miles of AT delight, hiking mostly through classic Southern Appalachian hardwood forest, passing through a couple of gaps, hiking over 4,692-foot Bluff Mountain, then dropping into Garenflo Gap, to camp. The 7-mile hike out on Sunday ascends Lamp Knob, then mellows out, for the most part, with a descent into Hot Springs — where a variety of burger options awaits.

Dates: February 25-27 

Learn more and register here.

March

Mount Rogers, Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, Virginia

• 20 miles (basecamp backpack)
• 2 nights

The Mount Rogers area of southwest Virginia is one of the most scenic and popular backpacking destinations in the Southeast. It includes the two highest points in Virginia and open terrain akin to what you might expect out West. If you’re a backpacker and it’s not on your bucket list, it should be. On this trip we hike in a mile or so east from Elk Garden off Whitetop Road and set up basecamp. Saturday, we don daypacks for a 12.5-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail into the heart of Mount Rogers (including summiting the 5,772-foot peak, returning on the Virginia Horse Trail. Sunday, we hike to 5,525-foot Whitetop for more great views.

Dates: March 11-13 

Learn more and register here.

* * *

Thru-hikes on shorter trails in 2022

Also on tap for 2022, we will lead four thru-hikes on the state’s shorter long trails. They are:

• Neusiok Trail, Croatan National Forest, 21 miles. Jan. 28-30 (see above)
• N.C. Bartram Trail, Nantahala National Forest, 50 miles (approx), summer, date tbd.
• Art Loeb Trail, Pisgah National Forest, 31 miles, fall, date tbd.
• Foothills Trail, North Carolina/South Carolina line, 77 miles, date tbd.

We will have details on the last three hikes soon. In addition, we will offer a winter/spring training program pertinent to these trips but also appropriate for anyone who plans to have an ambitious summer and fall of backpacking. Maybe you’re planning your own long hike, maybe you’re planning a trip out west. Our program will help get you where you need to be by the end of spring. Details coming shortly on this program, as well. 

The post GetBackpacking! Winter 2022 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Pack a camera, a notebook, a handful of nature guidebooks. Camp, stay in cheap motels. Cook dinner over a camp stove, linger over breakfast, eat lunch on the go. And listen. 

November especially is the time to listen to the outdoors. The seemingly constant breeze lets the trees, the grass, the plants tell their stories. Stories that began with a colorful birth in March, that celebrated the lazy days of summer, that grew melancholy come early fall and that ended, much like they began, in an explosion of color. The circle of life lived in just eight months. But what a story to be told at season’s end.

It’s a story told in one of three ways.

Long trails

If you’ve got the time, two coastal trails would love you stay a spell and listen.

• 

  Neusiok Trail, 22 miles, Croatan National Forest, Havelock. The Neusiok runs from the Pine Cliffs Recreation Area southeast to Oyster Point Landing. No need to rush: there are three shelters/camping areas along the way where you can camp and take the time necessary to experience the pine savannah, the bay woods, the bluff overlooking the mile-wide Neuse River, the boggy areas traveled (mostly) by boardwalk. It can also be hiked in sections, the most diverse of which is the northernmost 6.8 miles, from Pine Cliffs south and east to NC 306. Read more here.

• Weetock Trail, 11 miles, Croatan National Forest, Maysville. Such a tease, the Weetock. From its northern trailhead of N.C. 58 south of Maysville, it’s an open book for the first 6 miles. Maybe there’s a time or two where it plays coy and becomes discrete. But for the most part, no secrets. Then, right when you think you’ve got it understood, it crosses the gravel Jones Landing Road and spends the rest of its way trying to ditch you. This part of the Croatan has been ravaged by numerous hurricanes, the downfall covering large swaths of trail. Seemingly important swaths, because the only clues the trail shares from here on out are the unique metal-strip blazes (old newspaper printing plates) that catch the sun here and there. A challenge, but hey, who doesn’t love a good mystery? Read more here.

Easy beach hikes

Just as we love a good novel to read at the beach, so, too, do we love an easy winter hike — easy in the sense that it’s simple to follow but has a compelling plot. Some of our favorites:

• 

  Carolina Beach State Park, 9 trails, 9 miles, Carolina Beach. Carolina Beach is the Reader’s Digest condensed version of exploring the coast: in just 761 acres nestled between the Cape Fear River and Atlantic Ocean you’ll hike over forested dunes, through forests of turkey oak and live oak, around pocosins, past cypress swamps and through a carpet of carnivorous plants. The ecological sampling here is not to be matched. Learn more here.

• Fort Fisher Hermit Trail (a k a Basin Trail), 2 miles, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Kure Beach. Just down the road from Carolina Beach is a trail that exposes you to one of the more unique views in the state: water in nearly every direction. At the midpoint, the trail passes a World War II bunker, a sturdy concrete structure that, after housing ordnance in WW II, housed Robert E. Harrill, the Fort Fisher hermit who fled here in 1956 and stayed until his unexplained death in 1972. More info here.

• 

  Cedar Point Tideland Trail, Croatan National Forest, Cedar Point, 1.3 miles. No need to get your shoes mucky—an elevated boardwalk traverses much of the 1.3-mile Cedar Point Tideland Trail, in the wetlands where Dibbling and Boathouse creeks dissolve into the White Oak River (then, shortly, into Bogue Sound). In addition to keeping you dry, the boardwalk gives you get a bird’s-eye view of the fiddler crabs and other marsh life below. It is also an especially good spot for birding. More info here.

• Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve, 4 miles, Kill Devil Hills. At 1,100 acres, Nags Head Woods wrote the book on maritime forests. It’s one of the best examples of such along the East Coast, hence the reason The Nature Conservancy elected to save it beginning in the 1970s. Nearly four miles of trail take you through densely vegetated terrain that includes 11 separate species of oak alone. Also calling the preserve home are 5 species of salamander, 14  species of frogs and toads, at least 50 nesting birds, assorted turtles, lizards and snakes. More info here.
• Patsy Pond Nature Trail, 4.5 miles, Newport. Before the European invasion, about 90 million acres of the Southeast were covered with longleaf pines. Today, that number is closer to 3.3 million. Which makes walking the Patsy Pond Nature Trail like diving into a good history book. A good history in that the forest isn’t just about the longleaf, but also about its supporting characters, including the red-cockaded woodpecker, Carolina gopher frog, bladderwort, sundew and a cast, literally, of thousands. Learn more here.

Coastal plain 

There’s nothing plain about these hikes, other than their coastal plain setting.

• 

  Jones Lake State Park, 4 miles, Elizabethtown. Every time I’ve hiked here it’s been: 1) in winter, 2) 40 degrees, 3) under cloudless skies. In short, perfect. Such a great experience has hiking the 4-mile Bay Trail been that I go back every couple of years to experience the open pine forest on the west side of Jones Lake, the dense bay forest on the east side. A Jekyll and Hyde hike with a total elevation gain of 3 feet. And if I’m hungry for more I can hop across the road (N.C. 242) and continue hiking at Turnbull State Educational Forest. Learn more here.

• 

  Merchants Millpond State Park, 9 miles, Gatesville. Every time I visit I think of the 1950s schlock sci-fi flick, “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Although there might be alligators here, there have been no confirmed Gill-Man sightings at Merchants Millpond, despite the eerie similarity in swampy surroundings. The park may be known for canoeing on its 760-acre millpond, but the hiking here exposes you to some of the same treats, including bay woods and cypress and tupelo gum swamps. A great day trip. Learn more here.

• Pettrigrew State Park, 4.2 miles. Creswell,. When it comes to hiking you can go for distance or you can go to be awed. At Pettigrew State Park on the shores of Lake Phelps, the Morotoc Trail will certainly awe you with a collection of some of the oldest and largest trees of their kind in the state. Among the ancient oddities are various bay trees, sweet gums, persimmons, and pawpaws; the trunks of some bald cypress trees measure up to 10 feet in diameter; and, poplar trunks exceed six feet. “Vines as wide as human thighs wind their ways up trees as tall as 130 feet.” You’ll also see Atlantic white cedars that reach heights of 100 feet. Prepare for the slowest 2.8 miles of hiking in your life. Learn more here.

*  * *

Explore with us!

We’re starting 2022 off with three January adventures at the coast:

• GetHiking! New Year’s on the Weetock Trail, Sunday, Jan. 2, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.. Technically, it’s the day after New Year’s Day, but a true first-of-the-year adventure all the same. Read the trail description above, then go here to learn more and to sign up.
• GetBackpacking! Winter Series: Neusiok Trail, Friday, January 14 to Sunday, January 16. This 2-night, 22-mile trip is the ideal way to start fulfilling your 2022 backpacking goals. The flat course make these early season miles doable. Learn more and sign up here.
• GetHiking! Winter Weekend Escape to Jones Lake, Friday, Jan. 28 to Sunday, Jan. 30. Jones Lake State Park, Elizabethtown. Two days of hiking and two nights of stargazing in minimally light-polluted skies of the coastal plain. Learn more and sign up here.

The post Coastal trails beckon for winter hiking appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

For late fall we have three backpack trips suited to people who may have burned through their vacation, for the winter, we have three weekend trips to our most iconic locations. Here’s the lineup:

Weekend Quick Escapes

It’s the end of the year, you’ve burned through your vacation time, yet you’ve love to get in another backpack trip or two — maybe three. Our Weekend Quick Escapes are designed for just that: You can work until 5 on Friday afternoon, then drive to the trailhead for a short hike to basecamp and be set up by 8. Saturday is a long day hike, Sunday we do a shorter day hike, before heading home in the early afternoon. A lot of adventure in a little amount of time. 

• Rock Castle Gorge (Virginia), Nov. 13-15. From the primitive camp at the base of the gorge we’ll day-hike the 11-mile Rock Castle Loop on Saturday, then stop for a 5-mile hike at Fairy Stone State Park on the drive home. 10 hikers. THIS TRIP IS SOLD OUT.
• Doughton Park, Dec. 4-6. We’ll hike in a mile to basecamp off Longbottom Road Friday evening, then day-hike the 16-mile Cedar Ridge/Bluff Mountain/Grassy Gap Loop Saturday. Before heading out Sunday, we’ll hike up Cabin Creek to the Caudill Cabin. 10 hikers. Learn more and sign up here.
• Birkhead Mountain Wilderness, Uwharrie National Forest, Dec. 18-20. Friday evening we hike in 3 miles to Camp 5; Saturday, we do an 11-mile day-hike exploring the wilderness; Sunday, we hike out, then do a short hike up to Little Long Mountain for the best view in the Uwharries. Learn more and sign up here.

Winter Series

We’ll do three backpack trips this winter, one likely to have winter conditions, one trying to avoid winter conditions, a third … well, we’ll see.

• GetBackpacking! Neusiok Trail, January 8-10. Our annual trip on this 21-mile coastal trail through the Croatan National Forest. Friday thru Sunday in a forest that ranges from pine savannah to coastal woods to rolling terrain resembling the Piedmont to a finale along beach fronting the mile-wide Neuse River. Registration opens in December. If you’d like early notice about when registration opens, email joe@getgoingnc.com 
• GetBackpacking! Appalachian Trail, Feb. 19-21. It’s our fifth year for this trip, which begins atop Max Patch and ends in the town of Hot Springs. We’ve had snow on this trip, we’ve had 70-degree days. 3 days, 2 nights, 21 miles. Registration opens in December. If you’d like early notice about when registration opens, email joe@getgoingnc.com 
• GetBackpacking! Linville Gorge, March 12-14. We didn’t visit the gorge in 2020 because of its pandemic-provoked popularity. We’re hoping that a visit early in the year will help us find the solitude we seek in this designated wilderness. We’ll basecamp atop Shortoff Mountain Friday evening, then spend Saturday day hiking the gorge’s east wall. Registration opens in December. If you’d like early notice about when registration opens, email joe@getgoingnc.com

The post GetBackpacking! Winter 2020-21 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Before our GetBackpacking! trip last weekend on the 22-mile Neusiok Trail, we had a little hygiene talk: Share a little less on this hike, I advised. Handle your own water, resist the urge to sample a fellow hiker’s Cherry Cocoa Nib dehydrated breakfast. But I also said we would be spending the weekend in one of the safest places around: the wide-open spaces of the outdoors: few people, lots of room to breath in peace. Our typically worry-free playground seemed even more so in these uncertain times.

We seek solace and escape on the trail, and we seek it more than ever now. So take advantage of this relatively safe environment and be sure to get out this weekend. Some thoughts on how and where you can make that happen.

A quick note: If you elect to attend one of these events, double check beforehand to make sure it’s still a go. Word reached us late Thursday that the Triangle Land Conservancy has canceled its March in-person events. Other entities may follow.

Supplejack Spring Hike, Saturday, 11 a.m., Dismal Swamp State Park, South Mills. Another thing I mentioned before our hike in the coastal Croatan National Forest: time’s running out to explore, on foot, at the coast. The temperature warms much more and you’ll be dealing with the pests, slithering and blood-sucking, that make a coastal outing less appealing. Thus, our recommendation for Saturday’s 2-mile hike on the Supplejack Trail, which winds through the dense vegetation common to a coastal woods. Degree of difficulty: easy. Learn more here.

Spring Hike: Naturally Wonderful Waterfalls, Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap. When we head to the high country, we typically have two objectives: mountaintop views and waterfalls. The latter is the focus of this 1.2-mile hike to the top of Stone Mountain Falls, a 200-foot cascade with great access thanks to a wood staircase with several observation decks. You can achieve the second objective — views — after the hike by hiking a mile to the exposed summit of Stone Mountain. Learn more and sign up here.

Eno River Association Spring Series: Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve, Sunday, 2 p.m., Durham. Penny’s Bend boasts a bonanza of spring wildflowers, from Dutchman’s Breeches to Painted Buckeye, making this the spring wildflower hike of the season. This hike is mostly off trail, includes difficult terrain, and will last about three hours. Learn more here.

GetHiking! this weekend

What are our GetHiking! groups in North Carolina and Virginia up to this weekend? Plenty, thanks for asking …

Live the video

Today’s video is from our weekend GetBackpacking! trip on the Neusiok Trail. Learn more about our upcoming backpacking programs here, more about the Neusiok Trail here.

More Weekend Options

Looking for more options for weekend adventure? Check out our GetOut! Find An Adventure resource page here.

The post GetOut! Your Friday Nudge for Weekend Adventure appeared first on GetGoing NC!.