First Day Hike at Carvers Creek State Park (photo courtesy of N.C. State Parks).
We all resolve to be healthier and more active at the start of the new year. What we don’t always realize is that a healthier lifestyle is a day-by-day undertaking.
That said, get your first day of your active new year off to a good start with a hike. Hiking is one of the more traditional ways to start the blood flowing on January 1. (Jumping into an icy lake is another; we’ve tried that and don’t recommend it if you intend to keep the blood flowing.) Fortunately, there are lots of hike options on New Year’s Day, thanks to the First Day Hikes initiative launched a few years back by the nation’s state parks.read more
Round Bald on the Appalachian Trail, near Carver’s Gap.
Plum out of ideas for the adventurous person in your life?
How about the gift of North Carolina’s best hikes?
In 2015, our GetHiking! program will launch a series of monthly hikes on the trails that no North Carolina hiker’s resume should be without: Linville Gorge, Shining Rock, Slickrock Wilderness, Black Mountain Crest Trail, the Great Smokies, Mountains-to-Sea Trail, The Appalachian Trail, Mount Mitchell Trail, Bartram Trail, Tanawha Trail, Panthertown Valley. Hikes that have earned their place for great views, for impressive waterfalls, for old growth forests, for altitude or, perhaps, for attitude.read more
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?read more
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.read more
A nearly 9-mile figure-8 loop in the Shining Rock Wilderness of the Pisgah National Forest is one of NCHikes' five recommendations for June and July.
At our sister site, NCHikes.com, we make monthly (or somewhat monthly) recommendations for seasonally appropriate hikes. In summer, for instance, we try to suggest hikes that are either high and cool or ones that involve walking near, or at some point frolicking in, water.read more
