This week, it’s all about Sunday, New Year’s Day, and First Day Hikes — and First Day Outings. The latter First, first.
On Sunday in North Carolina we enter Year of the Trail, as deemed by the State Legislature. All year, we will celebrate trails of every stripe: natural surface, paved surface, equestrian, hiker, mountain biker, trails of blue. Even our cultural trails. We’ll get into all this in January, but for now we focus on Sunday. And first, those Outings.
Too early to start planning for 2023?
Not when you love the outdoors and 2023 happens to be Year of the Trail in North Carolina.
As I’ve mentioned over the last couple of months, next year has been deemed Year of the Trail in North Carolina and there’s going to be a lot going on. For starters, the State Legislature in 2022 allocated $29.15 million in funding for the Complete the Trails Fund. That money will fund State Trail projects as well as projects deemed :shovel-ready” — that is, the land has been purchased and the trail designed; all that’s needed now is the money to build it. Expect a lot of “Excuse our Mess” signs out in the woods next year.
Fall is just around the corner and you can’t wait to resume a vigorous hiking schedule.
But where to go first? A tough decision: You want to hit all your favorites first.
Alas, because you can’t be in two or more places at once, you need to plan your hikes accordingly by taking into account the best time to take each hike. You still may not be able to hit all your favorites this fall, but with smart scheduling you can hit a goodly number of them.
A summer hike isn’t a summer hike unless it includes water, the more water, the better. And the more water in more forms, better still.
Forms?
You know, the 5 major forms of mountain water:
Today, we share one of our favorites in each of these 5 categories. And the envelopes, please …
Summer arrives and our thoughts turn to hiking in the mountains. Until now, the weather, by and large, has been decent for hiking in the piedmont. Come Memorial Day, however, the steamy reality of summer settles in; for many, the prospect of a 90/90 (heat/humidity) day moves hiking to the bottom of their recreational to-do list. Or makes them re-think their options. So we turn to the mountains, which offer two forms of relief.
