Outside Magazine Archives - GetGoing NC!

Weekend Plans: Read a Book

JoeMiller — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:57:12 +0000

Really? Read a book?

Kon Tiki: ead it or watch it

I don’t believe we’ve ever made that recommendation before. It’s never been too cold, it’s never been too hot, and, until now, it’s never been too wet to get out. This weekend, though, it sounds like it’s simply going to be too wet to safely have a good time. With Joaquin bearing down on the coast and the possibility for up to 15 inches of rain in the high country, we’re thinking it’s a good time to hunker down and do a little vicarious exploring. Read a great adventure tale, perhaps. Maybe catch up on an adventure movie you’ve been meaning to see. Or maybe put together a soundtrack for when you are able to get out on your next adventure.

That said, a few recommendations:

Movies

“The 10 Most Underrated Movies on Netflix,” according to Outside Magazine. From “All Is Lost,” Robert Redford’s one-man show about a sailor adrift, to “A Lonely Place to Die,” “A rock climbing film masquerading as a conventional thriller,” says Outside. And these are just the underrated adventure films on Netflix.

“Top 100 Action and Adventure Movies” from Rotten Tomatoes. Some of these may be a challenge to track down; on the otherhand, you should be able to find a rainy afternoon’s worth. Topping the list: 1927’s “Metropolis.” Also in the Top 10: “King Kong” (1933), “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Seven Samurai” (1954), “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948), “Apocalypse Now” (1979) and “The 39 Steps” (1935).

“Metropolis”

“35 Awesome (and Awesomely Bad) Outdoor Movies,” from the readers of Backpacker. Almost as important as recommendations of what to see are warnings about what not to see. When Backpacker polled its readers about their favorite movie, “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen seeping direction on Spain’s Camino de Santiago topped the list with “The Void” coming in second. And then there’s “Cliffhanger” … .

Books

“The Outside Canon.” When this list first appeared in May of 1996 in Outside, we clipped it — and promptly lost it. Fortunately, it’s easy to find on the Internet, usually the first entry to pop up on a Google search of “best outdoor adventure books.” Because adventure comes in different categories, so does the list: The World’s Great Places, Journeys to Hell, Discoveries of America, Natural History, Manifestos, Nature and Culture, Sportswriting, How-to Bibles, Outside Lit 101 and Overlooked Gems. Best make sure your Kindle is charged.

“The 50 Greatest Adventure Books,” by Men’s Journal. The men’s lifestyle magazine weighs in with its selections.

“Popular Outdoor Adventure Books,” by Goodreads. How selective is this list? Not to cast aspersions, but it’s 904 titles long.

FYI, I just finished an engrossing read, “The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild,” by Lynn Schooler. It was a blind find at Reader’s Corner in Raleigh. Perhaps it received the attention it deserved when it came out in 2003, but I don’t recall it.

Music

Maybe you’d like to put together a mix tape for your next outing?

“16 Great Songs for Backpacking,” from backpacker.com. “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash, “Wagon Wheel” by the Old Crow Medicine Show,” “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers, and more.

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One last appeal: RDU for #BestTown2105

JoeMiller — Wed, 13 May 2015 19:01:47 +0000

Voting ends today in Round 2 of Outside Magazine / Toad&Co’s #BestTown2015 search to find the best town in the country. If you’ve yet to vote, if you’re the type who needs incontrovertible evidence, consider what Raleigh-Durham (Outside’s nomenclature) brings to the adventure party:

210 miles of Hiking Trail. That includes a range of experiences, from short escapes in your neighborhood — at Durant Park in Raleigh, at West Point on the Eno in Durham, Hemlock Bluffs in Cary — to day-long treks at Umstead State Park, with 33 miles of trail, and Eno River State Park, with 28 miles of trail.
281 miles of greenway. Not 20 years ago, the Triangle was dotted with mile-long stretches of random, paved, greenway, great for families who lived nearby, but that was about it. A building boom spearheaded by Raleigh (with help from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) and Cary has brought to near fruition the Circle the Triangle concept conceived in the 1990s. Today, with two short hiccups, it’s possible to take greenway from Clayton in Johnston County, through Raleigh, into Umstead State Park, across to Cary, through Chatham County and into downtown Durham. Within the last five years the Triangle’s greenway system has blossomed into a secondary transportation network for non-motorized vehicles.
105 miles of mountain bike trail. In 1992, the first mountain bike trail opened in the region, at Lake Crabtree County Park. Today, thanks largely to the efforts of volunteers, there are 113 miles of singletrack trail at nine venues. And that’s just the legal trail!

Not to mention:

Whitewater kayaking. After a good rain, local kayakers flock to the lower Haw River for Class III action on Gabriel’s Bend, Harold’s Tombstone, Moose Jaw Falls and more. Meanwhile, in Raleigh local paddlers have organized to turn the output from Falls Lake Dam into a whitewater park. The Falls Whitewater Park Committee already has $350,000 committed to the project.
Backpacking. Eno River State Park has three primitive campsites along its 28 miles of trail, while two new backcountry sites have been built along the 60-mile Falls Lake stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, bringing the FLMST’s primitive camping options to four. Jordan Lake and Falls Lake also have primitive camping sites.
Mountains-to-Sea Trail. So complacent about great local hiking options have we become that we nearly let mention of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail pass as an afterthought. What an omission that would have been: at present, 107 miles of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail runs through the Triangle, making it possible to walk from Clayton in Johnston County to nearly Hillsborough in Orange County. (About 620 miles of the overall MST are complete; eventually, it will run about 1,000 miles, from Clingman’s Dome atop the Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge at the coast.)
Flatwater paddling. Great paddling options abound on the fingers of Jordan and Falls lakes, and at at least 14 municipal lakes, whose primary purpose is flood control but also rent canoes and kayaks — for as little as $5 an hour. Got a hankerin’ to watch the sun set over the water? It’s yours for a five spot. Dependable year-round paddling options as well on local rivers including the Neuse, Deep and Cape Fear, and on stretches of the Haw and Eno.
Climbing. The Triangle has two state-of-the-art climbing gyms in the Triangle Rock Club’s North Raleigh and Morrisville gyms, the latter with a 54-foot wall, the highest between Atlanta and the D.C. area.

Scuba diving. Yes, scuba diving. In Rolesville, at Fantasy Lake, an abandoned rock quarry turned underwater playground, where on summer weekends you’ll find hundreds of local divers negotiating an abandoned rock crusher, VW, CAT bus and assorted other challenges of the not-so-deep (40 to 60 feet, on average).

Convinced?
Then cast your ballot here.

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Triangle: #BestTown2105

JoeMiller — Tue, 12 May 2015 13:38:33 +0000

You know how in the NCAA Tournament you’re always rooting for the little guy (provided the little guy isn’t playing your guy)?

Content from RDU #BestTown2015

That’s the situation the Triangle currently faces in its battle for Outside Magazine/Toad&Co.’s #BestTown2015 crown. Dubbed Raleigh-Durham for recognition reasons (but really encompassing all the great recreational assets of the Triangle), RDU, a No. 8 seed in the South regionals, handily beat No. 9 seed Bentonville, Ark., in first-round action. Now, in Round 2 we find ourselves up against No. 1 seed Chattanooga, Tenn. Chattanooga: been to the dance before, known as a top-notch player not only regionally, but nationwide. It’s got whitewater paddling, it’s got climbing, it’s got hiking and mountain biking.
Just like you’ll find in the Triangle. But does it have scuba diving? Miles of flatwater paddling? More than 280 miles of greenway?
RDU deserves your support as #BestTown2015. And it needs it: currently the Triangle trails Chattanooga by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin. And time is running out: voting ends at midnight Wednesday.
Check out our brief slideshow campaign for RDU’s candidacy. If you need more convincing, read Raleigh-Durham’s complete position paper here. Then, let the country know what a great place this is to explore — vote!
This way to the ballot box …

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90 Second Escape: RDU #BestTown2015

JoeMiller — Mon, 11 May 2015 20:51:22 +0000

Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: RDU #BestTown2015

You know the Triangle is a great place to live if you’re an adventure-loving type. But have you ever had trouble convincing friends elsewhere of the fact?
You can actually mountain bike there — on more than 100 miles of singletrack?
There’s a 107-mile trail that runs through town?
Oh, please — you’re telling me you can scuba dive there, as well?
Yup. It’s all true. Here’s 90 Seconds of evidence. And if you’re still not convinced, check out this convincing case we make with our friends at Great Outdoor Provision Co. Then, once you’re informed, exercise your democratic right and vote!
Place your ballot here.

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