Come summer, with its 90/90 days (heat/humidity) the last thing on most of our minds is a long hike in the woods. Oceans of sweat, acres of trail-clogging cobwebs, no hydration pack big enough to sate your insatiable thirst. Very understandable, this hike aversion — if you don’t know where to go. For if you do, there are plenty of trails — from North Carolina’s steamy coast, to the stuffy Piedmont to the sun-drenched high country — ideal for summer exploring.

At the coast, you’re wise to incorporate a really large body of saline water in your hike plan. Water is likewise a key ingredient in the Piedmont, though the occasional alpine anomaly also offers relief. In the Appalachians, refreshing waterfalls and elevation combine to offer escape.

We’ve compiled a list of 25 hikes that are especially well-suited to a North Carolina summer, five at the coast, 10 each in the Piedmont and the high country. You can find additional information on each at the links provided and in the references mentioned, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” and “Backpacking North Carolina.”

Let your summer hiking adventure begin here.

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Coast

Every once in a while, the Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge opens its roads allowing the public in to better explore this 8,219-acre refuge in Currituck County. To explore its low-lying freshwater and brackish marshes, it’s upland and lowland eastern pine hardwood forests. And this time of year, to be treated to a variety of migrating waterfowl (including snow geese and Canada geese) in addition to year-round residents such as the bald eagle and osprey.

That once-in-a-while is this weekend at Mackay Island, when the roads will be open from 7 a.m. to sunset. Learn more about the preserve here.

Piedmont

Saturday, I spent three hours in my kayak on Jordan Lake. The only thing that could make this better, I thought, would be if someone  magically appeared and served breakfast. OK, I didn’t really think that, at least until I saw the post for this Saturday’s Kayak Breakfast on Belews Lake, sponsored by the Piedmont Environmental Center in High Point. Here’s the deal: Shove off at 7:30 a.m., pull over to the shore at some point for breakfast, then paddle some more, until noon. All the while learning about the natural world engulfing Lake Belews.

$50, $40 if you’re a member of the Piedmont Environmental Center. Details here.

Mountains

Three years ago, while I was reporting “Backpacking North Carolina,” I got to explore some incredible wild areas in the state. Today, I

can thumb through the book and remember a surprising amount about all 43 trips. Some, though, stand out more than others. One of those is the Standing Indian area southwest of Franklin, where the Appalachian Trail traces an oxbow ridgeline; coupled with the handful of trails that climb out of the Standing Indian Campground you have a number of loop options, unusual on the AT, which generally trends in a straight line southwest to northeast from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Katahdin, Maine. One of those loops is the objective of a group hike by the Nantahala Hiking Club this Saturday.

From the campground, the group will hike up the Kimsey Creek Trail to Deep Gap, where it Ts into the AT. From there, they’ll hike north to 5,498-foot Standing Indian Mountain, then head back to the trailhead on the Lower Ridge Trail. Twelve miles of great hiking, that you can be a part of by reserving a spot with hike leader Don Neil, at 828.586.5723.

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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

The post This weekend: Penetrate a preserve, paddle & picnic on a lake, hike the AT appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Sunday, Marcy and I headed over to Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary after roadside flashes of sourwood red and dogwood peach suggested the fall color show was just getting underway. Roadside trees — stressed by the heat of automotive exhaust — are often the first to show their chromatic hand. When they start to go, we grab the camera and head for woods.

It’s not simply the color that makes fall hiking special. The sun, starting to favor the southern hemisphere with its direct sunlight, is sending us sideways rays that light the forest at increasingly intriguing angles. Angles that cast long shadows and highlight features we overlook in the overhead light of summer. And, of course, there’s also the cooler, drier weather: show of hands for who would rather hike in 70 degree temperatures with 10 percent humidity than then 90-90 days of summer.

After a cloudy, rainy start to this week, the weekend looks ideal for a hike: daytime highs right around 70, overnight lows in the mid- to upper-40s. Cool temperatures, sunny skies and emerging fall color.

Take a hike this weekend. Here are a few places to go.

Triangle

• 

  Eno River State Park, Durham and Orange counties. The Buckquarter Creek/Holdens Mill 4.2-mile loop should have good streamside color, good ridgeline color.

• Falls Lake / Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Durham, Wake counties. Your best bet for fall solitude, especially hiking west from NC 50. Good color as well as the trail spends considerable time in hardwood forest and along the lake.
• Umstead State Park, Raleigh. Crowded: Company Mill Trail. A little less so: Sycamore Trail. Closed: Sal’s Branch Trail.

Fayetteville / Sanford

• Raven Rock State Park. From the new visitors center, 90 percent of visitors head east toward namesake Raven Rock. Head west for peace and color along the 5.6-mile Campbell Creek Trail.

Triad

• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury. The pilgrimage to Hanging Rock is as crowded as that to Mecca. For equal views minus the masses, take the 4.2-mile Moores Wall Trail.
• Piedmont Environmental Center, High Point. With 376 acres, a forest of mature

  

  hardwoods, 11 miles of trail and a big lake, this may be your best bet for catching color in the Piedmont, period.

• Pilot Mountain State Park, Pilot Mountain. The least crowded trail is down low; trouble is, you want the stellar views from up high. Good venue for the agoraphobic.

Charlotte

• Crowders Mountain State Park, Kings Mountain. “Expect parking delays on nice fall weekends,” warns the Web site. Your best bet: Try the Boulders Access, the parks recently opened back door.
• Mecklenburg County Nature Preserves, Mecklenburg County. Charlotte is blessed with a baker’s dozen nature preserves that offer an array of colorful experiences come fall.

The post Fall starting to light up the Piedmont appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Carolina Thread Trail
Charlotte area

“The Carolina Thread Trail will be a mega project of rail-trails and streamside greenways in the greater Charlotte region,” Dave Connelly with N.C. Rail-Trails says.

Indeed, this is the largest and most ambitious of the long-distance greenways envisioned for the state, encompassing hundreds of miles of trails in 15 counties in the Charlotte area and spilling into South Carolina. The Thread Trail was conceived in 2005 as a way for the various municipalities in the 15-county area to keep tabs on what their neighbors were up to and focus their individual efforts on trails that could contribute to an interconnected trail network.

Go here to find a map of trails existing and planned that will make up the Carolina Thread system.

Atlantic-Seaboard Coast Line
Fayetteville to Wilmington

This project could become a part of the East Coast Greenway, linking Fayetteville with Wilmington. Spearheaded by the West Pender Rail-Trail Alliance with support from BlueCross BlueShield Foundation of North Carolina and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, an assessment is underway evaluating the feasibility of using an 80-mile stretch of unused rail corridor between Fayetteville and Wilmington.

This rails-to-trails project is especially attractive, creating a destination greenway with significant tourism potential in economically depressed eastern North Carolina.

Learn more about this project at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Web site.

Old Beltline Trail
Durham

This isn’t a long trail — just a couple of miles — but it’s an interesting one. This abandoned rail line in Durham once connected several tobacco plants in town. When the plants ceased needing connecting, the line closed. It played a vital role in joining the numerous tobacco plants across town, and it would also play a vital role as a pedestrian transportation corridor. And, says, Connelly, Norfolk Southern has indicated they may be willing to abandon the line.

“It goes three-quarters of the way around town,” says Connelly, “even though it’s just a couple miles in length.” Roughly, it would run from near the Amtrak station along the west edge of downtown to the east end of Elizabeth street. Using sidewalk connectors, it would link with the American Tobacco Trail a couple blocks to the south.

Atlantic & Yadkin / Bicentennial greenway
Greensboro/High Point

The Triad is on the cusp of a two-trail system that would include about 16 miles of connected trail. On the north end, the 7.5-mile Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway currently starts below Cone Boulevard and runs north-northwest past Country Park, the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park into the watershed lakes, including Bur-Mil Park. The watershed lakes area is especially popular with mountain bikers who for years have feasted on Wild Turkey, Owl’s Roost and Reedy Fork trails. Currently, the greenway ends just above Strawberry Road, but Madeleine Carey, assistant trails and greenways director with Greensboro Parks & Recreation, says it eventually will extend four miles north into Stokesdale. On the south end, she says the trail will extend into downtown Greensboro, where it will be one of four trails connecting with the Downtown Greenway, a work-in-progress that will encircle downtown Greensboro.

At roughly the midpoint of the existing Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway, at Old Battleground Avenue and Lake Brandt Road, is the northern end of the Bicentennial Greenway. Eventually, the Bicentennial Greenway, conceived in the early 1980s, will run south for 15 miles to High Point’s City Lake. At present, the trail runs 4.9 miles from its northern trailhead (including some sidewalk connectors) to Horsepen Creek Road. There’s a 2-mile gap before the trail picks up on the High Point and runs 8 miles, through and past the Piedmont Environmental Center.

Roger Bardsley is a planner with Guilford County Parks & Open Space, which is overseeing the Bicentennial Greenway. About a mile of that will be greenway along Horsepen Creek, and that stretch is close to beginning construction. The remaining mile will, by necessity be accomplished via a bike route and extra wide sidewalk along Burnt Poplar Road. Bardsley estimates the stretch of greenway along Horsepen Creek should open next summer, essentially completing the trail and creating a 22.5-mile Atlantic & Yadkin/Bicentennial network.

For the time being, it’s those kinds of connections that North Carolinians will have to rely on for its longer trail networks. North Carolina, says N.C. Rail-Trails’ Connelly, needs to undergo some fiscal attitude adjustment in order for us to start seeing the likes of, say, the 57-mile New River Trail and 34-mile Virginia Creeper Trail in Virginia.

“Someday North Carolina will have more destination trails like Virginia,” says Connelly. “We just have to pass this tipping point where we collectively realize that, if it’s OK to be spending $4 billion a year in North Carolina to treat obesity, then it should be OK to invest more than $6 million a year to provide bike-ped infrastructure.”

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Recent similar posts:

• Destination greenways: A sneak preview, 4.8.2011
• East Coast Greenway Alliance moves in to help N.C. move on, 4.4.2011
• Triangle close to 50 miles of connected greenway, 3.16.2011
• First 8 miles of Neuse greenway to open this summer, 2.12.2011

Photo: The nearly completed 22-mile American Tobacco Trail running from western Wake County north into Chatham County and into downtown Durham, is North Carolina’s current standard for long greenway trails.

The post Longing for longer greenways appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Piedmont

At first blush (a blush suggestive of hypothermia?), the notion of taking a 4-hour kayak trip in 30-degree weather might seem daft. But then, this particular trip is on Belews Lake, which the sponsoring Piedmont Environmental Center notes, “being a power plant lake [Duke Energy] where water is used to cool energy-producing turbines, the heated water … is much warmer than ambient air temperatures. The result is a three-foot deep blanket of warm air — perfect for the kayaker!”

On the surface (the surprisingly toasty surface) Saturday’s Kayak Breakfast on Belews Lake may have something of a 1950s, sci-fi, Creature-from-the-spookily-warm-Black Lagoon” feel to it, but then again, it’s sponsored by the Piedmont Environmental Center, so it has to be safe — and from the sounds of it, potentially habit forming. Paddle through this three-foot-high heat dome as a naturalist points out the natural world beyond. Birds, deer, beaver, “steam devils” — all are common attractions on this trip. Plus, there’s a hot breakfast midway. Starts at 7:30 a.m., ends noonish. $40 for PEC members, $50 for nonmembers.

For more info or to sign up, go here.

Coast

Unlike Belews Lake, the Atlantic Ocean is not heated and there will not be a 3-foot-high blanket of hot air above it when the 3rd Annual Cold Stroke Classic kicks off at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Blockade Runner on Wrightsville Beach. Probably doesn’t matter to the paddlers, anyway, since this is standup paddle boarding and everything above your privates would freeze anyway.

That’s right, a stand-up paddle board race, featuring the 7-mile Elite course and for you newcomers to stand-up paddle boarding, a 3.5-mile recreational course. It’s a great opportunity to check out the fast-growing sport of stand-up paddle boarding, which basically involves … well, standing on a board longer and wider than a surfboard and propelling yourself with a single paddle. In addition to the race, there’s a clinic Friday at 2 p.m. by Dan Gavere and a manufacturer’s expo. Demos, too (but again, this water isn’t heated; bring your dry suit).

More info here. Curious about stand-up paddle boarding? Check out our dalliance with the sport last summer at Lake Crabtree, here.

Mountains

It’s hard to imagine that skiing in North Carolina can get much better than it is

right now. The state’s ski areas have already gotten about twice as much snowfall as they do in a typical winter — and it’s only early January. Even better, continued frigid temperatures have created a sustained window for snowmaking: the ski areas are operating wide open and are reporting powder and packed powder conditions. And with temperatures forecast to climb into the upper 30s this weekend, with lots of sun, the time is perfect to go skiing or riding.

Check out conditions at SkiSoutheast.com.

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Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

The post Weekend plans? A heated lake, a frigid ocean, snow appeared first on GetGoing NC!.