Winter is approaching, but the temperatures this weekend will be more autumnal. Perfect, in fact, for getting out and shaking the lethargy of a Thanksgiving feast. Carolina Beach State Park gives you good reason to head for the coast, there’s a rare opportunity to explore a Jordan Lake tributary in the Piedmont, and in the mountains, the trail less traveled could be the one yielding the biggest reward.
Tag Archives: Pisgah National Forest
Top places to mountain bike in North Carolina
Welcome to our latest effort in our quest to build a comprehensive list of places to play in North Carolina: Mountain biking.
North Carolina, if you aren’t aware, is a hot spot for mountain biking. Last year, Outside magazine named the Pisgah National Forest one of the top five mountain biking destinations in the U.S. Singletracks.com asked its followers to name the their favorite trails in the world, and four were in the state: Tsali, the Fletcher Creek area of Mills River, Bent Creek near Asheville and Overmountain Victory Trail at Kerr Scott Reservoir near Wilkesboro.
You want an epic ride? You don’t have to go far if you live in North Carolina.
Here’s our preliminary offering of 19 places to ride that we think are pretty swell. But we want to hear what you think. Think a place on our list is overrated and should be replaced? Let us know. Have we made a glaring omission? Fill us in. Or maybe we’ve omitted a key detail about one of the places that is listed. Tell us about that as well.
We’ll update the list periodically, and so you don’t have to go searching around the site to find, it will live permanently in the left rail of our home page. Scroll down to “Mountain biking,” click and you’re in business.
And send us your thoughts. Nothing like another good excuse to ride.
25 North Carolina hikes tailor-made to beat the heat
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.
This is one weekend where you better have plans to move
In a post turkey-mashed potatoes-giblets-and-gravy-with-cranberry sauce-sandwich world, you gotta move. Here are some options.
Coast
In our quest to find not-as-demanding active benefit events (see Tuesday’s Tour de Toys post), we bring you Saturday’s Jingle Bell Walk in Pine Knoll Shores. This two-mile walk through the Beacon’s Reach area of Pine Knoll Shores is sponsored by St. Francis by the Sea and benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Coastal Carolina. The walk begins at 9 a.m. from the Beacon’s Reach Management Association Building on Sunny Shores Drive off NC 58. $25 for adults, $10 ages 13-16, kids under 12 are free. More info here.
This weekend: Paddleboard, yoga hike, or take a mile-high hike with us
You could explore standup paddleboarding at Wrightsville Beach this weekend, you could take a yoga hike near Charlotte. Or, you could join us on a GetGoingNC/NCHikes-sponsored, day-long hike along the mile-high portion of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail through the Pisgah National Forest.