Typically, when we think of a leafed-out forest in the Southeast we also think of hot temperatures and muggy air. Walking through the Seven Mile Creek Nature Preserve this morning I was struck by the full onslaught of green and the fact that, with the temperature around 60, I needed long sleeves. Spring hiking weather with the visual benefits of summer. It’s the best, and that’s what this weekend is about: the chance to take a summerlike hike in spring.

Here are 5 hikes we like where the hardwoods will be in full leaf this weekend, but where you won’t build a full sweat to enjoy them. We provide a link to both our guide for the hike and the official website.

Confluence Natural Area

Hillsborough
2.23 miles of trail

Eno River Association

Especially along the East Branch of the Eno River it’s a full-on jungle during full leaf season. On a summer’s day the air is still, the lush woods close. Your tendency is to rush this area and get to the more open West Branch, which is too bad because the flora here is so diverse, because there’s so much to see. When it’s cool out you’re much more likely to pause and appreciate. 

Find our guide here

Fews Ford 7-Miler

Eno River State Park, Durham

7-mile loop involving the Buckquarter Creek, Ridge, Shakori, Fieldstone and Holden Mill trails

So many stretches where a mature forest can be appreciated on this hike, but our favorite is along the most remote run, along the Shakori Trail. The trail spends much of its time in bottomland forest where a variety of hardwoods stand high. The upper reaches of the Ridge Trail head through rich hardwoods as well.

Find our guide here 

Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Day-Hike Section T

Durham

4.1 miles (one way)

From the eastern trailhead off Red Mill Road you’re in sheltering forest from the start. But  bottomland woods a little more than a mile in offer the most impressive show of tall trees and impenetrable canopy. This woods continue to dominate even as you climb out of the floodplain at mile 1.8, follow a bluff, then drop back down at trail’s end, near Old Oxford Road and Penny’s Bend. 

Find our guide here

Sycamore Trail (short loop)

Umstead State Park

Raleigh

4.4 miles

The main trailhead for Sycamore (overall distance: 7 miles) is at the end of the road leading into the park from Glenwood Avenue. But you can get to the heart of the trail — and avoid the crowds as well — by picking up the trail at the bike & bridle trailhead. The heart of the trail: the mile-andf-a-half stretch along Sycamore Creek, which winds its way through floodplain forest. 

Find our guide here.

Knight Brown Nature Preserve

Piedmont Land Conservancy

Stokesdale

3.1 miles of trail

This 189-acre preserve north of Greensboro (pictured at top) is enveloped  by ridges protecting Belews Creek on its peaceful tumble through mature hardwoods, including some especially impressive beech trees. So expansive is the canopy here that it protects the world below like a massive green dome. An especially good Wow! factor: if you’ve got people on the fence about hiking, this preserve will have them hopping down on the side of taking a long ramble.

Find our guide here

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GetHiking! Southeast Podcast

Prefer listening to your trail news? We’ve got you covered, with the GetHiking! Southeast Podcast, a new episode of which appears every Tuesday morning. This week’s topic: Campfire Conversations. Check it out here.

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The raindrops falling on many of our Tarheel heads (speaking of which, “Go Heels!”) as the work week draws to a close should dry up by the weekend. This week’s weekend recommendations come from the comprehensive events calendar kept by our friends at the N.C. Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs. See the calendar section below for more info on the NCOEEPA.

Coast

One of our favorite hikes in the N.C. State Park system — and there’s stiff competition — is the Huggins Island History Hike at Hammocks Beach State Park. Hammocks Beach S.P. is a curious park: while the Visitor Center is on the mainland, its recreational anchors are islands accessed via the Intercostal Waterway. There’s Bear Island, for instance, served by ferry much of the year and easily the park’s most popular asset. Then there are lesser-known bodies, such as Huggins Island.

On this hike, the next edition of which is Sunday, you’ll boat out to the island and explore both the island’s natural attributes and its human history, from the folks who have tried to tame the island to its role during the Civil War.

Logistics: Huggins Island History Hike, Sunday, April 2, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Hammocks Beach State Park, Swansboro. Free, but space is limited and registration is required, by calling the park office at 910.326.4881.

Sunday forecast: Sunny and 71.

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Looking ahead: Wilmington Earth Day Festival, Saturday, April 22, Hugh MacRae Park, Wilmington. More info here.

Piedmont

Our state is filled with little gems of nature, gems embedded in some of the most unlikely places, yet right under our noses. Gems we often have no idea exist, even if they exist right down the road.

One such gem is the Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve, which sits in a 146-acre tear of land created by an oxbow in the Neuse River, in Wake Forest. Part of Raleigh Parks & Rec, it’s a wonderful nature nook just off US 401. It’s a nice spot for a quiet escape, or to learn about nature, the latter being the case this Sunday. “Meadow Story and a Nature Walk” is just that: start with a story about a meadow, then walk about the meadow that dominates the preserve. Help propagate the local wildflower community along the way.

Logistics: “Meadow Story and a Nature Walk,” Sunday, April 2, 2-3 p.m., Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve, 2900 Horse Shoe Farm Road, Wake Forest. Free, but registration is required, by going here. More info by dialing 919.870.2871.

Sunday forecast: Mostly sunny, high around 73.

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Looking ahead: Durant Family Campout, Saturday, April 22, Durant Nature Park, Raleigh. More info here.

Mountains

We’re all about active lifestyles here at GetGoingNC. We advocate movement of all sorts, from hiking and backpacking to mountain biking and paddling. Every once in a while, though, we realize we are only skimming the surface of what an active life is about. An hour or two or three a day? Ha! Try 18. As in farming.

Perhaps during the recent Farm-to-Table-fueled resurgence of the local farm, you’ve wondered if you have the right stuff to go all “Green Acres.” More so, you’ve likely wondered how on earth one gets into farming, and what it entails. Spend Saturday in Asheville and find out.

From 10 a.m. To 4 p.m., Lenoir Rhyne University sponsors “Farm Dreams? An Exploratory Workshop for Farm Dreamers.” Say the sponsors:

Discover and assess your resources, skills and farming intentions. Begin to develop an educational plan toward farming. Connect with regional training opportunities and support networks. Prioritize your next steps toward your farming goals. Hear from experienced farmers running successful farms in WNC.” 

Logistics: “Farm Dreams: An Exploratory Workshop for Farm Dreamers,” Saturday, April 1, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Lenoir Rhyne University, 36 Montford Ave., Asheville. $55. More info and register here

Sunday forecast: Mostly sunny and 63.

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Looking ahead: “Spring Wildflower Hike,” Saturday, April 22, Hendersonville. More info here.

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Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below. 

Coast

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Exploring the Neuse River Trail

Looking for yet another way to take advantage of the gorgeous fall weather? We stumbled across this Escape from 2013 on the Neuse River Trail, the 28-mile run of greenway from the Falls dam south to the Johnston County line (with another 5 miles into Clayton).

At the time, the trail was a link or two shy of completion; today, you can ride the whole ribbon with but one road to cross (a sleepy country two-lane). Learn more about the trail here.

A great fall escape, as you’re about to see.

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Some, though, are pulled off through the vision and drive of one key person. The Raven Rock Ramble, instance, an annual May century ride that Cary’s David Cole, a kidney transplant recipient, started in 2002 to raise money for the UNC Kidney Center (it’s raised more than $150,000 in its 12 years). Or the Miracle Mile, held every September in downtown Raleigh to raise money to cure motor neuron diseases such as Primary Lateral Sclerosis and ALS, a k a Lou Gehrig’s disease. The remarkable Sarah Witt, a former runner who has PLS, started the Miracle Mile in 2006; it as since raised more than $450,000.

And, on Dec. 13, we have the 5th Annual Tour de Toys, which Camye Womble started to  raise money for kids who might not otherwise have toys to unwrap this holiday season. Price of admission: one new, unwrapped toy that will be given to families at The Women’s Center of Wake County.

While the goal of this ride is worthy enough, another recommendation for this ride is that it’s a ride for everyone, not just the hammerheads who can crank out 64 miles in a couple hours. There’s a 12-mile route, and if that’s too much, you have the option for a six-mile-ride as well. The rides start and finish at Natty Greene’s Brewing Company in downtown Raleigh, each has a ride leader to make sure you stay on the course, each has a sweep to make sure you don’t get left behind. The unwrapped toy admission includes two adult beverages for adults at the finish, kid-appropriate beverages for the under 21-set. You need a bike, you need a helmet, you need a cool, unwrapped toy, you need to show up around 9:30 a.m. (the ride starts at 10 a.m.). Is there a better way to spend the second Saturday morning in December?

Learn more about Tour de Toys and register, by going here.

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Triangle voters showed once again they love their greenways and are willing to pay for them.
Bond packages in Raleigh and in Wake Forest both passed yesterday by landslide margins, providing funding for two key greenways.

• In Raleigh, 68 percent of voters approved $92 million in parks bonds that include $4.4 million for a 3-mile stretch of greenway linking the Crabtree Creek Trail with Umstead State Park.
• In Wake Forest, two-thirds of voters said yes to $4.6 million for greenway construction.

Here’s why both projects are significant:

Raleigh

For more than a decade, the 3-mile connection between the Crabtree Creek Trail and Umstead State Park was in legal limbo, caught in a kerfuffle between the quarry that owns most of the land, the city and local homeowners. When the greenway access part of the dispute was resolved last year, it paved the way for including the project in yesterday’s bond package.
Why is this 3-mile stretch especially important?

The resulting 17-mile Crabtree Creek Trail will link Raleigh’s Neuse River Trail, the backbone of Raleigh’s greenway system, with Umstead State Park via Crabtree Creek. Utilizing 13 miles of bike & bridle trail in Umstead, it will then be possible to connect with Cary’s Black Creek Greenway, which links with Cary’s White Oak Greenway, which is a couple miles shy of linking with the American Tobacco Trail. The Neuse River Trail links with another 5 miles of greenway into Clayton.

What’s that mean to you, the walking/running/bike riding consumer?

• It will be possible to ride a bike on path prohibited to motorized vehicles from Clayton in Johnston County to downtown Durham.
• The 15.6-mile Walnut Creek Greenway also connects to the Neuse River Trail, running west to N.C. State’s Centennial Campus and, with a short sidewalk connector and road connection, on to Lake Johnson. That means you could ride from Umstead to Lake Johnson on greenway via the Crabtree Creek/Neuse River/Walnut Creek trails, though a faster greenway route would be to catch the Reedy Creek Greenway out Umstead and pick up the N.C. Museum of Art and Rocky Branch greenways to the Walnut Creek Trail and Lake Johnson.
• With the Crabtree-to-Umstead connection and a few short road hops, we will have roughly 150 miles of innerconnected, off-road, mostly paved, bike-friendly trail in the Triangle.

The Raleigh bond package also includes $2 million to correct a hiccup on the Crabtree Creek Trail at Lassiter Mill Road that has long vexed walkers, runners and bikers along that stretch.

Wake Forest

As the Neuse River Trail is the spine of Raleigh’s greenway system, so is the Smith Creek Greenway to Wake Forest’s.
Currently, there are two segments to the Smith Creek Greenway:

• 1.15-mile stretch running from Burlington Mills Road south across the Neuse River to Raleigh’s Neuse River Trail (see above).
• 0.63-mile stretch that runs from Heritage Lake Road south through the Smith Creek Soccer Center to Rogers Road.

Yesterday’s bond money will fund a link between the Smith Creek Greenway ending at Rogers Road with the Heritage High School/Middle School/Elementary School complex, then east along Sanford Creek to Mill Bridge Nature Park. That construction will include 2.4 miles of greenway trail and 1.25 miles of sidewalk and multi-use path in the vicinity of Heritage Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, and will link with 0.85 miles of existing greenway along Sanford Creek. The town is also using $3.4 million in federal Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality grant money on the project.
The project will result in a roughly 4-mile stretch of continuous paved path that, as the town notes, “will connect major activity centers in Wake Forest.”
Eventually, the plan is to build 2.5 miles of greenway linking the two stretches of the Smith Creek Greenway with the Neuse River Trail.

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