Coast

Standup paddleboarding: you’ve been thinking about it, but for whatever reason you’ve yet to give it a try. I don’t know where to rent a board, I don’t have anyone to teach me how, I don’t know the good places to go.

If any/all of those excuses sound familiar, then head to Wrightsville Beach early Saturday and take part in Survivor SUP: Paddle Boot Camp. Offered by Wrightsville Stand Up Paddle Board Co. and Shore fitness, the two-hour clinic includes equipment, instruction, a workout and “island experience.” Beginners welcome.

Logistics: Saturday, July 12, 6:30-8:30 a.m., Wrightsville Beach. More info and to sign up: 910.777.4979 or jkraz00@gmail.com.

Saturday forecast: High of 84, chance of thunderstorms.

Piedmont

When it’s 90 in the Piedmont, our outdoor thoughts tend to change from land to sea — or at lease a local lake or river. A local lake, Lake Wylie, is where our thoughts are turning this weekend, when the McDowell Nature Preserve is sponsoring a Family Kayak Tour.

The two-hour trip on this lake bordering the Carolinas includes instruction and equipment, and includes views of Copperhead Island and Buster Boyd Bridge.

Logistics: Saturday, July 12, 9:30 a.m., Waterfront Deck Programming Area, McDowell Nature Preserve, Charlotte. $15 for a single, $20 for a tandem, ages 5 and up (ages 5-9 must share a tandem with an adult). More info and to sign up, go here.

Saturday forecast: High of 90, sunny.

Mountains

To beat the summer heat in the South, you have to get high — elevationwise, of course. The Carolina Mountain Club will help you do just that Sunday on a 7.5-mile hike in the Sam Knob area of the Pisgah National Forest. All of the hike is above 5,000 feet, topping out on 6,214-foot Black Balsam.

In addition to cool temperatures, there are open meadows, mountaintop views and passage through balsam woods. A great hike on all fronts.

Logistics: Sunday, July 13, 10 a.m., Black Balsam Access off the Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest. Space is limited; to sign up call 828.606.1490 or email jqs290@gmail.com.

Sunday forecast: High of 84, chance of rain.

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

The post This weekend: Cool fun on the water, on the mountain appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Coast

Lake Waccamaw State Park, Lake Waccamaw. Lakeshore Trail, 5 miles. More info here.
This coastal plain trail takes in a little of everything on its journey from the Visitors Center along the shore of this Carolina Bay to the Waccamaw River. According to the park website, the trail “cuts through a pine forest, past one of the oldest stands of cypress trees in the area, under towering hickory trees, alongside grass beds in the lake that provide cover for a variety of fish species and beside sandy beaches perfect for picnicking or pausing to gaze across the lake.” Expect a variety of color. Learn more about the park — including where the heck it is and how to get there — at its website. Enhance your visit by going on Saturday, Dec. 21, and signing on for the Holiday Hike, a ranger-led hike focusing on winter tree ID.

Piedmont

Uwharrie National Recreation Trail, Uwharrie National Forest, 40 miles, with shorter options (Trip No. 36, “Backpacking North Carolina,” Hike No. 37, “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina”). Details on the forest here. Back in the 1970s, when the Uwharrie Trail was originally blazed, it covered 50 miles and was a popular backpack destination for regional scout troops. Fittingly, it was those very troops who helped build the trail. Parts of the trail later fell into disrepair; the useable part of the trail dropped by half. But the Uwharrie Trail is on the rebound: Early this month a new 4-mile run opened linking the 20-mile Uwharrie National Recreation Trail to the south with a trail network in the Birkhead Mountain Wilderness Area, creating 40 miles of continuous trail. The growing trail provides access through the Uwharrie National Forest, site of an ancient mountain chain where peaks once climbed to 20,000 feet but today fall short of 1,000. Quick climbs through this Southern Appalachian hardwood forest are greeted not with peaks but rounded ridgelines featuring chunks of exposed granite. Lower passages are often along several creeks that penetrate this mid-state national forest. Three roads cross the trail, making for shorter, shuttled options.

Greensboro watershed lakes, 42 miles total, short hikes of as little as a mile. Details here. Falls is a great time for hiking. Alas, it’s also a great time for several other activities, starting with watching college and pro football. Much as you’d like to hit the road for a day trip in the mountains, kickoff is at 1. What’s a sports fan to do? Hike closer to home. Triad residents have numerous good options around the three watershed lakes — Brandt, Townsend and Higgins — north of town. Forty-two miles of watershed hiking trails take you through a variety of environments. The 1.6-mile Palmetto Trail, for instance, features some interesting geology; the 3.6-mile Nat Greene Trail offers a smorgasbord of Piedmont ecology.

Mountains

Doughton Park: Basin Cove Loop, Blue Ridge Parkway near Boone, 7-18 miles (Trip No. 11 “Backpacking North Carolina”). This trip has all sorts of options. Starting from Longbottom Road at Basin Creek you immediately have three: To the north, Cedar Ridge Trail takes you up to the Parkway near the Brinegar Cabin, where you can catch the Bluff Mountain Trail south through the vast meadows and balds that make Doughton Park a popular Blue Ridge Parkway destination. To the south, Flat Rock Ridge Trail traces another ridgeline up to the Parkway, where you’ll take Bluff Mountain Trail north through Doughton Park. Straight takes you up Grassy Gap Trail to a primitive campground where three options await. The 2-plus-mile Bluff Mountain Primitive Trail takes you straight up the escarpment to Doughton while the southern veering Grassy Gap Trail, following old roadbed, is the most mellow way to reach the top. Or, take the Basin Creek Trail up a narrow canyon where falls seem to trip over themselves for your attention. The trail ends at the one-room Caudill cabin, where a determined couple raised 13 kids more than a century ago. Not a bad option in the bunch.

Sam Knob Loop (Trip No. 14, “Backpacking North Carolina”). This loop off the Blue Ridge Parkway on the edge of the Shining Rock Wilderness is the ideal spring opener. It’s not too long (8.2 miles), water is assured but, at this altitude (between 5,000 and 6,000 feet) not an obstacle, and there’s just enough climbing to wake your hibernating legs, but not enough to make them wake grumpy. Plus, mile-for-mile it may be the most scenic trip in the book, taking in just about every type of southern Appalachian landscape — from balsam forest to rocky knob to open meadow and tight rhododendron passage — imaginable. A good overnight trek.

The post Trails made for a December hike appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Because of the mid-week holiday we’re relaxing the definition of “weekend.” It starts … today!

Coast

You go to the beach regularly, maybe even live there for a week every summer. Yet how much do you know about your fellow residents, especially the year-round residents? The sea turtles, for instance, or the sea gulls? Tag along on Audubon North Carolina’s  Free Friday Field Trip at Mason Inlet, a “fascinating sanctuary where you can get close-up looks at nesting birds and chicks,” according to ANC. “Coastal birds are scrappy survivors that combat extreme temperatures, unpredictable weather, and predators to successfully raise their young.” Who wouldn’t want to spend time with scrappy survivors?

Logistics: It’s free, from 9-11 a.m. Friday. Meet at the end of N. Lumina Avenue in Wilmington. More info by calling 910.686.7527 or by going here.

Friday forecast: High of 91, 40 percent chance of precip.

Piedmont

If you’re a typical outdoors lover you probably love good music as well, and not to cast aspersions, but probably not your run-of-the-mill Top 40 fare. Which is why our pick for the Piedmont goes to the annual Festival for the Eno, where non-stop good music (four stages, no waiting) and outdoor opportunities go hand-in-hand. There’s hiking on 5 miles of park trail and canoe and kayak rentals on one of the most peaceful flatwaters around: the mile-long millpond backed up by the dam at West Point on the Eno city park, epicenter of the festival. Runs today and again on Saturday and Sunday.

Logistics: Tickets are $15 in advance, $37 for a three-day pass, $18 at the gate, kids under 12 are free, teens 13-17 are $10. More info here.

Forecast: Today, high of 97, 40 percent chance of rain; Saturday and Sunday, highs of 100 with 40 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

Mountains

No denying it’s hot, no denying you still want to be outside. But while it’s hot, hot, hot throughout most of North Carolina, the higher you get the cooler it becomes, and it doesn’t get much higher/cooler than Sam Knob on the crest of the Blue Ridge west of Asheville. 6,050-foot Sam Knob is the keynote destination of a 10.6-mile hike Sunday by the Charlotte-based Carolina Berg Wanderers. Save for a very brief interlude with NC 215, this is a classic mountain day-hike loop: you’ve got your summit (Sam Knob), your balsam forest, your water and a waterfall or two, you spend some quality time on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail — a very nice hike (which you can learn more about if you happen to have a copy of “Backpacking North Carolina” handy: it’s Trip No. 14).

Logistics: Hike starts at 8 a.m. Sunday; consult the CBWs for more information, here.

Sunday forecast: High in the low 80s, 30 percent chance of rain.

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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.

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