I don’t mean do you have your gear ready: Rather, do you have your plan of attack in place?

Not to put too much pressure on the fall hiking season, but there is a fair amount of pressure to make the most of the next three months. Sure, spring has its obvious pluses — wildflowers, warming temperatures, rebirth — and winter has its subtle charms. But face it, the combination of a retreat from sweltering temperatures, low humidity, crisp blue skies, and fall color make this the best season to hike in the Southeast.

Thus, it’s important to have a plan to make the most of autumn. Like, where to go first?

Because you can’t be in two or more places at once, you need to plan your hikes accordingly by taking into account the best time to hike a given trail. You still may not be able to hit all your favorites this fall, but with smart scheduling you can hit a goodly number of them.

Here’s how I approach the fall hiking season.

September

We associate the start of fall with the Labor Day weekend, the start of school, the start of football. In reality, though, the calendar says fall doesn’t officially start until Sept. 22, and even then, we can still experience temperatures topping 80 for another month. The point: take advantage of this continuing warm weather by taking two factors into consideration:

• 

  Elevation. It will start cooling — but not yet be cold — at higher elevations in September. Take advantage of this early pleasantness by hitting the high country trails you missed in summer. Come mid-October, you’ll begin dealing with true cold above 4,000 to 5,000 feet, and by November, limited access due to snow, ice and seasonal road closings on Forest Service land. Examples: North Carolina’s Black Mountains and the Shining Rock Wilderness; the Mount Rogers area of Virginia.

• Water. If you didn’t get a chance to hike this summer on a trail with multiple stream crossings, waterfalls and pools for lollygagging, you did not have a complete summer. Air and water temps at lower mountain elevations — 3,000 feet and below — will remain warm enough through the month for a summer-like experience. Examples: Wilson Creek in North Carolina; St. Mary’s Wilderness in Virginia.

October

Four factors to keep in mind for your October hikes:

• Fall color. Here’s another misconception: The start of October means immediate fall color. In fact, the fall color change typically doesn’t begin until mid to late October in the Piedmont. Even at the highest elevations, it doesn’t begin until late September. If you’ve got a hankerin’ for early fall color, put the high country on your early October list, and keep an eye on the fall color tracking websites (ExploreAsheville.com, VirginiaisforLovers.org) which track where the color is currently best (depending on temperature, cloud cover and rainfall, the emergence of color can vary wildly). Examples of early fall color: Elk Knob State Park, Mount Jefferson State Natural Area in North Carolina; Mount Pleasant National Scenic Area in Virginia.
• Crowds. Fall, especially October, is the most popular time of year to hike. Folks who otherwise balk at having to park in the outer lot at the mall suddenly channel their inner John Muir and hit the trail. The good news: they generally gravitate to trailheads that have: 1) a Visitor Center, 2) Restrooms, 3) paved parking, 4) an address for the trailhead. Avoid these four traps, especially on idyllic fall weekends, and you should be fine.  Examples of off-the-beaten-path trailheads: Pilot Creek and Pinnacle Hotel Road accesses to Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina; Osprey Point Access, Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Virginia.
• Temperature. From the beginning of October to the end, you’ll notice significant drops in temperature. Remember to layer.
• Sunset. Likewise, the amount of afternoon sunlight you’ll have diminishes significantly during October. For example, on Oct. 1, sunset in Raleigh is at 6:59:49; on Oct. 31, the sun will set at 6:21:37. Be aware when planning late day hikes.

November

November, especially the first half, is the sweet spot of your fall hiking season. In reality, in the Piedmont fall color is near peak at this time, and the cooler temperatures — too cool for the occasional hiker — make for ideal hiking conditions. There’s a quiet that dominates the woods, and there’s just the slightest hint of the coming transition to winter. Great color, fewer people, perfect weather — now is the time to hit the more popular trails, even on weekends.

Fall is prime hiking season in the Southeast. Make the most of it by planning accordingly.

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As goals go, it my not be the loftiest. 

Or is it?

For a good 5 years this simple ambition has been on my to-do list. Yet it remains undone. Why?

Because until now I’ve simply viewed it as “a thing to do.” A thing I really want to do, but, in the pecking order of life, simply a thing to do; it never occurred to me to elevate it to “goal” status. Goals, after all, are things you work at: a million in sales through Q2, discovering a cure for the doldrums. Showing up for work on time. Goals usually take the form of resolutions you set on New Year’s Day, like fitting into your high school Speedo by Memorial Day. Having a processed pastry and Sanka while sitting on a tree stump isn’t exactly an achievement you’d include in the Christmas newsletter. 

Yet it’s been something I really wanted to do. So I’ve elevated it to goal status. 

September has been deemed “Set a Goal” month by the Year of the Trail people. That, along with the promise of cooler, drier air, has gotten me thinking more about my own trail goals. I’ve set several goals for the month, which I wrote about last week. Some would fit into the more traditional, performance-based definition of a goal: doing a 17-mile hike at Doughton Park, for instance. Or hiking 40 miles in a week. And some, like eating a Pop-Tart, don’t.

So what is a goal? Here are six things to take into consideration when setting a goal. Your goal doesn’t have to meet all five criteria, but it should reflect one or two.

1. Is it something you really want to do, no matter how silly it might seem (e.g. the Pop-Tart)?
2. Is it something you’ll feel especially good about having done after it’s over? Note the “after.” (If you aren’t familiar with the Three Types of Fun, brush up here.)
3. Is it something you could explain in an elevator speech? Not that you’d need to; a goal only needs to make sense to you. But “goals” can be squishy, and a squishy goal is hard to achieve. For example, “I want to feel better about myself as a hiker in three months.” OK, but what exactly will make you feel better about yourself? That’s what your goal should be. Average a 3 mph pace on a 10-mile hike? Do a hike with 1,000 feet of elevation gain? Those are goals you can explain briefly and succinctly.
4. Is it realistic? “I want to climb Mt. Everest” is an admirable goal, and perhaps doable if you have a year to train and can spend a month in Katmandu getting acclimated. Oh, and if you have a spare $100,000. A goal should be something you haven’t done, but is within the realm of possibility. Set your sights high; it’s good to dream. Just be aware of your limitations.
5. Make sure the journey to your goal is as enjoyable as the goal itself. If, say, you plan to climb Mount Mitchell from the Black Mountain Campground, gaining 3,700 vertical feet in 5.5 miles, make sure you have some fun — and, of course, challenging — training hikes leading up to it. 
6. Have an “easy’ goal in the mix. Getting that first goal out of the way is a confidence builder. 

Even if it’s simply eating a Pop-Tart.

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The weekend forecast: it’s another good one, another guaranteed to have the new converts to hiking flooding the trails and, in some cases, causing our state parks to restrict access. The solution: hike where they ain’t.

Here are five shorter hikes that are less well-known, less apt to be crowded this fine September weekend. We provide a brief description, then a link to where you can find more info on hiking it yourself.

1. Sycamore Trail: Bike & Bridle Access

Umstead State Park

Raleigh

Seriously!? The most popular state park in the North Carolina system? Maybe, but not the bike & bridle trailhead access off the Glenwood Avenue side of the park. Pass the Visitor Center, take the first left, the next right, then then next left and you’re deep inside the park in a gravel lot that offers access to a 4.5-mile lollipop loop of the Sycamore Trail. 

Check out our guide for the hike here.

2. Knight Brown Nature Preserve

Piedmont Land Conservancy

Stokesdale (north of Greensboro)

Drop into a valley forged by Belews Creek and explore massive stands of beech, cascades, and the creek itself on three interconnected trails that total 3.3 miles. You start on the south rim and ascend two additional rims, but the scenic action here is mostly in a valley that shines regardless of season.

Check out our guide for the hike here, visit the preserve website here.

3. Duke Forest: Korstian Division Gate 25

Durham

The 7,000-acre Duke Forest, with parcels in three western Triangle counties, is ripe with hiking opportunities that fly largely under the radar. From Gate 25 on Whitfield Road, a fire road leads to single track that explores cascades along New Hope Creek, the bluffs above the creek, and mature hardwood forest. About a 3-mile hike.

Check out our guide for the hike here, learn more about Duke Forest and order a map here.

4. Seven Mile Creek Natural Area

Orange County

Located southwest of Hillsborough, this 360-acre preserve offers about 2 miles of hiking on trail that’s as foot-friendly as any around: it’s wide, it’s smooth, there are no heart-breaking climbs. The highlight: the area’s namesake creek, a smaller version of the river it feeds into about a mile downstream, the Eno.

Read our blog about Seven Mile Creek here.

5. Confluence Natural Area

Eno River Association

Hillsborough

The “confluence” of the name is the spot where the east and west branches of the Eno River merge, a point located on the southwestern tip of this 200-acre preserve, host to meadows, mature hardwood forests and the Eno’s origins. Initially open only on weekends, the Eno River Association has opened the natural area for exploring daily. The video above offers a tour.

Read our blog on the Confluence Natural Area here. 

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