It snowed Wednesday night, you had to work Thursday and today. Alas, the meager yet magnificent snowfall will be gone by the time you can hike it this weekend.
Or will it?
Cold temperatures Thursday and today mean there likely will be some snow left along the trail come Saturday — if you know where to look.
In summer, I fantasize about layering up, topping it all with a shell and hiking in the cold and, if the planets are truly in line, snow. Rarely in winter do I fantasize about hiking in summer, an activity that can quickly be confused with swimming.
I’ve heard grumbling the past couple days about the weekend forecast, which, yes, includes the highly-un-April-like possibility of snow.
Need a nudge to get out and explore this weekend? How about this 60 seconds of escape on Sal’s Branch Trail at Umstead State Park. We were there today, and with frigid temps remaining over the weekend, you can be assured of experiencing a little snow here and throughout the region.
Answer the following: The weather forecast for this weekend is:
a) Frightful
b) Delightful
If you answered a), then you’ve already resigned yourself to spending the weekend indoors. Here’s a list of good books.
If you answered b), stick with us as we depart from our usual format, which is to recommend planned outdoor activities scheduled for the weekend. Organized bike rides, hikes, runs, that kind of thing. Odds are that anything scheduled throughout much of the state will be canceled should the forecast illustrated above (thanks WRAL Weather, btw) come true. No sense recommending something that likely won’t happen. Instead, some thoughts on how you, as an individual, can take advantage of the snowy cold weekend.
Monday — never an easy time for the outdoors enthusiast. After a weekend of adventure, returning to the humdrum work-a-day world can make one melancholy. To help ease the transition, every Monday we feature a 90 Second Escape — essentially, a 90-second video or slide show of a place you’d probably rather be: a trail, a park, a greenway, a lake … anywhere as long as it’s not under a fluorescent bulb.
