A quick advisory pertinent to our current snow event: though it has been cold out, it has been sunny and there has been a bit of a freeze/thaw cycle. The temperature warms into the upper 30s during the sunny days, causing a little snow to melt, it cools into the teens over night causing that melt to freeze. Thus, you can be looking at crusty, icy, rock-snow on the trail, conditions that will cause you to slip and/or twist an ankle. Poles are especially crucial under such conditions. Revere the remaining snow, but respect it as well.

One more thing. This post is relevant, too, because more snow is in the forecast. Again, revere and respect.

That said, with some snow remaining, where’s the best place to find it this weekend?

On north-facing slopes. 

Just about anywhere you regularly hike in the rolling piedmont will have a north-facing slope significant enough to keep winter’s low-lying sun from completely melting even a light dusting. One way to find out where those slopes are is at caltopo.com, where you can zero in on your area of interest, click on “Slope Angle Shading,” pick the degree of angle and find those north-facing slopes. Another way is to check out our list five favorite hikes with north-facing slopes, below.

Five Favorite Post-Snow Hikes

• Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough. Hike the 2.2-mile Mountain Loop Trail (your destination is slightly closer hiking counterclockwise), and as the trail snuggles up to the Eno River, a 30-foot north facing bluff keeps it cool enough to support a colony of plants more common to the Southern Appalachians, including mountain laurel, rhododendron and galax, which look all the better against snow. Details and directions here. 
• Pilot Mountain State Park, Pinnacle (north of Winston-Salem). The 3.3-mile Pilot Creek Trail starts from an access north of the pinnacle (meaning fewer hikers) and wraps around the north flank of the 2,421-foot mountain. You should see remaining snow much of the way. Details and directions here.
• Cane Creek Natural Area, Snow Hill (south of Burlington). This new 5-year-old preserve offers a unique chance to explore the compact Cane Creek Mountain range, which tops out around 1,000 feet. From the Pine Hill Trailhead, take the 2.5-mile Northern Approach Trail counterclockwise; you’ll spend nearly 80 percent of the hike on the leeward (in a sunshine sense) side of the mountain. Details and directions here.
• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury (north of Greensboro). On a sunny winter’s day Hanging Rock will be one popular state park. But not if you start from the Flinchum Road Access on the Dan River and hike up the Indian Creek Trail, which stays in the shadow of the park for most of its length. Bonus: hike 3 miles up to Window Falls, enjoy a snowy waterfall, then head back down the mountain and avoid the crowds trickling down from the Visitor Center above. Details and directions here.
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve, Stokesdale (north of Greensboro). This 189-acre preserve courtesy the Piedmont Land Conservancy features a bowl served by three trails — Beechwood Bottom, Creekside, Leatherwood — that offer about three miles of hiking, much of it, especially along Belews Creek, protected from the sun. Details and directions here.

Again, if you can’t make it out this weekend, more snow is in the forecast for next week.

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Learn more

For more detailed information and direction on exploring Cane Creek and the Knight Brown Nature Preserve, check out our guides for both areas:

• Cane Creek Natural Area
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve

The post Where (and how) to find the lingering snow appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

• Merchants Millpond State Park, Gatesville: Trails will be covered with a base of 3 to 5 inches.
• Pettigrew State Park, Columbia: Trails should have a base of 2 to 3 inches
• Umstead State Park, Raleigh: 1 to 1.5 inches
• Eno River State Park, Durham: 1-1.5 inches
• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury: 2-3 inches

Seems like we should start making this a regular feature in our Thursday GetOut! weekend planning advisory. For have we ever had three weekends in a row with snow? The folks here in the GetHiking! Weather Center can find no record of that happening before in the Piedmont (though our records only go back 10 years). Anyway …

What snow there might be should move out of the area Friday night and Saturday morning, leaving cold temperatures (highs in the low 30s), clear skies and some slick roads.

So, once again, try to keep your activities close to home — speaking of which … .

Have we mentioned lately our 2020 book, “Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You”? It’s a compact 53 pages of quick tips for finding adventure out your front door. (The compact nature makes it easy to quickly unearth the information that will help you find adventure nearby; less time reading, more time exploring.) 

That’s one option for the weekend — and one you can start planning for immediately since the book is available on Kindle.

Because the weather remains up in the air (will it snow? The GetGoingNC Model says “maybe”), we’re loathe to make a suggestion (other than the one to buy our book). Instead, wake up Saturday, look out the window, see what you’ve got, and from there, GetOut!

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About ‘Explore Your Neighborhood’

“Explore Your Neighborhood: A Guide to Discovering the World Immediately Around You,” $6.99 paperback, $4.99 Kindle, available here.

The post GetOut! This weekend’s snow report appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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. 

Where’s that? you ask.

On north-facing slopes. 

As I discussed on today’s Morning Walk With Joe (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 8 a.m.-ish), just about anywhere you regularly hike in the rolling piedmont will have a north-facing slope significant enough to keep winter’s low-lying sun from completely melting our midweek dusting. One way to find out where those slopes are is at caltopo.com, where you can zero in on your area of interest, click on “Slope Angle Shading,” pick the degree of angle and find those north-facing slopes. Another way is to check out the list below.

Five hikes with shaded north-facing slopes

• Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough. Hike the 2.2-mile Mountain Loop Trail (your destination is slightly closer hiking counterclockwise), and as the trail snuggles up to the Eno River, a 30-foot north facing bluff keeps it cool enough to support a colony of plants more common to the Southern Appalachians, including mountain laurel, rhododendron and galax, which look all the better against snow. Details and directions here. 
• Pilot Mountain State Park, Pinnacle (north of Winston-Salem). The 3.3-mile Pilot Creek Trail starts from an access north of the pinnacle (meaning fewer hikers) and wraps around the north flank of the 2,421-foot mountain. You should see remaining snow much of the way. Details and directions here.
• Cane Creek Natural Area, Snow Hill (south of Burlington). This new addition (spring 2020) offers a unique chance to explore the compact Cane Creek Mountain range, which tops out around 1,000 feet. From the Pine Hill Trailhead, take the 2.5-mile Northern Approach Trail counterclockwise; you’ll spend nearly 80 percent of the hike on the leeward (in a sunshine sense) side of the mountain. Details and directions here.
• Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury (north of Greensboro). On a sunny winter’s day (as Saturday is forecast to be), Hanging Rock will be one popular state park. But not if you start from the Flinchum Road Access on the Dan River and hike up the Indian Creek Trail, which stays in the shadow of the park for most of its length. Bonus: hike 3 miles up to Window Falls, enjoy a snowy waterfall, then head back down the mountain and avoid the crowds trickling down from the Visitor Center above. Details and directions here.
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve, Stokesdale (north of Greensboro). This 189-acre preserve courtesy the Piedmont Land Conservancy features a bowl served by three trails — Beechwood Bottom, Creekside, Leatherwood — that offer about three miles of hiking, much of it, especially along Belews Creek, protected from the sun. Details and directions here.
• And if you can’t make it Saturday? The forecast suggests there’s a chance of more snow coming Sunday.

GetOut! And enjoy.

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Learn more

Morning Walk with Joe on Facebook Live. I talk more about strategies and places for finding lingering trailside snow this morning’s Morning Walk. Find it on our Facebook page. 

For more detailed information and direction on exploring Cane Creek and the Knight Brown Nature Preserve, check out our guides for both areas:

• Cane Creek Natural Area
• Knight Brown Nature Preserve

The post GetOut! Here’s how to find the lingering snow appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

I’ve heard grumbling the past couple days about the weekend forecast, which, yes, includes the highly-un-April-like possibility of snow.

Snow in April — that, hiking friends, is an opportunity. And perhaps a last chance this season to break out your layers and enjoy one last winteresque adventure before the dewy days of summer. What’s to grumble about? Consider:

In Charlottesville, the forecast Wednesday called for up to 3 inches of snow on Saturday. That makes GetHiking! Charlottesville’s 9.8-mile hike up Peaks of Otter all the more attractive. For one, this is a popular spring hike, especially starting from the Visitor Center; the suggestion of snow should mean that you won’t have to wade through crowds. Highlights of this hike include Sharp Top Mountain, Flat Top Mountain and the Peaks of Otter. Plus, they’ll be carpooling from Charlottesville if you’re not keen on driving in snow.

For those not crazy about a snow hike, GetHiking! Charlottesville has more options: On Friday, there’s a 6.8-mile hike in the Shenandoah National Park taking in Jones Run and Doyle’s River Falls. On Sunday, they’ll kick off the 2018 GetHiking! Easy Hike Series with a moderately easy 5-mile hike from Beagle Gap to Calf Mountain and back on the Appalachian Trail in the Shenandoah. See the GetHiking! Charlottesville Meetup for details.

GetHiking! Charlotte will be hiking at Doughton Park doing one of our favorite loops. Starting from the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, from the Longbottom Road Access, they’ll climb the 4.4-mile Cedar Ridge Trail to the ridge, where rain could be changing to snow. One of the more scenic hikes we can imagine is the Bluff Mountain Trail, which spends much of its time in open meadows with ongoing views. It’s a robust 14 miles in all.

In the Triangle, GetHiking! has a GetOriented! Finding Your Way in the Woods class on Sunday. The weather is especially fortuitous for this three-hour event: most of it is off-trail in areas that will be overgrown before long. Thus, if you’re in the Triangle and want to pick up some navigation skills, best act now because this class will likely only be offered once again before late fall.

Maybe you’re not up for traveling far, but are intrigued by the idea of one last snow hike before switching from your Salawas to your sandals. Odds are there’s good trail near you. We share thoughts on some options below.

It’s still unclear whether it will snow. If it doesn’t, the cool and wet conditions will suppress the number of spring hiking enthusiasts on the trail. Get out and make the most of it.

And if it does snow? Well, it won’t be unprecedented: Raleigh got 10 inches of snow on April 3, 1915. But it will be an unusual treat.

Get out and enjoy.

Happy trails,

Joe

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More info

For more information on these hikes and other hikes in the GetHiking! universe, find your local affiliate here.

For a rundown of hikes near you, check out this recent blog post we did for BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina. You can also find more regional hikes here.

GetHiking! enewsletter

Keep track of all our GetHiking! events — from hikes to camping trips to backpacking — as well as gear recommendations and hiking tips, by subscribing to our weekly enewsletter. Click here to subscribe.

The post Forecast: Snowy with a chance of excellent hiking appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

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.

Check out more hiking options here.

The post Friday Nudge: An invitation to get out and explore appeared first on GetGoing NC!.