We were reminded of the series when we started thinking about the approach of Thanksgiving Day and the desire — make that the “need” — to get out and work off the day’s damage. Not the time to go for a long hike, we realized, but something to get us fresh air, to shake off the tryptophan, and that would at least make a dent in your 3,000-calorie turkey dinner. Not surprisingly, the Hikes You Can Do Series came to mind.

So we revive those hikes today. We give a quick description of the hike, of why it’s well-suited for the occasion, then a link to the original where you can find all the detail you need. Enjoy!

Coast / Coastal Plain

Jones Lake State Park

Elizabethtown

Distance: 4.0 miles

Type of route: Loop.

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: According to our “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina,” the trail has a total elevation gain of 3 feet (it all happens within a 10-foot stretch on the lake’s north side where the trail encounters an old irrigation ditch). Part of the trail — through the longleaf pine forest (some interloper pines and understory turkey oaks as well) — is on a sandy forest service road, part — a narrower, packed gravel trail — goes through a dense bay forest rich with sweet gums, loblolly and red bays. And there’s a cypress swamp rimming 224-acre Jones Lake, one of a half million such elliptically shaped lakes peppering the southeastern U.S. It’s unclear how the lakes, which all have a similar footprint, came to be: speculation suggests they’re the result of everything from the combined forces of underground springs, wind and wave action, to a meteor shower millions of years ago that pockmarked the region with shallow divots that subsequently filled with water.

Learn more here.

Cedar Point Tideland Trail Loop

Swansboro

Distance: 1.4 miles

Type of route: Loop

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: This may be the fastest 1.4 miles you ever walk. Or at least the best example of 1.4 miles that’ll go by in a flash. That’s because it penetrates a tidal marsh packed with the all flora you might expect in a lush coastal community. At points, the narrow gravel trail is embraced by wax myrtle, yaupon, sweetgum, red maple, redbay red cedar, live oak and, up above, long leaf pine. Less than halfway in, hiking clockwise, the trail brushes against a coastal forest, the change made possible by an elevation gain of just inches, but enough to weed out the salt and create a different ecosystem. The return trip is mostly on boardwalk that elevates you above Dubling Creek and the marsh, and offers long views across the White Oak River to Swansboro. 

Learn more here.

Piedmont

Medoc Mountain State Park

Halifax

Distance: Variable, from .75 miles to 5 miles

Type of route: Loops

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: Medoc Mountain is on the fringe of the Piedmont, where rolling hills give way to coastal plain. But the hiking reflects both geographic regions, with the trails relatively flat and easy, the landscape pure Piedmont hardwood forest. The park also boasts an unusual human history: Medoc Mountain was the site of a 19th vineyard, one of the first in the nation. Begin your journey at Medoc Mountain on the 0.75-mile Stream Loop, taking on the 1.25-mile Discovery Loop midway. If you’re up for more upon your return, the 3.0-mile Bluff Loop offers some especially nice encounters with Little Fishing Creek, which bisects the park.

Learn more here

Buckquarter Creek Trail, Eno River State Park

Durham

Distance: 1.5 miles

Type of route: Loop

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: A $140,000 trail renovation project in 2008 turned a 1,100-foot portion of this once-treacherous trail into an amiable amble. There is the ridgeline to contend with, but it’s a relatively tame trek along an old roadbed (think horse and cart days) to Hillsborough. Not that it matters, but most folks seem to hike the ridge out, the river back. You’ll get a different take on the Eno River Valley on both. If you take the ridge out and, upon reaching the turnaround at Buckquarter Creek, decide a mile and a half won’t be enough, cross the bridge and add the 2.6-mile Holden Mill Trail to the mix. It’s a similar ridge/river loop with perhaps a little more elevation a few less hikers.

Learn more here

Hanging Rock State Park

Danbury

Distance: 2.6 miles

Type of route: Out-and-back

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: The trail is short and deceptive at first (it’s paved). But it soon turns to natural surface and does gain some altitude — more than 400 vertical feet. There’s good incentive, though, to reach the top. From the open summit you can see Winston-Salem to the south, the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west and north (into Virginia), and the rolling Piedmont to the east: If it’s not autumn in one direction, it will be in another. If you’re up for more after topping out, return to the parking lot and try the Indian Creek Trail: within a little more than a half mile it treats you to a pair of waterfalls: Hidden and Window.

Learn more here

Mountains

Price Lake

Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock

Distance: 2.7 miles

Type of route: Loop

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: There’s virtually no elevation gain on this trail, which hugs the bank around Price Lake, part of Julian Price Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Parts of the trail are cozy, tucking under the protective cover of rhododendron tunnels, while other parts snuggle up to the bank offering wide panoramas. A couple of rock outcrops on the lake’s east side offer good opportunities to spread out and soak up the sun. There are several good places to fish on the lake’s west side.

Learn more here

Panthertown Valley loop

Cashiers

Distance: 8 miles, with shorter options

Type of route: Lollipop loop

Why it’s easy and what you’ll see: There’s a relatively gentle half-mile descent to the valley floor from the parking area along an old dirt roadbed. From there, 2.3 miles of flat hiking will take you to Granny Burrell Falls, a long slide down smooth rock into a generous pool, and Schoolhouse Falls, which drops about 20 feet over a rock ledge, also into a good-size pool. If you’re up for a little climbing — about 370 vertical feet in 0.8 miles — Continue from Schoolhouse Falls up to Little Green Mountain, where exposed rock offers great views and good picnic opportunities on a cool fall afternoon. Total distance, trailhead-back-to-trailhead is less than 5 miles for Granny Burrell and Schoolhouse falls, and Little Green Mountain. The 8-mile lollipop loop takes in all of the above and includes a steep climb up 4,206-foot Big Green Mountain (no views, but some nice ridgeline hiking).

Learn more here

Join us

Black Friday Backlash Hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, avoid the Black Friday shopping masses and come hike with us! We’ll hike a stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in North Raleigh, covering about 4.2 miles total. We’ll have trail snacks and we’ll have a drawing for an Osprey day pack — you’ll have a chance to to do take care of the hiker on your shopping list and avoid the mall! Learn more here.

The post Hikes you can do (with your family on Thanksgiving) appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Today’s 90-Second Escape: Giving Thanks (for time in the woods).

Black Friday? How about Burnt Orange Saturday. Why spend the weekend in crowded mall when you can take advantage of some of the best hiking weather of the year, over Thanksgiving  weekend? For those of you dope slapping yourselves in the head right about now, worry not, we’ve got you covered.

Here’s 90 seconds of what you missed while you were banging elbows with the other crazies at Mart o’ Wal.

* * *

Like us on Facebook and get health, fitness and outdoors news throughout the day.

GetGoingNC.com

Promote Your Page Too

The post 90 Second Escape: Giving Thanks (for time in the woods) appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

If you’re looking for a time of year that’s hardest on your body, you’d be hard-pressed to beat the one that kicked off with pants-unbuckling Thanksgiving and ends with a cold pack on your head New Year’s Day. Think about the damage alone done by the one-two punch of Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Thanksgiving: overeating. Estimates place the typical holiday meal at 3,000-plus calories, or closing in on twice the recommended daily calorie intake for the average person. And that’s just for the main meal; in the case of Thanksgiving you can nearly double that amount if you throw in the follow-up leftover meals that will be consumed by day’s end.

Black Friday: stress. First, there’s the business of consuming nearly 6,000 calories on Thanksgiving, then heading out at midnight to elbow your way to the $2 waffle irons table. Add to that your wacko fellow shoppers — a female shopper at a California Walmart used pepper spray to keep her competitors at bay — and you’ve pretty much taken 10 years off your life with those two days alone. And the bulk of the holiday season remains.

You want a truly happy holidays, or at least a holiday season that won’t do you in? Then you need to do something that helps you deal with both overeating and stress. Lucky for you that some thing is one thing:

Going for a walk.

Walking is the nation’s most popular form of exercise. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, 95.8 million Americans walked for exercise in 2010 (exercising with equipment was a distant second, with 55.3 million participants). There’s good reason for this: most people can walk, it doesn’t require special equipment, you can do it spontaneously, out your front door, so it can be done quickly.

There’s more reasons to walk. According to the Mayo Clinic, walking can:

• Lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol)
• Raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol)
• Lower your blood pressure
• Reduce your risk of or manage type 2 diabetes
• Manage your weight
• Improve your mood
• Keep you strong and fit

Walking isn’t a magic bullet. It won’t completely diffuse the stress of the holidays; but it will take the edges off and make the season more manageable. And it won’t exactly act as a cross to that batch of Christmas fudge your vampire coworkers bring in, but it will help in keeping the damage to a minimum. And, truly, a half hour at lunch, after work or at some point during the day can make a huge difference.

That said, are you ready to commit to a daily walk? And if not daily, then what is a realistic goal? Take our survey and we’ll report back in a week or so with the results. And take a minute to tell us your favorite place to walk. It could serve as inspiration to others.

* * *

[highlight]Survey says: Are you ready to commit to walking daily through the holidays? If not, then how many times, realistically, do you think you can vow to hit the trail? Take our survey and let us know. Click here to take survey [/highlight]

The post Footing the bill for a truly happy holidays appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

“Did you get lunch?” one dental hygienest asked the other.

“No,” answered the second. “I bought a dress that’s a size too small and, well … .” She went on to explain that she’d bought if for an event on Friday — the day after Thanksgiving.

“ ‘at’s a-mer-a-ble,” I said sounding like Foster Brooks but sincere in my appreciation of her optimism.  “A dresh a shize too shmall before ‘hankshgiving. ”

Health and fitness writer guy kicked in and I suggested that first thing Thursday morning she should run 10 miles because, curiously, exercise can act as an appetite suppressant.

She looked at me skeptically, not so much about the appetite suppressant but about the running 10 miles part.

“Or at leash go for a long walkh,” I offered.

For years now, I’ve either gone for a long run or a long ride Thanksgiving morning. This spurt of endurance exercise usually moderates my T-day intake, and when it doesn’t, it at least assuages my guilt over the remainder of the day. The trick can be convincing yourself, on a holiday, to rise early for a solitary workout. This trick can be accomplished with some help, from the assortment of organized rides and runs offered.

In running circles, Thanksgiving is especially well-known for the trots — the Turkey Trots, of which the website Running.net lists 11 this Thanksgiving in North Carolina. They are:

• Asheville: Earth Fare Turkey Trot 5K, 9 a.m.
• Boiling Springs: Ruby C. Hunt YMCA Turkey Trot, 5K Run, 5K Walk, children’s fun run.
• Carrboro: Double B Gallop and Gorge 8K.
• Cary: Inside-Out Sports Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 8K, One Mile, Kid’s 100-yard Dash, 5K, 9 a.m., (One Mile race is at 8:30 a.m.).
• Charlotte: Charlotte SouthPark Turkey Trot 8K, 1 Mile FR 8:30 a.m.; 8K Run & Baby Jogger 8K 9 a.m.; 5K Walk 9:15 a.m.; Tot Trot 10 a.m.
• Cornelius: Lake Norman Turkey Trot, 10K, 5K, 7:30 a.m.
• Duck: Advice 5K Turkey Trot, 9 a.m.
• Mooresville: Mooresville Christian Mission Turkey Trot 5K, 9 a.m.
• New Bern: Twin Rivers YMCA & Taberna Country Club Turkey Trot 5K run/walk/dog jog, 8 a.m.
• Raleigh: Ridgewood Turkey Trot, 8K & 1 Mile, 8 a.m.
• Winston-Salem: Turkey Strut 5K, 1 Mile fun run/walk, 9 a.m.

Find out more about those runs here.

There aren’t as many organized bike rides, but I did find two, both in the Triangle. (Precipitation cancels both rides.)

• Earn-Your-Turkey Ride, 45 miles, 17-18 mph pace, 9 a.m. Start and finish at Apex Community Center.
• Gyros Cycling Club Thanksgiving Day Ride, 35 miles, “easy pace,” 9 a.m. More info here.

Alas, I won’t be running or riding this Thanksgiving, largely because I now have a new appetite suppressant.

I can’t chew.

The post Turkey and a 10K? appeared first on GetGoing NC!.