Morrow Mountain in snow (an earlier snow, not this one). Photo courtesy North Carolina State Parks
Here’s the weekend dilemma: you want to get out and experience the snow, but will you be able to get there? And once you get there, can you even get in?
If your destination is Mount Mitchell State Park, the Shining Rock/Middle Prong wilderness areas, or anywhere else along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the answer to the first question is probably not. The entire Parkway, all 469 miles, is essentially closed, mostly due to snow and ice, in parts because of construction. (For the latest BRP status, go here.)read more
In September, GetGoingNC.com made the transition from telling you what you can do to showing you: we started GetHiking! Triangle, which leads weekly hikes in the Triangle and beyond. Our target audience: newcomers to hiking and established hikers interested in learning new trails. The initial response has exceeded our expectations. We currently have 344 members and have attracted more than 50 people to our hikes.read more
The following originally appeared on Nov. 5, 2009. It reappears as our available daylight disappears.
For maybe the fifth time in five minutes Alan stopped to comment on the trail. “This is a great trail,” he commented. And for the fifth time in maybe five minutes I reminded him that we had hiked this same trail maybe a half dozen times. His sense of discovery was justified, though. This was the first time we’d hiked the trail in daylight.
Several years ago, we both despaired at the end of Daylight Savings Time. The end of DST meant a sharp decline in our outdoor activity. Long workouts only on weekends? That just seemed silly.
And it was. For just as advances in lighting have made it possible to ride a bike in the woods at night, so have these technological advances made it relatively simple to hike at night. And unlike the light systems for mountain biking that can set you back $200 to $600 or more, you can get a decent light set for hiking for less than $30. Most of the more simple systems run on AA or AAA batteries, power an LED light, and strap to your head, leaving your hands free. For more information on lights and what to look for, go here.
Some advice before you head out:read more
We’ll spend the first few weeks of 2013 looking at issues of particular relevance to many of you as the new year unfolds. Today, the first working day of the year, we start our Happy, Healthy New Year — heretofore shorthanded to HHNY — segments with what’s likely at the top of most of your lists: losing weight. I originally wrote the following for the Charlotte Observer, where it appeared last month. Click on each section entry for more information.read more
It’s not your stuffed-up imagination; the spring allergy season really is off to early start this year (and, thanks to climate change, may be trending in this direction). You can read all about it in today’s Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, in a story I contributed to.read more
