Are the horses on the Outer Banks on your list of mysteries of the universe? Are you perplexed by pickelball? And what’s the deal with the Graveyard Fields Overlook, anyway?

Answers to these and other questions on how to spend your weekend follow.

Coast

We have questions when we venture into the wild. What kind of tree is that? Why is there poison ivy? Why is there a horse standing on the beach?

The latter is a question you might ask visiting Shackleford Banks, part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. And it’s a question you might ask and find an answer to on Saturday’s Horse Sense and Survival Tour. A National Park Service ranger takes you on a tour of Shackleford Banks in search of the island’s wild horses. A ferry ride from Harkers Island is included, if you don’t have your own boat.

Logistics: Saturday, July 19, 8 – 11:20 a.m., Cape Lookout National Seashore (with ferry from Harkers Island). $15 for adults, $8 for kids 11 and under. Reservations required, by calling 252.728.2250, ext. 0. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 82, 30 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

Psst! Pickelball.

Seriously! It’s proponents claim its “America’s fastest growing sport,” and based on this video, it looks like a lot of fun. It’s a little tennis, a little badminton, a little pingpong, a little whiffleball, and it’s the focus of Saturday’s Pickelball Play Day at the Fuquay-Varina Community Center. The two-hour program features a demonstration clinic. Is there a pickelballer lurking within? Come find out.

Logistics: Saturday, July 19, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Fuquay-Varina Community Center, 820 Main St., Fuquay-Varina. Free. Call 919.552.1430 for more info.

Saturday forecast: High of 87. Partly cloudy? Mostly sunny!

Mountains

This weekend’s mountain recommendation is more of a do-it-yourself, work-it-in-when-you-can activity. The Graveyard Fields access on the Blue Ridge Parkway, closed since mid-April for installation of a bathroom and to expand parking, has reopened. The popular parkway pullout provides access to hiking and waterfall exploration in the Graveyard Fields area, as well as access to the Shining Rock Wilderness and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Good access if you want to go short, good access if you want to go long.

You’ve got all kinds of hiking options from Graveyard Fields. Among the most popular is the Graveyard Fields Loop, a four-mile hike that spends time along Yellowstone Prong, explores Second Falls and offers some good views. The National Forest Service’s Shining Rock map helps you plot a variety of hikes.

Logistics: Graveyard Fields, Milepost 418, Blue Ridge Parkway. More info here.

Weekend forecast: Highs around 70, chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

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Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Great Outdoor Provision Co.
Calendar includes three weekly events for each of its seven markets: Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington and Winston-Salem. Search by market.

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

U.S. National Wildlife Refuges
Rundown, by month, of regular activities at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuges in North Carolina.

* * *

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The post This weekend: Horses, hikes, pickleballs appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We start at the coast (sea level) with a guided paddle trip at Hammocks Beach State Park and wind up in the high country — the highest country, in fact — with a program atop the highest point on the East Coast, 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell.

Coast

One of our favorite paddles is the marshland around Hammocks Beach State Park near Swansboro. It’s a vast, yet somewhat protected sea of sea and cordgrass, a marshy maze that frequently ends with turns down dead-end channels. Which is part of what makes paddling here fun.

For those of you who like a little less mystery in your paddle trips, the park is sponsoring a ranger-lead guided kayak trip on Friday. All equipment is provided.

Logistics: Friday, Aug. 9, 8:30 a.m. Hammocks Beach State Park. Free, but pre-registration is required by contacting the park office at 910.326.4881.

Friday forecast: High of 86, 10 percent chance of rain.

Piedmont

One of the premier cycling events in the state is BikeFest: the 18th Annual Rural Heritage Tour. Sponsored by the Carolina Tarwheels bike club, BikeFest is a celebration of the “historic farmsteads and rustic churches … the pastoral heritage of the Piedmont … along quiet country roads.” How much of a celebration you wish to make it is up to you: the ride has supported routes of 35, 62 and 100 miles.

Logistics: Saturday, Aug. 10, 7 a.m., Hillsborough. $30/$40. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 86, 40 percent chance of rain.

Mountains

The free programs offered at North Carolina State Parks are well-done and well worth your time. But were you to close your eyes for a moment and listen, you might not know which park was being discussed. The ecology of Pilot Mountain, for instance, isn’t all that different from Hanging Rock. Not the case with programs at Mount Mitchell State Park, which sits atop the East Coast in a land unlike any other in the state parks system. That’s why Saturday’s “Wildlife, Weather and Trees of Mount Mitchell” is worth a visit. Odds are good you’ll learn something you’ll learn of something you didn’t thing happened in North Carolina.

And work in a hike with the program. Our favorite at Mitchell is the Deep Gap Trail, which heads north along the crest of the Black Mountains. The trail is 4.5 strenuous miles, topping a number of 6,000-foot peaks. A real treat on a clear summer’s day.

Logistics: Saturday, Aug. 10, 11 a.m., Mount Mitchell State Park. More info by calling 828.675.4611.

Saturday forecast: High of 76, 40 percent chance of rain.

* * *

Those are our thoughts on the weekend. Find more options at the sources listed below.

The post This weekend: 0 to 6,684 appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

We have two options to help you beat the heat and a third that doesn’t. (That third one is more than worth the sweat investment.)

Coast

In these days of 100 degree heat and matching humidity, is there any other option, really, than something on/in/under the water? I think not. That’s why we’re recommending Sunday’s Bear Island Kayak Tour at Hammocks Beach State Park. Start at the mainland park, then take the 2.6-mile canoe trail out to Bear Island. It’s an easy paddle, navigating marsh and sound. You bring the bug spray, sunscreen, snacks, water and camera, the park supplies the kayaks, paddles and life jackets. It’s free, but space is limited and preregistration is required, by calling the park office at 910.326.4881. Commences at 8:30 a.m., runs about 3 hours.

Piedmont

I’m going to take one last opportunity — because it’s your last opportunity — to plug Ultimate Hike, a fundraiser for CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. CureSearch helps kids with cancer — there are currently about 40,000 undergoing treatment currently — ensure that they get hooked up with the best treatment possible, no matter where they live. Ultimate Hike is a new way that CureSearch is raising money to fund itself. And now, about Ultimate Hike: It’s a one-day, 28.3 mile hike on a section of the Foothills Trail straddling the mountainous section of the North Carolina/South Carolina border. The hike is Oct. 1, but you don’t just show up Oct. 1 to hike 28.3 miles.

Ultimate Hike’s coaches — of whom I’m one — have crafted a training schedule intended to take a non-hiker and in 12 weeks make said non-hiker capable of covering 28.3 miles in one day (a day, by the way, that starts with a 3 a.m. wakeup call). The training schedule is graduated to build you up to epic hiker level, in part through a series of increasingly longer hikes every other Saturday.

I mention this today because Saturday is the last day for hikers in the Triangle to sign up. (Charlotte area hikers have two more opportunities: tonight at the Pineville REI at 6:30 p.m. and July 30 at 9 a.m. the U.S. National Whitewater Center). Saturday at 9 a.m. we’ll hold our last information/sign-up at Historic Yates Mill Park in Raleigh. Come, find out more about the hike, then join us for a 2- to 3-mile hike around the park.

More info here and here. Or leave a question below (others may be wondering the same thing).

Mountains

Nothing cools you off quite like getting flipped out of a whitewater raft bouncing through a Class III rapid on a cold mountain river. Not that that happens. Often. But on most raft trips there’s usually at least one occasion to voluntarily depart the boat and float a calm stretch of cool river (sometimes there’s even a small cliff you can leap from into a deep pool).

If you’ve been thinking about packing the family into the Suburban and heading to the hills for a day of whitewater rafting, this could be the perfect weekend. In part because of the heat, in part because fellow guidebook author and outdoors writer Karen Chavez wrote a most helpful piece in yesterday’s Asheville Citizen-Times about how to chose a whitewater rafting trip.

Read it — when you’re done here, of course — then book a trip.

* * *

Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

The post Throw water on the heat this weekend appeared first on GetGoing NC!.