Note: This post was updated at 8:30 a.m. on May 6 to reflect additional details on the phased reopening of North Carolina’s State Parks.
Under Phase 1 of the reopening of North Carolina in light of the coronavirus pandemic, “parks and trails are encouraged to reopen.”
All of North Carolina’s 41 State Parks have closed their visitor centers, restrooms, camping and other touchy facilities, while another 29 have closed completely, including trails. And while the latter is an understandable bummer, it overshadows the fact that you can still hike in the 12 remaining parks.
Thursday’s announcement by Gov. Roy Cooper of a phased-in reopening of North Carolina included a lot of good news. Topping the list: social distancing and other measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus are working — the “curve” is flattening. As a result, aspects of the statewide stay-at-home order will begin lifting on May 8, two weeks from today.
Just as we started wondering when trails might start reopening, they closed even more more earlier this week.
On Monday, the U.S. Forest Service announced it was closing roads and trails in the 500,000-acre Pisgah National Forest. “It is not a closure of the whole forest,” Forest Service spokeswoman Cathy Dowd told the Asheville Citizen Times. “There’s about 200 miles of road and 700 miles of trails that remain open on the Pisgah National Forest.”
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.
Today’s 90-Second Escape: Whitewater rafting at the NWC
