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Now, though, that starts to change. For today we celebrate Imbolc, the Celtic tradition celebration that marks the midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox. 

Yup, winter is half over. And as if to be teased by the prospect, we’re looking at temperatures in the 60s at the end of the week. They won’t last, of course (see Sunday’s forecast for yet a another weekend of wintery precip). But we have, officially, turned the corner: the days are getting longer and the temperatures, eventually, warmer. That means we will soon be able to spend more time on the trail. Which brings us to a post we typically do this time of year on longer hikes, both at the coast in the Piedmont.

Since we’ve done this post before, we aren’t going to repeat the whole thing. Rather, we’ll give you a quick synopsis of seven of our favorite long hikes in the region, then refer you to a previous post where you can find details to help you take the hike on your own.

Coast 

There aren’t a lot of long trail options along the coast (unless you count the 301-mile “hike” along the beach from Virginia to South Carolina). But of the two long trails that do exist, both in the Croatan National Forest, both are good ones.

Croatan National Forest: Weetock Trail
11 miles
Maysville

The Weetock, located on the south flank of the Croatan National Forest along the White Oak River, was blazed between 2001 and 2003 by the Carteret County Wildlife Club.  A significant portion of the trail was rerouted by the USDA Forest Service in 2007; then, in 2018, a significant portion of the trail was again rerouted, by Hurricane Florence. Today, the first six miles are a pleasant, easy-to-follow ramble through coastal forest on well-marked, well-maintained trail. The last half? If you like adventure and have a keen sense for sniffing out a barely discernible trail, you’ll have a blast. Best hiked between November and mid-April.

Croatan National Forest: Neusiok Trail
21 miles
Havelock
Whereas the Weetock Trail may lose its way on occasion, the Croatan’s other major trail, the Neusiok, has done a good job of staying the course since its creation, also by the Carteret County Wildlife Club, in the early 1970s. The trail runs from the Pine Cliff Recreation Area along the southern shore of the Neuse River, southeast to the Oyster Point Campground. Florence also did a number on the Neusiok, but it was completely restored by the CCWC last year. The northernmost seven miles are the most diverse, passing beneath a bluff overlooking the Neuse, then heading through a pine savannah and on to a rolling stretch before going pancake flat at NC 306. The southern two-thirds of the trail is flat and more typical of a coastal forest, with long stretches of boardwalk through marsh. Also best hiked before April.

Piedmont

Umstead State Park: Company Mill Trail with Sycamore Loop
10 miles
Raleigh

A figure-eight double lollipop loop that exposes you to the best of Umstead. Starting from the Harrison Avenue entrance (a k a the Reedy Creek entrance), take the Company Mill Trail over three small ridges to Crabtree Creek. Cross the green metal bridge and go right. You’ll follow Crabtree for a spell, climb to the bike and bridle trail that bisects the park and continue. Shortly, you’ll hit a kiosk indicating a short spur to the Sycamore Trail; do the 4-mile loop portion of Sycamore, then return to the Company Mill Trail and hike the portion you haven’t. Lots of up and down on this hike, but nothing grueling. Be advised that the first mile of Company Mill, down to Crabtree Creek, can be crowded on a nice weekend; it becomes less popular from there.

Uwharrie National Forest: Birkhead Mountain Wilderness lollipop loop
11.8 miles
Asheboro

Starting from the trailhead off Tot Hill Road, hike the Birkhead Mountain Trail south for two miles before hitting the popular loop that Boy Scouts, among others, have been using for years to cut their backpacking teeth. Where the Robbins Branch Trail enters from the right, continue straight on the Birkhead for two miles. Note that despite the fact this is a designated wilderness, the trail is well blazed. After two miles, go right on the Hannahs Creek Trail, where, for the first time, you abandon ridgelines in favor of passages along holly-clogged creeks. After a mile and a half, go right on the Robbins Branch Trail, which climbs a ridge before dropping to its namesake creek and rejoining the Birkhead after 3.2 miles. A great hike year-round.

Hanging Rock State Park: Moore’s Knob and Indian Creek trails
11.5 miles
Danbury
Starting from the Visitor Center, the 4.3-mile Moore’s Knob Loop Trail offers a dandy warm-up, passing the lake and bathhouse, then probing a tunnel of holly. About a mile in, it’s time to get down to business, with a long ridge ascent to Moore’s Knob. Continue the loop back to the Visitor Center for Round 2: the Indian Creek Trail descends to Hidden and Window falls, then drops its load of hikers before continuing another three miles to the Dan River. And back.

Crowders Mountain State Park/Kings Mountain State Park (S.C.): Ridgeline Trail
12 miles
Gastonia

The 12-mile Ridgeline Trail joins two state parks — Crowders Mountain and Kings Mountain in South Carolina, plus S.C.’s Kings Mountain National Military Park. Start from the Visitor Center, hike to the base of Kings Pinnacle — don’t pass the opportunity to take the short spur to the top for great views— then continue south through rolling Piedmont countryside to the park’s Boulders Access, then on to the South Carolina state line (once the trail hits the Palmetto State, it is flat for the remainder). Avoid the summer.

Eno River: Mountains-to-Sea Trail
10.2 miles
Durham and Orange counties

Starting upstream on the Eno at the Pleasant Green Access, hike up a bluff overlooking the Eno, around an abandoned quarry, through surprising stretches of steep climbs and sharp drops. Pass under Cole Mill Road and the trail mellows, heading through flood plain forest and occasionally taking a more upland route. At Guess Road you hike up to the bridge, stay on your side of the road, cross the bridge, then curl under the bridge to continue downstream. A little over a mile downstream, and less than a mile from the end of the hike you run into Sennet Hole, a pool on the Eno above the mill pond where even on the hottest of summer days you can find cool water 10 to 15 feet down. End at West Point on the Eno city park. Because of this, it’s a good summer option.

* * *

Details, details

Learn more about these hikes, plus find three more long hikes in this post on long trails from February 23, 2014.

Next week

We’ll tell you how to put these longer hikes to work for you, especially if you have big hiking plans for 2022, as we discuss training.

The post It’s Imbolc! Let the long hikes begin appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

On Saturday’s final hike of our 2018-2019 Winter Wild hike series, we decided to add an extra mile or so. It was a mile of trail I hadn’t hiked.

This past weekend I hiked 4.8 miles on three trails with a combined elevation gain of nearly 4,000 vertical feet. That’s an average grade of about 14 percent.

The crazy thing?

These were trails I’d known about, but had never given much thought to when it comes to training for a trip out West or for alpine adventure abroad. In part, that’s because none of the three are particularly long: Pond Mountain was the clear winner at three and a half miles. 

The experience made me realize that there are lots of good options for big mountain training in our Southern Appalachians. Here are a few favorites.

Pond Mountain/Three Top/China Creek-Thunderhole

See locations below 

4.8 miles, about 4,000 feet of vertical

These are the three from my weekend adventure; I’m including them because they can be done in a day, and that 4.8 miles/4,000 feet beats anything on my list. Start with China Creek/Thunderhole in Blowing Rock. I associate the hiking around Blowing Rock — the carriage trails at Moses Cone, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the Tanawha Trail — as scenically stunning but not physically challenging. This made the descent down to China Creek all the more impressive. Down, down, down more than 1,320 feet in less than 2 miles, followed by up, up, up on the return. Well-crafted switchbacks take the sting out of this 13 percent average grade climb.

Next, it’s less than an hour to Three Top Mountain, where the trail piggybacks on an old logging road on a no-nonsense beeline to the top: about 1,200 feet of elevation gain in 1.6 miles. From there, it’s a half hour or so up to Pond Mountain near the Virginia Border in Ashe County. Park at the kiosk and hike the gravel road to the summit. You’re entitled — in fact, you’re compelled — to stop frequently along the way because the views get better the higher you go (and they’re pretty great to start): think Mount Rogers. The average grade on the first half of this climb is 14 percent; it mellows to around 8 percent after that.

Mount Mitchell Trail

Mount Mitchell State Park 

5.5 miles (11 round trip), 3,700 feet of elevation gain 

This has long been our go-to hike for mountain training. For one, it’s accessible, with the trailhead at the Black Mountain Campground. It’s challenging throughout, punishing maybe twice, and both times for less than a half mile. And you can’t beat the payoff: you start in a southern hardwood forest and end in a northern boreal forest where the temperature may be 15 degrees cooler. 

Doughton Park 

Blue Ridge Parkway

4.5-mile climb, 2,400 feet (17-mile roundtrip loop)

While the 18-mile loop we recommend is part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, you don’t start on the parkway. Rather, you begin at the base of the Blue Ridge Escarpment and gain nearly 2,400 vertical feet on the 4.5-mile climb up Cedar Ridge Trail. From there, hang a left on the Bluff Mountain Trail/Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which rolls gently until you reach Bluff Mountain; then, you drop into Grassy Gap and climb back up to Flat Rock Ridge, where one more climb awaits before the Flat Rock Ridge Trail takes you down to your car. About 3,500 feet of elevation gain overall in 14 miles. 

Clingmans Dome Approach 

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

10 miles (one way), 4,000 vertical feet

For this one, we recommend backpacking up the Noland Creek Trail to campsite 64, establishing base camp, then rising early the next day for the 10-mile assault (and 10-mile return) up the Springhouse Branch and Forney Ridge trails. Another hike where you’ll get to end in a northern boreal forest. We recommend this hike in the winter, when you’ll have Clingmans Dome to yourself, an eerily quiet experience.

Standing Indian Campground to Standing Indian Mountain

Nantahala National Forest near Franklin

5.5 miles, 2,500 feet

The Standing Indian Campground is a great basecamp for training hikes. The campground sits in a horseshoe-shapped valley rimmed by the ridge-running Appalachian Trail. Numerous trails lead up from the valley, mostly from the Nantahala River, to the AT; our favorite, however, heads up Kimsey Creek to 5,499-foot Standing Indian Mountain, gaining about 2,500 vertical feet in the process.

Happy trails,

Joe

Getting there

Interested in trying the climbs mentioned above? Here’s where to find more information:

• Pond Mountain/Three Top/China Creek-Thunderhole. This threesome was part of a fact-checking mission for a book I’m writing about recreational opportunities on land trust properties in North Carolina. Alas, the book isn’t available yet. But what I can do is email you the specifics on how to find these trails. Email: joe@getgoingnc.com, subject line: Pond Mountain/Three Top/China Creek.
• Mount Mitchell Trail. alltrails.com probably has the best information on this particular hike. Find it here.
• Doughton Park. Check the National Park Service site for Doughton Park for a map and trail descriptions.
• Clingmans Dome Approach. This one is detailed in my “Backpacking North Carolina” (2011, UNC Press), Trip No. 19, page 118.
• Standing Indian Campground to Standing Indian Mountain. Join us in August for a first-hand look at the mountain training opportunities as part of our GetHiking! Classic Escape to Standing Indian and the AT. Three days of hiking, including two ridgeline assaults on on the Appalachian Trail. Learn more here.

Looking for training hikes closer to home? Check out this post from last year.

The post 5 mountain hikes with altitude, attitude appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Cat was reassured that she’s still perfectly happy eating cold ravioli out of a can.

Kathy discovered she is overweight —morbidly so.

All in all, a pretty successful weekend of backpacking for the first trip of the season.

Last Saturday, our GetBackpacking! program ran a two-day trip in the Uwharrie Mountains. It was a modest 5 miles each day, with one night sleeping outdoors. It was just enough to let the six women on the trip get the first-of-the-season cobwebs out of their backpacking routine. If something’s gonna go wrong, better it be close to civilization with only one night to endure it.

Right about now, as temperatures rise and the days grow longer, our urge to explore revives and we start heading out again. 

Upper 60s and sunny? I’m taking a 10-mile hike! 

No rain this weekend? Let’s do a 15-mile loop in the Shenandoah!

Not so fast there, Mark Trail. Your enthusiasm is well placed, but your approach could use a little tweaking. 

Take a bit of time to dust off your gear and make sure it’s in good working order. And, if you’ve been off the trail this winter, ease yourself back in. You don’t want to sideline yourself with an injury this early in the season.

Here’s how to get in gear:

For hikers

• Check your gear. If it’s been three or four months since you hiked in earnest, revisit your key gear before heading out. Did you vow at the end of last year you were going to get new boots? Did you wear a hole through your pack? And, God forbid, did your bladder start leaking? Go over everything at least a couple days before your first planned hike. That way you’ll have time to replace worn or faulty gear. 
• Start short. Yes, a 68-degree day with 10 percent humidity and nary a cloud in the sky begs for a long hike. Your body, on the other hand, begs for some warning before a major march. Consider a trail about half the length of what you were doing last fall, at least for your first outing.
• Start slow. Maybe not a long hike, but you can still spend a long day on the trail. Just take it slow. Maybe you were hiking at a 3-mile-per-hour pace at the end of last year, but you haven’t done much hiking since. Adjust your mindset your first time or two out. Slow down and savor the spring that’s just beginning to bloom.
• Start familiar. Maybe you spent the off-season researching new trails to hike this year. That’s great — you’ve got the whole hiking season ahead to explore them. Hiking a familiar trail will give you a good gauge of your condition and just how much you’ll need to ease into the season.
• Start anew. To help restrain you, sign up for a beginner hike. You’ll go slower, you’ll hike a shorter distance, and you’ll meet new hikers, including one or two who could benefit from your expertise.

For backpackers

• Really check your gear. As we tell aspiring backpackers in our Intro to Backpacking class, take what’s on your back seriously — it’s essentially a life-support system. A quick checklist of a few key items:
  • Tent. Make sure all the parts are there (tent, rainfly, poles, stakes, ground cover), inspect it for tears and potential leaks. If it’s been a few years, go ahead and apply seam seal (and leave the tent outside to dry and air out).
  • Stove. Fire it up to make sure it works, make sure you have fuel. (Of course, if you’re like Cat, you can ditch the stove entirely and let Chef Boyardee handle your meals.)
  • Sleeping bag. Open it, inspect it (make sure nothing hibernated in it over the offseason), air it out and make sure it still has its loft (and thus, it’s insulation). 
  • Boots. It’s easy to forget if a pair of boots was starting to fail at the end of last season. At least take ‘em for a walk around the neighborhood before venturing out on a weekend trip.
  • Everything else. Head into your gear closet with your trip checklist and make sure you have everything. Stuff wears out, stuff gets lost. Don’t wait until the night before a trip to discover your entire mess kit has up and disappeared.
• Take short hikes in full pack. Maybe your pack doesn’t need to reflect exactly what you’ll take on your first trip, but make it close. Consider Carol’s experience from this past weekend: “I’ve hiked a great deal with a small pack, even multiple days.  I’ve hiked some with a large pack to build my stamina. I thought this trip would be no problem. The second day I struggled with soreness and fatigue because I’m not used to the big pack.”
• Make your first trip a short overnighter. Even if you’re a relatively seasoned backpacker, take a short overnighter to launch the season. Kathy had taken the Intro to Backpacking class, so she wasn’t a newbie going into last weekend’s Uwharrie trip. Still, she was shocked to discover her pack weighed 39 pounds — at the end of the trip. “I definitely need to rethink my gear.”

Start slow and you’ll enjoy the coming season all the more.

Happy trails,

Joe

Ease in

Keep an eye on your local GetHiking! Meetup for early season break-in opportunities, both for hiking and backpacking. Find a list of local GetHiking! Meetup here.

GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking, Morrow Mountain State Park. Training, April 27, weekend graduation trip to South Mountains State Park, May 24-26. While this class is geared to beginners, it’s also great for lapsed backpackers: been a few years since you’ve done an overnighter? Ease back into your backcountry passion with this class. Learn more and sign up here.

GetBackpacking! Overnight Sampler, Raven Rock State Park. May 4. Maybe it hasn’t been that long since you last backpacked, but your skills are still a little rusty. On this overnighter, you’ll get to test your gear, try new backpacking food, and pick the brain of the instructor. Learn more and sign up here. 

The post take it slow going into the 2019 hiking season appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

There’s a lot you can do starting right now to get in hiking shape.

Every day

First, on a daily basis walk, walk, walk. If you use a step-counter and your goal has been 10,000, up it to 15,000. Make yourself cognizant of the need to walk as much as possible. And take the stairs whenever the opportunity arises. If it helps, as you trek up the stairs in that dank, gray stairwell visualize one of the most scenic climbs you know.

Training hikes near home

On the trail, train on the hilliest trails you can find close to home. Here are some of our top choices for hilly hikes:

• Charlotte. Crowders Mountain State Park: From the Visitor Center, the climbs to both Crowders Mountain (Crowders and Rocktop trails) and The Pinnacle (Pinnacle Trail) have some steep sections; the 1.8-mile Tower Trail from the Linwood Access probably offers the best bang per vertical foot. At Morrow Mountain State Park, Sugar Loaf Mountain (2.8 miles) and Hattaway Mountain (2 miles) trails will build up your quads.
• Triad. Pilot Mountain: Start from the Pinnacle Hotel Road access and hike the Mountain Trail from the base of the mountain up to the Grindstone Trail, up to the top, gaining more than a thousand vertical feet in 4.5 miles. At Hanging Rock, start from the Flinchum Road Access on the Dan River and hike up the 3.6-mile Indian Creek Trail to the Visitor Center, then catch the 4.7-mile Moore’s Wall Loop Trail to the top of the park, a total elevation gain of about 1,700 feet. GetHiking! groups will be taking trips to Pilot Mountain and Hanging Rock this weekend and next; see below for details on how to join us.
• Triangle. You can find some steep but short climbs in Eno River State Park (try Cox Mountain and Holden Mill Trail hiked clockwise), but your best bet for prolonged climbs is to drive to the Uwharrie National Forest and hike the 6.3-mile stretch from the Jumpinoff Rock Trailhead to Pisgah Covered Bridge Road, over Little Long Mountain and Kings Mountain.
• Greenville. Raven Rock State Park is a two-hour drive: there, you could get in a few laps on the 135-stair staircase leading down from 150-foot-high bluff to the Cape Fear River, and the 5-mile Campbell Creek Trail has some elevation.
• Charlottesville, Va. Having the Shenandoah National Park in your backyard is like having the best natural stairclimber around: so many good options. Leading Ridge Trail in the Central District offers the best elevation change: about 1,650 feet in one mile.
• Virginia Beach, Va. The bad news for mountain training when you live at the beach is that you live at the beach. But when it comes to natural stairmasters, you’re hard-pressed to top Mount Trashmore. Spend 30 minutes on the trash heap three or four times a week and you’ll be ready for most any climb.

Resources

Crowders Mountain, Morrow Mountain State Park, Pilot Mountain State Park, Hanging Rock State Park, Eno River State Park, Shenandoah National Park

For information on hiking the Uwharrie National Forest, check out Don Children’s “Uwharrie Lakes Region Trail Guide,” Second Edition, Earthbound Sports. Learn more about the book here.

Join us on a challenging hike

This Saturday, our Piedmont Explorer group will be getting in some elevation at Hanging Rock State Park. Learn more here.

Next weekend, our GetHiking! Classic Hikes crew visits Pilot Mountain for a 10-mile hike starting from the base of the mountain, climbing as high as you can legally go, then heading back down. Learn more and sign up here.

Happy trails,

Joe

p.s. Stay tuned next week for information on a special workshop to get your core in shape for backpacking this summer!

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