Coast: Carnivorous Plant Hike

Carolina Beach State Park offers its Carnivorous Plant Hike frequently, but when are you going to find a better weekend to finally take it? Forecast: High of 60 under sunny skies, the perfect weather for stalking carnivorous plants. Join a park ranger Sunday morning and learn about the native species to the area. You’ll have an opportunity to see the plants that truly do bite back: pitcher plants, the Venus flytrap, butterworts, and a few more..

Sunday forecast: 60 degrees and sunny at the beginning of the hike.

Vital Stats: Carolina Beach State Park, Sunday April 17, 11am, Nature Trail Lane Parking area. Contact 910.458.7770 or carolina.beach@ncparks.gov. More info here.

Looking ahead: Paddle for the Border, 7.5-mile journey between Dismal Swamp State Park and North River park in Chesapeake, Va., where participants will cross the state line. Registration fills quickly! Dismal Swamp State Park, April 30. More information here.

Piedmont: Sustainability Salon: “Hope for Animals and Their World”

The Carolina Raptor Center tonight hosts Thane Maynard, who, among his other accomplishments, co-authored a book with Jane Goodall, to come discuss what we’ve done to support animal conservation. He will also talk about the small steps we can take each day, such as riding your bike to work, to save the earth’s resources. There will be a book signing at the end of the event, and a cash bar from 7:30-9 p.m.

Tonight’s forecast: Starting out at 63 degrees, and getting down to about 55 by the end of the event. Projected to be partly cloudy with light winds.

Vital Stats: Presented by Carolina Raptor Center, Sunday,, 7-9:30 p.m, Mint Museum, Charlotte. $15 for CRC members, $20 non-members, $10 students. More information here.

Bonus Piedmont event: Where there’s Smoke…

What Smoky the Bear doesn’t tell you, is that forest fires aren’t always a bad thing. Come to Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough Sunday and take a 1-mile hike along a trail where there was a recent prescribed burn. You’ll learn about fire ecology and why fires are sometimes lit in North Carolina forests on purpose. (Good hiking shoes are a must.) More information here.

Sunday forecast: High of 61 degrees, low of 41 and mostly sunny.

Vital Stats: Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area, Hillsborough, Sunday, 10:30 a.m, meet in the Occoneechee parking lot. Contact 919.383.1686 or eno.river@ncparks.gov for more information.

Looking ahead: Occoneechee Geology Hike, learn about the mountain’s geologic wonders with a real geologist. Limited to 25 participants, Saturday April 23, 2pm. More info here.

Mountains: Astronomy for Everyone

Lake James State Park co-hosts a night of star gazing Saturday with the Catawba Valley Astronomy Club. Join them for an educational night of star gazing, where you can learn astronomy tips and create your own star chart. Telescopes and binoculars provided, but feel free to bring your own, as well as a chair for relaxing. Meet in the upper parking lot of the Paddy’s Creek Area at 8 p.m.

Saturday evening forecast: 60 degrees at the start of the event, a low of 47 that night.

Vital Stats: Register by calling the park office at 828.584.7728, Lake James State Park, Nebo, Saturday, 8 p.m.

Looking ahead: 2016 Annual Wildflower Walks at Grandfather Mountain State Park. Join a ranger on a variety of different paths to enjoy the wildflower display, which changes from week to week. Next hike: Sunday, May 1, 9 a.m. More info here.

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The post Your Weekend: Stalk a plant, learn the burn, eye the sky appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Also: Next Wednesday, April 6, is National Walking Day, sponsored by the American Heart Association. Learn more here.

Coast

What motivates us to be active is an individual thing. Some folks are motivated by their genes: a family history of heart disease is sometimes the prod needed to lead an aerobic — and thus, hopefully longer — lifestyle. Some are motivated by their jeans: These skinny straightlegs would be a lot more comfortable if I lost a few pounds.

A lot of the folks we know are motivated by nature, by the need to get out and explore. By the chance to see the unusual, to experience first-hand something not everyone else can or will. That’s why we’re drawn to Saturday’s Flytrap Family Fun Day at Carolina Beach State Park. After a presentation on the curious carnivorous plant at the Visitor Center, there’s a hike to to where the Venus flytrap flourishes and a chance to see the plant in action.  A short hike that pays off four your child in such an unusual display today could launch a lifetime of outdoor adventure in search of nature’s menagerie of other unique occurrences.

Vital Stats: Flytrap Family Fun Day, Saturday, April 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Carolina Beach State Park, Carolina Beach. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 72 with a chance of thunderstorms.

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Looking ahead: Oak Island Lighthouse Run, half marathon, 10K, 5K, 1-mile fun run; April 16, Southport. More info here.

Piedmont

Into each life, some rain must fall. And sometimes, when the rain is heavy, it acts as a big broom, sweeping up everything in its path that isn’t anchored and dumping it, often, in a lake. In the case of a big chunk of the Triangle, Falls Lake.

And a lot of rain fell, heavy at times, this winter, leaving the banks of Falls Lake with a bathtub ring of cans, tires, balls and styrofoam, to name but a smidgen of the detritus. It’s both unsightly and, in the case of a water supply such as Falls Lake, unhealthy. Which is why you should join the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Saturday as they hope to collect 400 trash bags of stuff along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail portion of Falls Lake. As added incentive, some of the stuff that washes up can be quite interesting … .

Intrigued, aren’t you? See below for details.

Vital Stats: Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Falls Lake Spring Cleaning, Saturday, 9 a.m. Meet at the Upper Barton Creek Boat Ramp off Six Forks Road just south of NC 98. For more information and to sign up, contact FMST Volunteer Leader Jeff Brewer at jdbrewer104@gmail.com.

Saturday forecast: High of 66 with a chance of rain.

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Looking ahead: Eagle Count, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, Apex, Sunday, April 10. More info here.

Mountains

The beauty of an early season event ride in the mountains is that you have no expectations: no overwhelming compulsion to place in your age category, no internal drive for a PR … heck, you’ll be happy just to finish. And, for you more competitive types, an early season ride is one you can actually and enjoy and take in the scenery.

You can have that early-season experience Saturday on the Tour De Lure, a “ a scenic yet hilly 71-mile route with 5600’ of total ascent [that] … winds through scenic farmland in McDowell County, climbs up Stone Mountain, passes through Chimney Rock and around beautiful Lake Lure, and finally heads back into McDowell County via the Assault on Mt. Mitchell route.”

In fact, you can be so laid back that you opt for the early-season-friendlier 23-mile Corpening YMCA Fun Bike Ride.

Vital Stats: Ture De Lure, bike rides of 71 and 23 miles, Saturday, April 2, Lake Lure., $60 on-site registration. More info here.

Saturday forecast: High of 66, mostly sunny.

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Looking ahead: Grandfather Mountain State Park Spring Wildflower Hikes, starting this Friday and running through June 12. Find a schedule here.

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

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