Coast: The Snakes of North Carolina

Lake Waccamaw State Park hosts this series daily through June 18. Learn about snakes in general, the snakes found in North Carolina, and about the differences in the 37 species native to our state, such as which ones lay eggs and which ones have live births. Meet at the Visitor Center.

Weekend forecast: The event is indoors. But this weekend it will be on the chilly side; perhaps a light jacket is in order.

Vital Stats: The Snakes of North Carolina, daily at 10 a.m., Visitor Center, Lake Waccamaw State Park, Lake Waccamaw. Contact lake.waccamaw@ncparks.gov or 910.646.4748 for more information, or go here.

Looking ahead: Hike at Fort Macon State Park, exploring the natural side of the park. Meet at the Visitor Center at 10 a.m., Thursday. April 28. More information here.

Piedmont: Eagle Count at Jordan Lake

Join Ranger Steve McMurray at the Poplar Point Recreation area Sunday morning to spot as many eagles as you can. There is no required skill level for this event; beginners to experts are welcome. New Hope Audubon Society counts the eagles four times a year at Jordan Lake; your help will be greatly appreciated in this exercise of citizen science.

Sunday forecast: About 34 degrees during the count; it will, however, be sunny.

Vital Stats: Eagle Count at Jordan Lake (Poplar Point Recreation Area), Sunday, 7-8:30 a.m. Contact: Steve McMurray at 919.362.0586 ext. 219. steve.mcmurray@ncparks.gov More information here.

Looking ahead: Mother’s Day Bird Walk — Bean Shoals Canal Trail on May 8, Pilot Mountain State Park. Pinnacle. More information here.

Mountains: White Water Rafting Adventure on the Cheoah River

Graham County on the southern edge of the Smokies, is home to one of the most challenging and physically demanding rivers for whitewater rafting and kayaking. The dammed Cheoah River has unique features that contribute to some of the best Class IV and IV+ paddling. On Saturday and Sunday, the Cheoah River Release is taking place. You can take part in a guided trip, or purchase a river bracelet and tackle the river on your own. If you can’t make it this weekend, there will also be releases April 16-17, April 23-24, and May 14-15.

Weekend forecast: Saturday: High of 51, low of 29 with winds blowing NW at 25 mph. Sunday: High of 66, low of 42.

Vital Stats: Cheoah River Put-in in Yellow Creek, Saturday and Sunday. River pass bracelets can be purchased at O’Henry’s or Outland Expeditions (800.827.1442). More information here.

Looking ahead: Annual Passholder Spring Sunrise Breakfast, Chimney Rock State Park, Chimney Rock, May 7, 5-7 a.m. RSVP by May 3 to secure your spot. For more information, go here.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Whitewater rafting

Our wistfulness for warm — nay, hot — weather, our wondering if it will every come, again has us digging into the archives for sweaty relief. We find it today in the form of a whitewater rafting trip from a couple years back at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.

Watch and imagine it’s 90 degrees as our guide Natalie deftly maneuvers us through Class III rapids, the cool water slapping our parched skin. Forget for the moment you’re wearing a winter sweater that should have been retired for the season a month ago, and picture yourself in river shorts and sandals, laughing with glee on a classic summer adventure. For 90 seconds, at least, it’s summer.

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: Farewell to the Warm Waters of Summer

We always look forward to fall, possibly more so than any other season. The cool weather offers great incentive to do so many things: take a long hike, do a midday mountain bike ride, go rock climbing, go backpacking. But there’s one thing we’ll miss from summer: the warm water that accommodates so many of our recreational needs. (“Needs,” not “wants”? Absolutely.)

Today, on the first day of October, as those warm waters cool for the winter, we take a look back at water in its various recreational forms.

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Enjoy the trip.

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Not when you can do nearly all your searching in one spot. Like the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte. Despite its paddle-centric name, the Whitewater Center is a Disneyland of outdoor adventure.

When it opened in 2006, it was touted as a state-of-the-art training facility for the U.S. Olympic Team’s paddling athletes. (The Center was key to USA Canoe & Kayak’s decision to relocate to Charlotte.) Yet the non-profit’s mission is far greater: to promote healthy and active lifestyles, develop environmental stewardship and “encourage family and civic interaction.”

What that means to you: A 400-acre playground where you can get a taste of the mainstream and the eclectic in outdoor adventure. Including:

• Whitewater rafting. The center’s most popular activity, according to spokesman Stephen Youngblade. The park’s manmade river includes an upper run with Class II and III water, a lower run with Class III and IV. After a 20-minute orientation you spend about an hour on the water, making multiple loops thanks to a rubber conveyor belt that takes your raft from the end of a run back to the top. (The river is fed by an underground well, its average capacity is 12 million gallons, it flows about 1,200 cubic feet per second, water is transported back upstream via seven pumps each with about 700 horsepower.) After sharing a boat with guide Natalie, a high school student and three sisters, I came off the river surprised by the authenticity of the experience: I got the same bottom-falling-out-of-my-stomach feeling I’ve gotten on Class III and IV water in the mountains, Natalie rescued a rafter jettisoned from a nearby boat, and while I didn’t abandon ship, I was as just as soaked as if I had at trip’s end. I was expecting a difference comparable to that between a climbing wall and a mountain: it was much closer than that.

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  Whitewater kayaking. Lessons or bring your own boat.

• Mountain biking. 14 miles of trail that includes some of Charlotte’s oldest trail, dating back to the 80s. BYOB (and pay only the $5 parking fee) or rent one.
• Rock climbing. 46-foot climbing tower with more than 40 roped climbs.
• Flatwater paddling. On the adjoining Catawba River.
• Standup paddleboading. Also on the Catawba, though more advanced SUPers may want to try the whitewater course.
• Canopy Tour. Four hours spent exploring the forest canopy via ziplines from elevated platform to elevated platform.
• Canyon Crossing. Walk a rope bridge across a hardwood forest gorge (you’re clipped in to a safety line, btw). The bridges connect to periodic platforms; reach the last platform and zipline back to the start.

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  Adventure Course. Features a variety of elevated obstacles.

Youngblade says with the exception of the whitewater raft trip and Canopy Tour, the average adventure lasts about 30 minutes and that most visitors tend to do three or four activities per visit.

“Most people come to do the rafting,” he says. “But then they get intrigued by the other activities.”

For instance, Brittany Guarna and Jonathan Green stopped by the park on a job-related visit to Charlotte. The two went to college together in upstate New York and were already into outdoor adventure. But, they say, they never envisioned themselves as tree canopy explorers.

“It was great,” Guarna said after dropping off the edge of a 40-foot platform hooked into an automatic belay device. Green grinned in agreement. That may not be their new thing, but they were already making plans to return to the Center and do more exploring.

The price of admission may seem steep at first. An AllSport day pass entitling you to try most of the Center’s activities is $49 ($39 for kids 9 and under). Comparatively, though, a weekend lift ticket to Sugar Mountain ski area this year was $66 — with another $20 for ski rental. And if you live within a reasonable distance, an AllSport season pass is $159 ($129 for the 9 and under set).

If you’re convinced there’s an adventurer within yearning to get out, book a trip to the U.S. National Whitewater Center. The most you have to lose?

$49.

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Visit the U.S. National Whitewater Center Web site

here.

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