Seasonal closures don't always end when they're supposed to: it pays to double check before heading out, especially this time of year. Also, spring break is coming: do you know where you'll be spending it?For more on Seasonal closures (and reopenings) in National Forests, check the appropriate National Forest Service website and look under "Events & News"/"Alerts & Notices".GeorgiaNorth CarolinaVirginiaTennesseeSouth CarolinaWest VirginiaInterested in taking the family out...
By mood? We're always in a good mood when we backpack — how could we not be? Rather, by "mood" in this instant we're referring to the kind of backpack trip we'd like to take, or that we have time for. In short, the type of trip we're in the mood for. Thus, we break down our favorite trips by category. They are:Best Weekend TripBest Winter TripBest Basecamp TripBest Wilderness TripBest Avoid-the-Masses TripBest Trip, PeriodYou can learn more about each trip and find a link with details on taki...
Back in 2011 I was approached by Curesearch, a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating children’s cancer, asking if I’d be interested in helping with a new fundraising program they were starting, the Ultimate Hike. The deal was this: I would lead a 12-week training program with the ultimate goal of hiking 28.3 miles on the Foothills Trail straddling the North Carolina / South Carolina line — that’s 28.3 miles all in one day. Along the way, they would vow to fundraise a minimum of $2,500 to help fi...
Ah, winter, beguiling winter, the season that drops its guard when it drops its leaves. Minus the lush canopy, minus the understory and ground cover you see deeper into the woods and discover the forest's hidden treasures: the foundation of an old homestead, an impressive rock outcrop, an old roadbed that leads ... somewhere. The urge to go off trail and explore is a siren song that can be too great to resist. But before you venture from the safety and security of the trail, there are a few t...
We are in the process of turning the corner on fall color and for some, that means the close of the fall hiking season. The color is gone — what's there to see? goes one argument. And there's: the holidays are coming — who's got time to hike with all the demands of the season? In short answer to the latter, who doesn't have time to hike because of all those holiday demands!? I mean, isn't part of the reason we get out to escape the stress of everyday life? As for the former — What is there to...
From her post at Pilot Mountain State Park near the Blue Ridge Escarpment, N.C. State Parks Ranger Maggie Miller talks about the coming fall color — specifically, when it's coming and the best places to catch it. For more information on the North Carolina State Parks she mentions — or for any other state park in the Tar Heel state — go hereFor information on the Hawk Watch program mentioned by Ranger Smith, check out the North Carolina State Parks Events and Programs page here.In t...
The National Park Service reports that 2 million people visit the Blue Ridge Parkway in October alone. That is a whole of traffic and a whole lot of potential company as you seek fall color and solitude. In this episode, the National Park Service offers 10 tips on how to make the most of October on the parkway — and we share some thoughts as well.Related resourcesRoad Status. To see about road closures and delays along the Blue Ridge Parkway, go here. Rocky Knob Recreation Area. To learn...
Every Monday and Friday, we invite GetHiking! and GetBackpacking! peeps to join us on a 20-minute-or-so hike to talk things hiking on Facebook Live at our GetGoingNC page. On today's podcast, we take you on a recent Morning Walk, along a stretch of the Eno River in the piedmont of central North Carolina. (Join us on our twice weekly Facebook Live hikes, on Monday and Friday mornings around 8 a.m., at our GetGoingNC Facebook page, here.In our news segment we discuss recovery efforts on p...
It's all about the July 4 weekend in today's episode, including:Where you can catch catch the Brood X Cicada Choir and their 100-decibel performance.The answer to the question you've possibly been wondering: Are fireworks allowed in National Forests? (No.)Speaking of which, is there one convenient location where you find out the fire danger — and other cool fire-related stats — before heading into the woods? (Yes.)Are there still campsites available for us procrastinators? (Yes.)LinksTo disco...
Bears have been getting into more campers gear of late: the reason? Improper food storage. In this week's quick listen, we talk about the importance of food storage on the trail.For more information on food storage and dealing with blackberry in general, visit bearwise.org.
About 12 percent of the United States is protected as natural area. That’s roughly 456,000 square miles of the nation’s total land mass of roughly 3.8 million square miles. Now, when most of us think of land set aside to protect nature, at least here in the Southeast, we think of National Parks, we think of National Forests, we think of State Parks. Yet nationwide those three entities only account for about 10 percent of total protected land. What about those remaining 3.3 million squar...
The 77-mile Foothills Trail jumps back and forth along the North Carolina South Carolina state line, along the rugged Blue Ridge Escarpment. Backpackers who thru-hike the trail generally take 5 to 7 days to complete the challenging trek. And those are backpackers who typically have several years of experience and have trained for the hike. Now imagine being someone with little or no hiking experience and being challenged to hike more than a third of the entire 77-mile Foothills Trail in one d...
Henry Perangelo spent much of his life as a scuba diver. In fact, it wasn’t until he took a job on the Caribbean island of Saba, shortly before retiring, that he, a scuba diver, discovered hiking. He continued hiking after moving to the Northeast three years later and began taking weekend backpack trips. It wasn’t until five years ago or so, when he and his wife retired to Cary, that he became more interested in backpacking, but still taking trips typically in the 2 to 3-night range. Then, in...
Today, musings on that first warm day of the year (upper 60s, in this case), the one that reminds you that, in the Southeast at least, winter will end long before the calendar says so. A few key links related to the coming longer, warmer days. Note: Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, March 14, at 2 a.m.: don't forget to spring forward.Sunrise/Sunset times. Enter your location and the date and sunrise-sunset.org will tell you not only the official sunrise and sunset times for a given day, but...
This week we look at 8 backpack trips we hope to take in 2021 (we had planned to do them in 2020, but, well, viruses happen). We talk a bit about each hike and they're particular attraction, from a couple of quick overnighters that are surprisingly close to home, to a couple or shorter thru hikes. We also look at recent land acquisitions that have boosted North Carolina State Parks' land and water holdings past the quarter million acre mark, including expansions for the Deep River...
In our inaugural episode, we:Tell you who we are and what we plan to doTake a look at First Day Hikes in the Southeast: who's holding them and who's notTalk with Jim Grode, Trail Resource Manager for the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, who discusses how to use the MST's trail resources to find a stretch of trail that meets your hiking needs — and that likely won't be overrun with hikers. Especially helpful information on New Year's Day, when everyone, it seems, resolves to start a year...
The best thing about hiking on a cold winter’s day? You can hike forever.This is why winter is made for the long hike. In summer, after an hour on the trail, you’re done. You’re soaked in sweat, your eyes sting of salt, you’re coated in spider webs. In winter after an hour you’re just getting warmed up.The cold itself is good incentive to keep moving. And the more you move down the trail the more you realize what a magical time of year this is in the woods. Winter’s sunlight knifes brig...
This week, the last week of 2022, we kick off 2023 and North Carolina's year of the Trail. We talk with Beth Heile with the Great Trails State Coalition, a nonprofit created to promote trails in North Carolina, and we talk a little about our work with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources' Hometown Strong initiative to promote trails in North Carolina's 80 rural counties. This week, we have a special emphasis on the start of Year of the Trail with a plethora of First...
Today on the GetHiking! Southeast Podcast we revisit North Carolina’s 12 State Trails. Revisit, because in March 2021 we spoke with State Trails Coordinator Smith Raynor about the trails. That discussion was a more broad-based chat about the State Trails program. Today, we take a closer look at each of the 12 trails, and later we will revisit these trails again to see how 2023, designated The Year of the Trail in North Carolina, will impact the development of these long trails. But let us not...
The first 6 miles of trail in a project to eventually add 42 miles in the Old Fort area of North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest have opened. That and more national forest news, from Virginia and Tennessee, in this week's report.For more information on the trail opening and the Old Fort project, start here.For more information on the reopening of the High Knob Recreation Area in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, go here.