Hike after work, hike around Lake Crabtree, hike Stone Mountain

GetHiking! After Work
GetHiking! Triangle
When: Thursday, April 28, 5 p.m.
Where: Umstead State Park (Harrison Avenue entrance), Raleigh.
After 8 hours in the cube, how about an hour and a half on the trail? This 4.2-mile brisk-paced hike in the woods is just the thing for those of you who think five days between weekends is too dang long.
Hike leader: Lori C.
More info here

GetExploring! Let’s GO Williamston
GetExploring! Greenville
When: Thursday, April 28, 3-7 p.m.
Where: Town of Williamston
Ever drive through Williamston and wonder what outdoor opportunities lurk nearby? Wonder no more, not after attending this festival showcase groups in the area that focus on outdoor recreation and environmental education, including the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Commission, N.C. Forest Service, Sierra Club and more.
Hike leaders: Andrew and Lindsey
More info here.

GetHiking! Walk Lake Crabtree
GetHiking! Triangle
When: Saturday, April 30, 9:30 a.m.
Where: Lake Crabtree County Park, Morrisville
A flat, diverse hike, on trail most folks, even locals, don’t know exists. Six miles, easy.
Hike leader: Lori C.
More info here

GetHiking! Stone Mountain (Waterfall Views)
GetHiking! Charlotte
When: Sunday, May 1, 10 a.m.
Where: Stone Mountain State Park, Roaring Gap
Back by popular demand! From the Lower Trailhead parking area, we’ll do 9 miles using the Stone Mountain Loop Trail as our core. Diversions include the Cedar Rock, Blackjack Ridge and Middle and Lower Falls trails. Expect great views, waterfalls, climbing.
Hike leader: Lisa
More info here

Backpacking

GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking
GetHiking! Triangle
When: Four-week session starts Sunday, May 15, 9 a.m.
Where: Umstead State Park, Raleigh
Note: Three spots remain.
The course consists of three training sessions focusing on a key skill each week. Week 1: Gear and packing; Week 2: Setting up (and breaking down) camp; Week 3: Rustlin’ up a meal. Each session includes a training hike of increasing length: 2, 4.5 and 6 miles. Then, in Week Four, we take a two-night graduation trip to South Mountains State Park.
This is a fee course: $85 for the session; Great Outdoor Provision Co. offers incentives, including a $35 gift card.

Event leader: Joe Miller
Learn more about the program here

Skills

GetHiking! Finding Your Way
GetHiking! Triangle
When: Sunday, May 22, 1 p.m.
Where: Umstead State Park, Raleigh
Love the trail but uncertain about your wayfinding skills? This three-hour session goes over basic map and compass skills, then hits the trail to offer key tips on how to follow and stay on the trail, how to find it again if you stray, and how to explore off trail. We’ll start with a 30-minute map-and-compass introduction, then use that map and compass — and some Daniel Boone skills — to find our way in the woods. We’ll also do some off-trail exploring, with the goal of purposefully venturing off the trail, then rejoining it again. Our goal is to make you confident hiking alone or taking a novice friend on the trail. Course fee of $35 includes a compass.
Hike leader: Joe Miller
More info here

Gear, Tips, Resources

Gear: Nite Ize Flashflight LED Light-Up Flying Disc

Ouch!
That hurt!
My nose! I think it’s broken.
Those were the sounds from an ill-fated game of Frisbee that lasted too long past dark on a GetHiking! Classic Hikes camping trip last summer. The spirit was willing, the eyesight weak.
When our weekend Classics rev up again in two weeks we won’t be repeating our painful disc play, not with the Nite Ize Flashflight LED Light-Up Flying Disc in our stable of camp toys. Looks and feels like any other 185-gram gram flying disc, but come sunset, its arrival won’t come as a surprise. It might freak the tin-foil-hat-wearing campers in your midst, but it won’t break your nose.
More info here.

Tip: Drink up!

Bringing adequate supplies of water on a hike becomes increasingly important as temperatures head into the mid-80s, as they will this week. But did you know you can do yourself a huge favor by upping your water intake several days before a big hike? Without getting technical, your cells absorb water over time, resulting in what we refer to as squishy cells. Squishy cells are
Your finest water! And keep ‘em coming. much better at helping your body function on a long march.
So starting today, for that big hike this weekend, keep a water bottle at the ready and start liquifying those cells.

Resource: Find a National Trails Day event near you

Every year on the first Saturday of June, we give back to the ones that gives us so much pleasure the rest of the year.
Our trails.
Ever since the late 1980s, National Trails Day events nationwide have celebrated trails. Some events involved trail maintenance, others trail building. At still others, folks just show and hike.
There are more than 2,000 events nationwide. Where’s the event closest to me? you inquire?
Keep tabs on the American Hiking Society’s NTD events map for the answer.