Our next adventure: Paddle at Pettigrew
Lake Phelps at Pettigrew State Park is the second largest natural lake in North Carolina. Despite its 16,600 acres, the dense vegetation surrounding the lake kept it a secret from the European invasion for about 300 years. Once they tripped over it, though, they started building a series of canals to irrigate farmland being developed nearby.
It’s both the lake and these connecting canals that will be the focus of our next adventure, a paddle trip of Pettigrew’s waters on August 8.
We’re looking at 2-3 hours on the water, depending upon your spirit of
Northern shoreline of Lake Phelps adventure.
For details and to sign up, check out our GetExploring! Greenville Meetup page.
Last week’s adventure: Sunset on the Tar
Everyone — or at least a lot of you — likes to spend daylight’s waning hour on the water. Friday evening, we had a great turnout for our paddle from Town Common to Port Terminal. It wasn’t a long paddle, but it was a chance to be on the water as a hot day drew to a cool close.
After letting a small rain pass, we put in and took a detour up a small feeder creek, paddled past the remains of the dock at the original colonial settlement site of Greenville, and we saw lots of wildlife: several nutria, a beaver, a brown water snake, a few bats, and an egret. And precious few bugs!
A few scenes from Friday evening’s paddle …
Gear of the week: Osprey Atmos 65 / Aura 65
For the next few weeks, our gear recommendations will come Lindsey and Andrew in Great Outdoor Provision Co.’s store in Greenville. Their suggestions come from their upcoming through-hike of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, scheduled for this fall. This week: Osprey Atmos 65 AG (men) and Aura 65 AG (women) backpacks.
This newly-redesigned pack from Osprey did the impossible – it made my favorite pack even better! I’ve been a fan of the Aura for years because of its weight (just over 4 pounds for the 65 liter
Atmos Andrew, left, and Aura Lindsey pack), and the comfort of its suspension system. The new suspension system kept the breathability of the old system, and added a lightweight mesh throughout so the pack really forms to the body. Osprey’s women’s and men’s packs are truly designed with the body shapes of those genders in mind – the women’s pack features a wider, more cushioned hip belt and narrower, contoured shoulder straps. This is another award winner – it won Backpacker Magazine’s 2015 Editor’s Choice Award. Cost: $259.95.
Tip of the Week: Lather up at the trailhead
This week’s tip is a simple one, yet one that will endear you to your fellow carpoolers/shuttle mates: Apply sunscreen and bug spray at the trailhead or put-in, not before hopping in the car with your fellow hikers to drive to the trailhead. You may not think your bug spray is all that aromatic, but we all have different levels of smell sensitivity.
Resource of the Week: Our own pages
We’re starting to add hopefully helpful content to our site: Instead of searching the web to find out what to wear to your first hike, you can start by checking the “Pages” section of our Meetup page. Our first topic: My first hike: What to bring. Check it out here.
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