“What did you guys do for fun when you weren’t working?” I ask the guy. “Any girls we could find!” Hoots and giggles fill the Bathhouse at Hanging Rock State Park, where one Dr. Harley Jolley is just about done…
Driving in the pitch-black predawn and arriving at the trailhead just at daylight starts to take over is the next best thing to camping in the wilderness. (Better, actually, if sleep eludes you in a tent on the ground). The…
I had it on good authority that the rhododendrons were blooming like crazy at Hanging Rock State Park. That was last Monday. Well, as of May 15, the Big Bloom was still on, but like so many hikers it’s moving…
This’ll be a quick one — a jaunt up to Cook’s Wall at Hanging Rock State Park. While it’s under five miles, this is a pretty vigorous hike with lot of rocky trails and witness-the-earth’s-curvature views on a clear day.…
Reedy Fork Creek along the Laurel Bluff Trail. I defied a rainy weather forecast yesterday and notched another hike on the Greensboro Watershed — this time in a seven-mile loop taking in the Laurel Bluff and Reedy Fork trails east…
Lanier Falls at Raven Rock State Park southwest of Raleigh. The gravitational pull of the Blue Ridge causes a lot of us Triad types to overlook places like Raven Rock State Park, which hasn’t a single peak to its name.…
Lake Brandt in the Greensboro Watershed I won’t pretend this is a great hike. But it’s not too bad when you consider it’s entirely with the city limits of Greensboro, population 255,000. Owl’s Roost Trail snakes along the shores of…
Statue of General Nathanael Greene, who led the Continental forces at Guilford Courthouse. This park is a history buff’s dream — right here in good ol’ Greensboro, the general famous for losing America to the Revolutionaries eked out a Redcoat…
Coming home with nice pictures changes the whole complexion of my hikes. Case in point: I hiked just over 11 miles Sunday on the trails of Piedmont Environmental Center, about 30 miles east of my doorstep. The hiking’s just bumpy…
