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According to Paul Ferguson (see More info, below), there’s 182 miles of paddling on the Tar River between Oxford in the Piedmont and Washington (N.C.) on the cusp of the...

Falls Lake State Recreation Area: Shinleaf Maybe it’s because you have to hike in a ways to the camp sites (up to a quarter of a mile). Maybe it’s because...

Fifteen short hiking trails (none more than three-quarters of a mile in length) allow you to explore this unusual 2,800-acre preserve, which represents a wide range of Coastal Plain ecology....

New Hope Overlook There are more than 1,000 campsites at the Jordan Lake State Recreation Area; the 24 at the New Hope Overlook campground are easily the most serene. From...

Falls Lake State Recreation Area: Rollingview The rolling terrain at Rollingview insures a sense of solitude at each campsite. The campground’s location insures an opportunity for adventure. For one, the...

13 miles of bike & bridle trail Umstead’s bike & bridle trail is the core of the Umstead 100, one of the most popular ultra trail runs in the country....

20 miles of singletrack trail Umstead State Park offers Triangle runners the best of both worlds. Runners of all persuasions take advantage of the 13 miles of finely crushed gravel...

Not everyone embraces hills when it comes to training (see Umstead State Park entries). For those folks, there is the American Tobacco Trail. The ATT is the spine of a...

Peninsula Trail Every once in a while you pine for flat, foot-friendly, fast singletrack where you can, frankly, log a really fast time. Usually average 10 minutes per mile on...

FALLS LAKE PORTION If you thought a trail runner couldn’t have a better training facility than Umstead State Park, then you haven’t been on the Falls Lake portion of the...

This 520-acre flood control lake is especially popular with kayakers looking to get in a workout. In part, that’s because motor boats are restricted: nothing bigger than a 5 horsepower...

Here’s the joy of Lake Johnson: The beginners and casual paddlers who visit the park and decide on the spur of the moment to rent a canoe, a kayak or...

Ebenezer Church boat ramp Of the six major public boat ramps on Jordan Lake, you might ask why put in a canoe or kayak at one of the busiest? It’s...

Company Mill has long been the most loved trail at Umstead State Park, and for good reason. In part, because it begins from the park’s popular main entrance off Harrison...

There’s something very preserv-y about this preserve. There’s the Stevens Nature Center that greets you, complete with educational facilities and a gift shop. There’s the tastefully cultivated gathering area near...

How quickly you’re able to hike this trail depends upon how susceptible you are to letting a tree bend your ear (and you know how those beeches can be when...

Chuck Millsaps, Minister of Culture The faster I ran the more lost I felt. Not that panic lost feeling that causes you to measure gorp and ration water. Just that...

“Rock!” “Stump!” “Root!” The trail etiquette couldn’t have been any better as hikers warned those behind of the upcoming obstacles. This morning Trusty (the Mule) joined the students from the...