Meet the MULES

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...

There’s a lot to recommend an Umstead-based tent vacation: 20 miles of hiking trail, 13 miles of bike & bridle trail (with connections for mountain bikers to about twice that...

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...

Beaverdam Recreation Area There’s a bit of dues paying associated with this paddle. Think of it as training for a longer, epic paddle at the coast. After putting in, hang...

Falls Dam to Buffaloe Road Raleigh is often called a city within a park. But did you know there’s a navigable river within the city within the park? From the...

Company Mill Trail (see related entry) may be Umstead State Park’s most popular trail but largely because of a lack of competition. From the park’s Harrison Avenue entrance off I-40,...

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...