Meet the MULES

If you love a good lake hike, you’ll like hiking at the Piedmont Environmental Center in High Point, a 376-acre preserve, a goodly portion of which is enveloped by High...

Stone Mountain Loop Trail Frankly, you won’t find the best hiking on the 16 miles of official hiking trail that prod this rugged 14,100-acre park at the base of the...

Ledge Spring/Jomokee Loop Trail Sometimes you’re so busy gawking and taking pictures you don’t have time to hike a great distance. When you’re exploring the top of Pilot Mountain State...

Imagine going to McDonald’s and discovering they serve a killer tomato Bruschetta. Or buying Demon Deacon season tickets, then discovering Tim Duncan has somehow regained his eligibility (and youth). That’s...

Much as you’d like to, it’s not always possible to escape for a full day on the trail. Sometimes, you need a place that’s, say, 10 minutes away, where you...

Two hours to hike a mile and a half? How is that possible? It’s quite possible if you consider that this 6,942-acre holding owned by the state and managed by...

The great thing about a new and developing venue — Brunswick Nature Park was established in 2010 — is that nearly every time you pay a visit, there’s more trail....

Difficulty: easy Distance: 20 minutes from downtown Time to complete: 1-2 hours Address: 10200 US Highway 17 N City: Wilmington State: N.C. Zip: 28411 Latitude: 34.1842 Longitude: 77.4768 One of...

Hermit Trail This 2.2-mile out-and-back features stark beauty and a visit to one of the more romantic homesteads in North Carolina. Stark beauty: There are few spots in densely forested...

Sugarloaf Dune Trail There’s a lot of adventure compacted into this 2.8-mile hike. Starting from the trailhead for the Sugarloaf Trail, take a quick warmup lap on the Flytrap Trail....

One of the best winter hikes in the state, not too bad in the spring or fall, either. Summer? Well… The Neusiok Trail, blazed into the wild of the Croatan...

There’s not a lot of trail at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park — less than two miles total. But you don’t need a lot to explore this unique parkland....

Man/woman does not live by hiking trips that require a long drive alone. Thank heavens for the 3.1-mile South Tar River Greenway. This dirt and gravel path currently runs from...

It’s easy to rack up some unintentional miles at Goose Creek State Park. From the Visitor Center, your initial plan is to simply hike down the Palmetto Boardwalk, which elevates...

Merchants Millpond is rightly known as one of the best spots in the state to paddle a cypress swamp, and deservedly so. The 760-acre millpond is perhaps the most enchanting...

Mayo Mountain Ridge Trail Think Mayo River and you think whitewater paddling. When the river’s up, the 18-mile-long (in North Carolina) Mayo boasts some of the Piedmont’s most challenging rapids;...

Face it, Hanging Rock, prominent knob from which this state park gets its name, is the star attraction here. But at just over a mile, making a beeline from the...

A wilderness area? Less than an hour from downtown? Well … sorta. The Birkhead Wilderness is a 4,790-acre nub on the northern tip of the Uwharrie National Forest. Though the...