Meet the MULES

You get a beach house for a week over the summer. On Day 1, you sit in the sun. On Day 2, you sit in the sun. On Day 3...

The 152,000-acre Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is a wild island oasis between the North Carolina mainland and the Outer Banks. You will find all manner of wild critters here:...

The Roanoke begins its run in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, but doesn’t settle into flatwater mode until after one last hurrah of Class I-III rapids...

This dam-controlled river is most popular on Saturdays in July — the one time the minimum flow required (see “Minimum flow”) is pretty much guaranteed. There are other releases but...

Foster Falls on the New River in Virginia is another area to come and play in falls, drops and surrounding rapids. Say the avid paddlers in our Winston-Salem shop: “There...

A certain degree of bragging rights goes along with paddling Wilson Creek, which forms on the east face of Grandfather Mountain and quickly tumbles down the Blue Ridge Escarpment through...

First, there’s the fact that this stretch of the Yadkin it’s always runnable — can’t beat reliability in a playmate. And not only can you always depend on Section 13...

Yup, you read that right: “upstream.” You got a problem with that? You won’t when you realize that this close-to-town option is a character builder. Or if not a character...

There are several runs of rapids on this stretch of the Cape Fear, the first coming amid several islands less than a mile after the put-in. This run of Class...

A popular run, especially for intro classes. The stretch is popular for several reasons. For one, when water levels in the region start to drop it’s one of the last...

Look downstream as you pass over the US 64 bridge, even in the driest of times, and you’ll have no trouble seeing why this is the place the Triangle’s experienced...

If you’re gonna drive 4 hours you better get your money’s worth. With the price of admission ($25 for a one-day pass) to the National Whitewater Center that’s a pretty...

We say Fort Fisher because it tends to be a little less crowded than beaches to the north, something you (not to mention fellow beach-goers) will appreciate as you learn...

One of the more fun sections of the Haw: this stretch epitomizes the islands and braids that characterize the Haw as its banks widen and it works its way to...

You encounter a good drop over the first mile — 40 feet — but Paul Ferguson says there are no big drops, just a consistently descending run of Class I...

Until a whitewater park gets developed at the base of Falls dam, the one-two punch of the 3.5-mile stretch of the Neuse between Old Milburnie Road and Poole Road will...

A good stretch of Class I and II rapids just over a half mile in is followed by a Class III near the US 15/501 bridge. More Class Is and...

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...