Blog
Prescription for summer hiking? Just add water
Hiking Harper Creek You want to keep hiking as we surge into summer, but the heat! Not a problem, really. You just need to make sure that relief — in...
Chapel Hill Store Manager Chad Pickens relishes all customers, even the ‘unique’ ones
Some people have an influential mentor who helps determine their career path. For others, their vocation is determined by lineage, by fate, by channel surfing. Chapel Hill Store Manager Chad...
5 summer NC hikes and a natural slip n slide!
Since childhood, when we’ve thought of cooling off on a hot summer day, we’ve thought of losing ourselves in a cool mountain pool. Just the thought of a natural water...
GetHiking! Resource Page: Where to Hike
A well-marked MST through Holly Shelter Game Land Hiking is like craft beer: it’s all good, it’s just that sometimes you have a hankerin’ for a particular kind of trail....
GetPaddling! Resource Page
Paddling the marshlands of Falls Lake One of our favorite questions when a newcomer walks in the door: “So, is there any good paddling around here?” Well, reckon that depends...
The Mountains-to-Sea Trail in a day
The MST at Rough Ridge, Blue Ridge Parkway Picture, if you will, a 1,175-mile trail hiked in its entirety in one day. And not by one person, but rather by...
GetBackpacking! Resource Page: Tips to help you get started — and keep you going
GetBackpacking! Intro to Backpacking Class of February 2017 We love backpacking. We sell lots of useful, essential and fun backpacking gear, our GetBackpacking! program helps you learn the ropes, then...
Let's GetBackpacking!
Let’s talk for a minute about backpacking. You mean strapping a bulky, steel-frame pack with 60 pounds of gear to your back and hiking 20 miles? No, I’m talking about...
GetHiking! Resource Page: Tips for hikers just getting started
Your first hike: So many questions! Last fall, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, in partnership with N.C. State Parks, N.C. Recreation and Park Association, Friends of State...
MST at 40: Five great hikes in the Piedmont
Sennett Hole, West Point on the Eno city park As the Mountains-to-Sea Trail celebrates its 40th anniversary, we celebrate the trail by looking at five of our favorite segments in...
MST at 40: Five Favorite Coastal Hikes
The MST through Jones Lake State Park For the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’ 40th anniversary, we celebrated the trail by looking at five of our favorite segments at the Coast. We focus...
Mountains-To-Sea: 5 of our favorite mountain hikes
Graveyard Fields As the Mountains-to-Sea Trail celebrates its 45th anniversary, we celebrate the trail by looking at five of our favorite segments in the mountains. We start with the mountains...
#PeakPanel | Some Highlights
Here are some of our favorite moments from the #PeakPanel. Thanks to everyone who came out! Climbers talk Gear: Chip on Summiting Everest: Reese on Patagonia: Matthew talks Denali: John...
Ease back into hiking with these early season options
Bluff Mountain Trail, Doughton Park Has the warm weather of late roused you from your winter slumber? If you’re the type that tends to hibernate when the weather is cold,...
MST’s 40th Anniversary: Mark Your Calendars
Got your calendar handy? Good. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is celebrating 40 years of existence and the Friends of the MST have quite a year of celebrating on tap. March 24...
Happy 40th, Mountains-to-Sea Trail!
Click here for an interactive version of the map Tradition holds that a ruby makes a nice 40th anniversary gift. Fortunately, the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail don’t stand on...
Chapel Hill’s Tom Mrotek: Bikepacking & Beyond
We often say that our staff works hard so that they can enjoy an active lifestyle in their time off. Tom Mrotek is no exception. For almost three and a...
Q & A with Johanna Breed
Meet Johanna! May 2017 marks her 7th year with GOPC. She is our Greensboro paddlesports manager, though she really enjoys working in all of our departments. What first introduced you...