Blog

Umstead Trail Marathoners show that there’s more than one way to prepare for a 26.2-mile day Runners Taking their Mark before the start of the 10th Annual Umstead Trail Marathon...

The Trail Scout is an ideal value for first-time campers and those looking to upgrade from closed cell foam pads. It’s perfect for light backpacking, car camping, summer camps and...

After Diane Van Deren finished her record-breaking run across North Carolina on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail last June 1, she did something she’d never done as a professional athlete. She took...

Great Outdoor Provision Co., the southeast’s largest independent specialty outdoor retailer since 1972 was acquired by local staff in 2013. In January of 2013, Raleigh, NC native and founder Tom...

The park has two lakes, one 20 acres, one 12, good for bass, bream and catfish. And, every winter the lakes are stocked with trout. The park also has six...

You’re the anal type: you like the idea of getting away for a weekend escape, but you just don’t feel good about being completely detached from work. We’re not crazy...

How do you keep an 18,000-acre state park secret — so secret it doesn’t even show up on Google Maps? Hiding it in a surprisingly open area south of Morganton...

There are several winter camping options at New River State Park, a linear park following its namesake river and known for one thing: paddling. The Wagoner Road Access has 10...

Technically, yes, it’s a horse camp. But if they don’t mind, should you? Not once you see the 15-mile trail network that includes a pair of 7.5-mile loops. One climbs...

If ever there was an area set up to accommodate the avid camper, it’s Hot Springs. Located on the Appalachian Trail — the AT runs along a sidewalk through the...

The trails in this section of the Pisgah District of the Pisgah National Forest are open to hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. From here, you can hike up to...

There’s primitive camping galore in the Fires Creek Recreation Area, particularly along the trail leading up to the rim and along the 25-mile rim itself. Which brings us to the...

Perhaps you’ve been driving down a gravel road in one of our four fine National Forests — Croatan, Uwharrie, Pisgah, and in the case of Ammons Branch, Nantahala — and...

Located on the southern shores of Lake Joacassee, this would seem the ideal winter getaway for paddlers interested in exploring the the lake’s many fingers. And it is — for...

The Big Ivy Area — “big ivy” is what the locals call mountain laurel — is one of those areas you may have scoped out on a map — the...

Looking for a cheap mountain getaway this winter? Highlands and Panthertown Valley are not much more than 10 miles from the roadside campsites along Blue Valley Road. Primitive, yes, but...

Johnny Malloy, in his “The Best in Tent Camping: The Carolinas” (see below), writes evocatively of this primitive escape on the edge of the Ellicott Rock Wilderness: “The Chattooga runs...

Davidson River is a great winter campground for several reasons. One, the gate is open late, allowing you to spend those long, cold, dark winter nights in town. Two, there’s...