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Boo8meR
11-09-2005, 00:53
Any good trails in NC that are close to 50 miles? I'm looking for a good trail to hike during thanksgiving.

Thanks.

SGT Rock
11-09-2005, 01:10
Pick a part of the AT that runs through the state.

Boo8meR
11-09-2005, 01:16
I don't know how many people do this, but I'd like to witness the AT completely for the first time when I plan on thru-hiking it.

justusryans
11-09-2005, 08:45
Mountains to the Sea Trail

D'Artagnan
11-09-2005, 09:34
Not sure how far you're willing to drive from Raleigh, but in the piedmont, you might try the trails at Stone Mountain State Park or Hanging Rock State Park or even Pilot Mountain. They're not quite in the 50-mile range, but do offer good practice opportunities for the AT and their views are great. Stone Mountain is near Elkin/Sparta and Hanging Rock and Pilot are north of Winston-Salem. The camping is only in designated areas (for Stone Mtn. & Hanging Rock) but nonetheless is a good opportunity to do a shake-down of your equipment.

Chip
11-09-2005, 09:52
I just finished the section of the AT from Nolichucky River to Hwy. 19E. approx 50 miles. Hike over Roan Mtn., Unaka Mtn. and the Humps which are open balds, GREAT VIEWS. Might give that a try ? :)

Sly
11-09-2005, 10:04
You could hike the MST Alternate south from the Parkway and then the Art Loeb Trail (also the alternate) north from Davidson River to Boy Scout Camp. That's about 45 miles.

orangebug
11-09-2005, 10:29
Or go to Upstate SC for the Foothills Trail.

Boo8meR
11-09-2005, 13:46
Thanks, I'll look into these. I live near the Uwharrie National Forest, and there is the Uwharrie Trail that is 20.5 miles. I'm considering hiking it up and back. Maybe do that for a couple weekends to get back into shape.

sherrill
11-09-2005, 14:38
All of these suggestions are good ones. I'd like to add Grayson Highlands to the list. It's really not that far from Raleigh (I live near Pittsboro), you could contact Lone Wolf to see if you can park at his place and have him shuttle you south to hike back.

Ramble~On
11-10-2005, 06:04
Nice Hike in about that mile range is the Art Loeb Trail from Camp Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp to Davidson River. There are two shelters and campsites with great views but the problem would be getting back to your car.

If you park at Camp Daniel Boone you have a bunch of options for loop hikes in the Shining Rock Wilderness, Middle Prong Wilderness and sections of the Mountains to Sea Trail.
From the Scout camp its about ?3-4 miles up Cold Mountain (hence the book and movie "Cold Mountain". The Art Loeb comes into Deep Gap (there are 827,000,000,000, 634 "Deep Gaps" in NC) a side trail to the left leads to the summit and a really nice piped spring with excellent water towards the top. To the right is a really nice hike through "The Narrows", Stairs Mnt and
Shining Rock. From here you have a bunch of loop options and many trails to choose from for a multi day hike. The Little East Fork trail is a nice route back into the camp and your car instead of retracing your steps down Cold Mountain.

SGT Rock
11-10-2005, 08:47
Benton McKaye Trail. http://www.bmta.org/ You can find al least 50 miles of it in NC. http://www.bmta.org/pdfs/BMTRouteMap.pdf

C-Stepper
11-10-2005, 09:01
Why just NC? Maybe instead of saying NC, you can give us an hourly range from the nearest major city, or something. Are you new to NC?

For example, I live near Raleigh; it takes me about 5 hours to get to the Smokies, 5 hours to arrive at the SC mountains (Foothills Trail), 5 hours to hit the GA line to hit the southern Bartram Trail head, and about 4 1/2 hours to get to Mount Rogers Rec Area in VA (Grayson Highlands).

Just a note, though I see where you're coming from, it will be hard to avoid "witnessing" the AT and still trying to hike long (your 50 mile criteria) in the NC mountains. Many of the trips that meet your 50 miles criteria will at least cross the AT somewhere...many great loops can be had in the Smokies using the AT for at least a few miles. Even the Bartram Trail crosses the AT and holds hands with it for awhile twice on its official route.

Boo8meR
11-10-2005, 10:36
I live in Raleigh. I'm a student at NC state. I could potentially make it to those places but I'd like to be able to get there and back and still have time to do any studying required for the weekend. I've lived in NC my entire life and love it. I recently came across some information about the foothills trail so I think I may give that a whirl. We'll see how it turns out; regardless, thanks for all the information.

D'Artagnan
11-10-2005, 10:52
This is completely off-topic, but I'm curious about your trail name. Can you tell me how you say it phonetically? (It's kind of like those personalized license plates you can't figure out and then when you do it's like...duh! I see it now.) Thanks and good luck on whatever trail you hit. Go Wolfpack!

Boo8meR
11-10-2005, 11:01
Ha, it's not a trail name. My real name is Christopher, but before I was even born, my parents called me "the Boomer" because I kicked a lot while I was in the womb. One of their friends bought me a little hoodie for when I was born, and it had Boomer embroidered on the back of it. I was named after my father (Chris) and to avoid confusion, they've called me Boomer ever since. Here is the interesting part I think. They started off calling me Boomer before I was born because I kicked a lot. When I was 2 my cousins let me kick a soccer ball around the back yard with them (I think they were 6 and 9). When I turned 5, I started playing organized soccer and my career didn't stop until I ran into a bad coach in college and I quit after my first year. During the soccer days though, I was always number 8, so for online screen names, I add an 8 in the middle of my name. I'm hoping that a trail name will find me although I believe after most people hear this story, they'll say it already has.

D'Artagnan
11-10-2005, 11:35
Ahh, mystery solved. Thanks -- it was driving me crazy. My optometrist's plate is "CME2C". I felt like a real dolt when I asked him what it meant.

Boo8meR
11-10-2005, 11:38
haha, both of my optometrists have custom plates (they're married) 2 C C US and SEEUS2C

C-Stepper
11-11-2005, 08:58
I live in Raleigh. I'm a student at NC state. I could potentially make it to those places but I'd like to be able to get there and back and still have time to do any studying required for the weekend. I've lived in NC my entire life and love it. I recently came across some information about the foothills trail so I think I may give that a whirl. We'll see how it turns out; regardless, thanks for all the information.

If you only have weekends and long weekends to work with, and intend to study in addition to hiking (I'll assume you study Sunday evenings), this will limit what you can do. There is not much long distance hiking available without driving some distance from Raleigh, so there isn't much that I can think of that will meet your schedule. Here are some thoughts on more local stuff.

1. You could go to the Foothills Trail in SC and hike a section. However, I wonder that you'll be spending as much time driving as you will hiking, though that may be OK with you (I have a gas-guzzler, such a small section wouldn't interest me, but YMMV). If you have a buddy with a car it will help, but you won't get much hiking in if you have to backtrack to your car, as the trail goes one direction. Shuttles are available, if you have $$$.

2. If the hiking part is your game, it's not 50 miles, but the Uwharrie Trail/Dutchman's Creek Trail is 20 miles. This hike meets your criteria...you could drive down on Friday, get 3-4 miles in, camp a night, then hike as far as you'd like Saturday, camp, leave by midday Sunday (or before). This trail is in Troy, south of Asheboro. It's around 1 1/2 hours away from Raleigh. It's a well-maintained trail with campsites, not too crowded, plentiful water, pretty forest. Mountains are under 1000 feet, but winter views are still really good (there are no views any other time of year). However, be aware of hunting season and wear blaze orange.

3. If you're just looking to primitive camp, and hiking isn't the objective, you could carry a pack just 3 miles or so in at either Eno River (near Durham) or Raven Rock (near Lillington) state parks. There are nice campsites, and you could commune with nature, hang out, through rocks off the river cliffs, etc, and be back to school on your own timing to study, etc.

tiamalle
11-12-2005, 04:00
If you only have weekends and long weekends to work with, and intend to study in addition to hiking (I'll assume you study Sunday evenings), this will limit what you can do. There is not much long distance hiking available without driving some distance from Raleigh, so there isn't much that I can think of that will meet your schedule. Here are some thoughts on more local stuff.

1. You could go to the Foothills Trail in SC and hike a section. However, I wonder that you'll be spending as much time driving as you will hiking, though that may be OK with you (I have a gas-guzzler, such a small section wouldn't interest me, but YMMV). If you have a buddy with a car it will help, but you won't get much hiking in if you have to backtrack to your car, as the trail goes one direction. Shuttles are available, if you have $$$.

2. If the hiking part is your game, it's not 50 miles, but the Uwharrie Trail/Dutchman's Creek Trail is 20 miles. This hike meets your criteria...you could drive down on Friday, get 3-4 miles in, camp a night, then hike as far as you'd like Saturday, camp, leave by midday Sunday (or before). This trail is in Troy, south of Asheboro. It's around 1 1/2 hours away from Raleigh. It's a well-maintained trail with campsites, not too crowded, plentiful water, pretty forest. Mountains are under 1000 feet, but winter views are still really good (there are no views any other time of year). However, be aware of hunting season and wear blaze orange.

3. If you're just looking to primitive camp, and hiking isn't the objective, you could carry a pack just 3 miles or so in at either Eno River (near Durham) or Raven Rock (near Lillington) state parks. There are nice campsites, and you could commune with nature, hang out, through rocks off the river cliffs, etc, and be back to school on your own timing to study, etc.Somehow I believie he just stumbled upon this website and he just wanted to see if any one was on it that knew about trails in NC.It's Possible he is having an exam next week on trails.He could find his way down the beach at Wilmington following a beagles dog tracks to Myrtle Beach and get just as much good out of this thread.What do you think???
:datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz

C-Stepper
11-12-2005, 10:09
Somehow I believie he just stumbled upon this website and he just wanted to see if any one was on it that knew about trails in NC.It's Possible he is having an exam next week on trails.He could find his way down the beach at Wilmington following a beagles dog tracks to Myrtle Beach and get just as much good out of this thread.What do you think???
:datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz :datz

No, I don't think so. He, like me, may be disappointed with his proximity to trails.

I was surprised as well when I relocated to Raleigh from Richmond in 1997 and found out how far the mountains are from where I now live. I have to make it at least a 4-day weekend for it to be worth my while to drive all the way out there, as I don't consider a hike worthwhile if I have to drive for more hours that I get to hike (that's just me...some folks like it just fine). Contrast Richmond, where I could begin at a normal morning time (8am), drive to Shenandoah, hike a leisurely 10-15 mi, and drive back to Richmond with plenty of time to spare before my normal bedtime of 10:30 pm.

P.S. See you next Saturday morning, Ron! Thanks for offering to shuttle! :clap

tiamalle
11-12-2005, 12:17
No, I don't think so. He, like me, may be disappointed with his proximity to trails.

I was surprised as well when I relocated to Raleigh from Richmond in 1997 and found out how far the mountains are from where I now live. I have to make it at least a 4-day weekend for it to be worth my while to drive all the way out there, as I don't consider a hike worthwhile if I have to drive for more hours that I get to hike (that's just me...some folks like it just fine). Contrast Richmond, where I could begin at a normal morning time (8am), drive to Shenandoah, hike a leisurely 10-15 mi, and drive back to Richmond with plenty of time to spare before my normal bedtime of 10:30 pm.

P.S. See you next Saturday morning, Ron! Thanks for offering to shuttle! :clapGreat.I hope he comes up here and enjoys some of these trails.I was just pulling his chain a little.Hope to see you Saturday

Boo8meR
11-15-2005, 19:09
Yeah, and if you'll both look a few posts before the last one, I said I lived near the Uwharrie National Forest. I've done that trail a time or two, but I'd like to broaden my horizons. I'm not writing a paper on trails either. It's hard to find places to go around here w/o having to drive an hour or two. Just curious.

Nearly Normal
11-15-2005, 19:21
If you decide on the Foothills Trail be sure to include the river section. Hike South and end at Oconee State Park. Great place to leave a car and grab a shower. Views of the river will be killer.
Pete