Historic Yates Mill County Park is not on my usual round of go-to parks.
View of Yates Mill from the rocks.
This is mainly because it’s a longer drive for me than either Umstead State Park or Bond Park, both of those parks have longer trails – and these days I’m usually looking more for a place to have a serious hike than to entertain kids.
Raven Rock State Park is another great place to take younger kids, but it’s an hours drive away….
But a couple of weeks ago, I had an hour to spend and didn’t want to get too sweaty.
So I dropped by Historic Yates Mill County Park to take an active break.
I’d visited Yates Mill once before, in the winter, but this visit I got to see what it was like in the summertime.
I wasn’t disappointed.
There’s a pond, a few shorter – mostly shady – flat hiking trails, and fishing (with a permit).
Plus, it’s got a historic working water-driven grist mill. So there’s that 🙂
Based on what I found, if you’ve got grade school or younger kids, or even Middle-schoolers who (unlike mine) DON’T refer to hikes as “forced marches”, Historic Yates Mill County Park could be a wonderful hang-out for your family!
Opened in 1936, at only 424 acres in size, the park is one of the smallest state parks in North Carolina.
But with 1.3 million visitors annually, despite it’s small size, Fort Macon State Park is the second most visited state park in North Carolina.
I’ve always been too busy on my Coastal visits to be one of those visitors.
But I made up for my previous neglect a couple of weeks ago on a spontaneous overnight trip to the Coast.
A visit to Fort Macon was the main thing on my “must-do” list. I was delighted with what I found!
The park surrounds the US Coast Guard Station
The park completely surrounds the United States Coast Guard Station Fort Macon, and park visitors can catch a glimpse of one of the Coast Guard Cutters that are moored there.
The infamous pirate Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, has been discovered in shallow water right off the Park in the Atlantic Ocean and is being recovered.
The park is also the site of the Battle of Fort Macon, which was fought there March-April 1862, during the American Civil War.
A map of Fort Macon State Park
In addition to tours of the fully restored fort, the park offers both sound-side and surf fishing, hiking trails, ranger guided tours, a protected swim area, a refreshment stand, and a bathhouse.
It’s time to get back in shape after…..*whatever* happened over the Holidays to make you feel less than your optimal buff self 😉
It’s REALLY hard to maintain your exercise and diet goals during the holiday season.
Maybe you’ve just been really busy, or worn out from your Christmas and New Year’s adventures, or – like me – you’ve been laid low by seasonal cold and flu?
Or maybe some of you – also like me – can’t remember how to dress yourself to go anywhere if red, green and glitter aren’t the dress code?
Author ready for a hike
Well, you’d better get over it pretty quick, because February is almost here, and you know what that means?
Resort travel and Superbowl parties. That’s right, and you won’t be able to hide under that bulky “ugly” sweater for all of them.
Some Resort travel will require swimwear (ack!!) and some gatherings may even require tight jeans or the dreaded slinky dress.
The Ugly Christmas Sweater isn’t appropriate at the beach…
And then there are all of those relatives and former classmates – perhaps even at the same resorts and gatherings…..
In North Carolina, it’s pretty much always warm enough to get outdoors and exercise – even in the Winter.
So, now that the cheesecake and chocolate truffles have been put away, I’ll start getting serious again 😉
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Everything that you need to start your 6 week training plan is included in this post.
But it’s a long read and may be hard to refer to while you’re training.
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Then you can print it out and refer to your plan anytime you want. Happy training! LJ
Honestly, though I feel like a slacker, I never really stopped hiking.
That said, ever since last June, when I returned from my epic hiking trip to Scotland, I HAVE slacked off on my indoor cross-training – and it shows!
Author at the summit of Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Scotland
I worked my butt off for months prior to that trip, so I’d be able to do the Ben Nevis summit hike without hurting myself – and it was great!
But that was more than a few months ago, and now I could use a quick tune-up before slipping into that slinky party dress or Spring resort wear.
Keep reading to learn more about how I’m doing a quick tune-up for my upcoming trips and gatherings – and how you could, too!
We have miles and miles of local greenways available near where I live in North Carolina.
Greenways are a great off-road resource for healthy outdoor family activities like bike rides, hikes and walks.
This is especially important these days, when most State Parks and National Parks have been closed or partially closed since some recent devastating hurricanes, flooding, and ice storms – and we don’t know when we’ll be allowed to fully use them again.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 12 mile day hike on New Zealand’s North Island, is one of the most popular day hikes in the country.
New Zealand is where the Hobbits live!
Located inside The Tongariro National Park, the alpine crossing is part of a larger 3-4 day hike that is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks.
Tongariro National Park was made famous – like so many places in New Zealand – by it’s appearance in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
The park’s alpine, volcanic scenery is the setting of Mordor, home of Mount Doom – aka Mt Ngauruhoe – the object of Frodo and Sam’s quest throughout the series.
I had the opportunity to take this trek as part of an active group trip to the North Island early this Spring.
(Fortunately, I was able to return home before travel became restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Here’s how hiking the Tangeriro Alpine Crossing went for me, and some information that will help if you want to go try it for yourself!
Home school kids need to get outdoors in the sunshine and play – for their physical and mental health and for ours, too.
If you’ve recently become a remote worker AND a home-schooler all at once, courtesy of COVID-19, you’re probably already running short on patience.
Getting outdoors, either in your own yard or in a local park or forest, can help boost the entire family’s mood and immune system.
Footpath in Lake Crabtree County Park
Sitting still for long periods of time is hard for everyone, but it’s especially difficult for energetic young ones who may have shorter attention spans.
When children have the space and freedom to move around, they can work off their excess energy and be more focused on learning when playtime is over.
Through physical outdoor learning activities children can improve their speed, strength, stamina and motor skills, too.
Here are some ideas for incorporating outdoor time into your new at-home daily schedule, and some tips on places to go for outdoor fun where you can still avoid crowds, for social distancing purposes.
We started in Barcelona and made our way across the country to end the tour in Madrid – all in 8 days!
For me, the highlight of the tour was a short day hike in the Aragonese Pyrenees.
Gaudi house museum in Barcelona, Spain
Don’t get me wrong – the rest of the tour was great, too.
But I’m not usually a fan of big cities, even cities as beautiful as Madrid and Barcelona.
I usually like to spend my holiday time away from cities, sweating in a desert canyon, searching for ruins in a rainforest, or hiking up a steep slope to a mountain view.
To be honest, the hike in the Pyrenees was the main reason I signed up 🙂
I’d been planning another trip that cancelled at the last minute, so I decided to take a chance on a different sort of trip for me. I’m very glad I did!
Spring can be the best time to try out some coastal trails, before it gets too hot or or crowded with Summer visitors. One great place to visit is First Landing State Park.
Situated at the juncture of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, First Landing is the most visited State Park in Virginia and includes one of the most endangered habitat types in the world – the maritime forest.
I first visited First Landing State Park several years ago, on a long Spring weekend with That Man and the puppy.
We hiked several of the park’s trails on that visit, including the Cape Henry Trail – which is the longest trail in the park.
Spanish moss on the Cape Henry Trail
The 6.1-mile (one way) Cape Henry Trail winds through many diverse habitats, including the rarely-found maritime forest.
This past October, I had some free time and took a day trip to the park from where I was staying in nearby historic Williamsburg, specifically to hike the Cape Henry Trail again.
I wasn’t disappointed – both the park and the trail were just as beautiful as I remembered!
This is the time of year when everyone resolves to somehow change their lives for the better in the coming year.
This past year, my goals were pretty easy to define – at least for the first couple of months.
You see, I’d been battling a really vicious head and chest cold – since late November.
I hiked on New Zealand’s North Island – where all the volcanoes are!
Then, that turned into an infection (of lung and sinus type) for a few weeks and that went away but the original cold came back!
This illness plus inclement weather and Holiday shenanigans kept me from doing my usual basic maintenance workouts or scheduling as many hikes as usual.
So, my goal was to be healthy and strong enough to do all the things in New Zealand without any struggle.
I had about 8 weeks to make that happen. The good news is I did the training, went to new Zealand and had an awesome time hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
I squeaked back into the US literally hours before they shut down international travel to New Zealand.
Fast forward to now, and we’ve had some version of COVID-19 lockdown in place, limiting our activities, since I got back home in March.
That Man and I had planned a trip to Hawaii – Kauai, to be exact – for April that had to be rescheduled for this coming winter’s Holiday season.
That’s where my training program “8 Weeks to Awesome” – or Auckland, to be specific – comes back into play.
I’ve got to get back on the plan to be ready for the Hawaii trip – assuming we’re allowed to go this time. (As of this writing, prohibitive quarantines and testing requirements are still in place for out of State visitors…)
If you’re looking for a way to get back into shape before the Holidays – even if you don’t have a big trip coming – maybe you’d like to do it with me!
If you’ve never seen the stunning views at Bryce Canyon National Park, get ready for a breathtaking experience!
View from the rim at Sunset Point
I’d seen the rock formations called “hoodoos” at other parks in the American Southwest, but never so many clustered so close together.
And never with such spectacular views of the vivid red, orange, and white rock towers within such easy access to park visitors.
You don’t have to hike for miles to see the hoodoos – which is great news for families with smaller kids or people short on time.
The most spectacular views into the canyon are literally just steps away when you pull into the Visitor’s Center parking lot.
View of the descent via the Queens Garden Trail
Bryce Canyon National Park was a good stopping place on our springtime tour of southern Utah, and a place we were excited to visit!
Bryce is just a short, hour-and-a-half drive northeast of Zion National Park, so it would be an easy drive to get to our lodgings there at the end of the day.
In a perfect world we would have had a longer stop, but Bryce is on the smaller side for National Parks, so we were able to hit the highlights.
I literally couldn’t stop taking photos, because it was so beautiful – and I’ve included probably way too many of them here 🙂
Our half-day in Bryce Canyon was enough time for a 3-mile hike and stops at the most popular view points.
Here’s what we did, and info about some other trails and park attractions we’ll see on our next visit – maybe you’ll get some ideas for your visit, too.
