That could be the case this weekend at the 6th Annual Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest in Wilmington. Some 96 pro surfers are scheduled to attend this year’s event at Wrightsville Beach, which offers up $20,000 in prize money. Among them are former ASP World Championship tour standout and Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ben Bourgeois, Mike Losness, Paul Fisher, Jay Thompson, Nick Rozsa, Dylan Goodale, Heath “Nutty” Walker and Tonino Benson.

Granted, Wrightsville is no Waimea. The waves typically break small and close to shore — which is all the more reason you may become inspired to try and learn to ride. And if you do, expect to have no problem at the competition finding out where you can get a lesson.

The surf fest runs Friday-Sunday and begins at 7 a.m. all three days. For more info, go here or call 910.256.3821.

Piedmont

Geocaching is one of the best ways to lure a recalcitrant child into the great outdoors. “It’s a thousand degrees out and there’s all those bugs,” your little one grumbles when you suggest an outdoor outing. Ah, but what if you throw in the chance to find a hidden treasure?

Who knows what treasurers lurk at the Reedy Creek Nature Preserve.

Geocaching involves using clues and a GPS to find hidden stuff, often in the woods. It started in the 1990s, got a huge boost on May 2, 2000, when “selective availability” was removed from satellites circling the globe, making it a whole lot easier to hone in on the aforementioned treasures, which are generally hidden by geocache enthusiasts. Thus, people who might otherwise be loathe to venture out to the end of the driveway for their mail suddenly had no qualms about letting a hand-held electronic gizmo lead them into a sweltering jungle.

Intrigued, aren’t you? Find out more about the sport Saturday at the Reedy Creek Nature Center, 2900 Rocky River Road in Charlotte when a naturalist uses geocaching to find treasures in this cool preserve. The event is from 10 a.m. to noon, it’s for all ages, it’s free, but space is limited so you need to register in advance, by calling 704.598.8857

Learn more about the preserve — including how to get there — by going here.

Mountains

You’ve been watching the Tour de France and you’ve become especially smitten by the polka dot jersey (not to mention those … unusual dresses worn by the official podium bussing babes). You want to be the king of the mountains — any mountain, really, will do.

Join Watauga Leisure Biking Saturday for mountain riding North Carolina style. Note the key second word in their title — Leisure! This is a 14-mile ride of the Bethel-Mountaindale-Beaver Dam area of mountainous Watauga County (that’s where Boone is) that departs at 9 a.m. from Bethel Community Park (or meet at 8:30 a.m. at Boone Mall to car pool).

For more on the ride, e-mail bgrtellis@bellsouth.net.

* * *
Those are GGNC’s suggestions for the weekend. Find an activity of your own from our super calendar, a collection of event calendars we’ve culled from around the state. Know of a good outdoors calendar we should include? Pass it along and we’ll plug it in.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

Humina-humina-humina …

We see you.

Sure enough, under the sixth of 10 wooden steps leading up to the pool was the distinctive desert camouflage of a curled copperhead. Marcy had made it up to the fifth step and was going for six when she noticed a portion of the snake where her foot was headed.

Humina-humina-humina …

Once we’d retreated to a safe distance and the adrenaline had settled, Marcy let it be known that she’d like the snake gone. I looked around; she was addressing to me.

She had a point. We have kids, after all, and while the copperhead’s bite usually isn’t fatal to people, it can cause a world of hurt, destroying tissue and causing infection. According to the N.C. State Cooperative Extension Service Web site on copperheads, “North Carolina has the dubious distinction of the most venomous snake bites of any state in the U.S.” However, in the very next passage, “Many of these bites could be prevented by avoiding the snake instead of trying to kill it or pick it up. Avoid Copperhead snakes! Allow it to go on its way undisturbed.”

Live and let live!

Mama, last fall.

The news got evening better: “All the snake species tested have had the same initial response to human presence. If given the opportunity, they escape …”

But then, the site added, most venomous snakes will give a warning if they feel threatened: the rattlesnake raises its rattle and gives a shake, the cottonmouth opens its mouth wide. It’s not a warning that it is about to strike; rather, a warning that it would like to be left alone. The copperhead, unfortunately, is different. “Most copperheads tested have struck out immediately when they felt threatened.”

So … . Any thoughts on how to evict a copperhead? Or 14?

Behold the GetGoingNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection. For a while now I’ve been mulling a unified calendar that would include every outdoor activity — from nature hikes, to bike rides, to paddle trips, to 5Ks, to Yoga-in-the-Park to whatever — going on across the state. I’m still mulling (I’ve discovered that such a calendar is a lot of work), but in the interim I’ve come up with the next best thing: a collection of event calendars culled from across the state that should clue you in to dang near everything going on on any given day in North Carolina.

For instance, let’s say you’re headed to the Atlantic Beach area for Fourth of July weekend. You wouldn’t mind dropping in on a group bike ride while you’re in the area, but where to find  a good July 4 ride? Simply click on the Crystal Coast Tourism Authority Calendar below, scroll down a little bit and — bingo! — you’ll discover the 4th of July Underwater Bike Race on the deck of the shipwreck Indra in 60 feet of water about six miles off the coast! Pack your flippers and your Fuji and you’re set.

For the remainder of the summer (through Labor Day, the social end to summer if not the actual end), I’ll run the GGNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection every Thursday. I’ll also highlight an event from each region — Coast, Piedmont, Mountains — that you might be particularly interested in. That will start next Thursday; today, you can explore the calendars on your own and see what tickles your adventure fancy. And to make the GGNC Comprehensive Calendar Collection as comprehensive a calendar collection as possible, if you know of a helpful calendar of outdoor events that has eluded this list, bring it to my attention and I’ll plug it in.

Find an event, get out, explore.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Coast Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

Photo by Dale Hansen. See more of Hansen’s shots from the Underwater Bike Race on the Indra at the Discovery Diving Web site.

OK, so technically, at 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds of daylight there’s only one second of daylight more than there was yesterday and three more than there will be tomorrow. And we won’t be seeing appreciable changes in the length of day until late August. But spiritually, emotionally, physically, it’s important to know that today you have 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds of daylight (or 15 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds if you count civil twilight) to work with.  Taking full advantage of that 14 hours, 35 minutes and 14 seconds, you could, conceivably:

• Take a 217-mile bike ride (basically from Durham to Winston-Salem and back) at a 15 mph pace without stopping
• Run 88 miles (three and third marathons) and a 10-minute-per-mile pace.
• Take a 58-mile hike (nearly 3 laps on Umstead State Park’s 20 miles of hiking trails) at 15-minute-per-mile pace.
• Or do whatever you love that gets your blood pumping in the 3 hours, 34 minutes and 14 seconds you’ll have this afternoon after the whistle blows at 5.

It’s the longest day of the year. Use it all.

Thursday, I went to Lake Crabtree County Park where the Great Outdoor Provision Co. was holding a boat demo. Included in the demo fleet: stand-up paddleboards. I took my river shorts and my video camera and came back with a 5-minute video about what this modern-day sport that grew out of Polynesian mass transit is like. Check it out.

The good news: there lots of exercises especially good for women in the 45-and-up range. As the story notes, our experts are particularly high on these four: Zumba,  water aerobics/swimming, walking, Pilates.  The better news: It’s not hard to find a class for any of them — and in the case of walking, you don’t even need a class, you can just walk out your front door.

The offerings are too numerous and varied to list. Instead, here’s some basic direction to help you find the right class at a convenient time and location.

Charlotte area

Charlotte YMCA
“We’ve got an insane amount of exercise classes (land and water) between 19 branches,” says Molly Thompson, the Y’s Senior Director for Communications and Public Relations. Thompson said a quick search revealed “well over 100 water fitness classes and more than 60 Active Older Adult group exercise classes offered just this week (Zumba, Chair Aerobics, Yoga, Senior Walking, Balance Training, Stretching, Strength Training, TaiChi and even African Drum and Dance).”
To find a class at one of the Y’s 19 branches, Thompson says to go to the Y Web site and click on “Exercise Class Schedules.”  You can narrow the search by time/day preference and class interest (Active Older Adult (seniors), water fitness, yoga, etc.).

It’s a similar process for most of the following selection of fitness facilities that offer the aforementioned courses.

Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Get Going Online, click on “View the latest Get Going Guide” under “Resources” then select category (Aquatics, Adult, Senior.)

Triangle
UNC Meadowmont Wellness Center
Membership health club in Chapel Hill, offers variety of group and aqua exercises, the latter ranging from Gentle Aqua in a therapy pool to Aqua Fitness, a “high-energy vigorous workout.” Find a rundown of current offerings here.

Raleigh Parks & Rec.
Check out the current Leisure Ledger for group exercises courses offered citywide and aqua exercise at three year-round pools.

Cary Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources
Offers group exercise at three community centers and the Cary Senior Center in Bond Park. Check out the program offerings here.

Triad

Greensboro Parks & Recreation
Offers programs citywide. From main Web site, Click on “Leisure Magazine: Spring – Summer,” then click on “Page 22-26.”

Winston-Salem Recreation & Parks
Offers programs at 17 recreation centers. To start, go here.

Photo from jillianhessel.com

The group’s goal is simple: “to get you out of the house and moving at local parks and hiking areas.” The lone membership requirement: You must be more than 25 pounds overweight. And Hartman, who moved to the Triangle from Albuquerque, N.M., two years ago, guarantees you won’t be dropped.

It’s the supportive, social element of the group that Hartman pushes most. That’s because she knows that so much of being active and losing weight is about getting motivated — and staying that way. Her life, she says, has been a yoyo of getting psyched and getting in shape, then losing focus and getting out of shape.

Members of the Raleigh Working Women's Weight Loss group stretch at the mid point of a recent hike.

“In high school I was in the second best shape of the girls in my class,” she says of her Michigan high school, with a class of 800. She didn’t play sports, didn’t need to: life on the family farm kept her in shape. Likewise when she went into the Air Force. When she left the service, though, her focus dwindled, her weight increased. After living in Albuquerque for a while, she regained that focus, started walk-running 4 to 6 miles a night, six nights a week with her dog, and lost 46 pounds.

“I hit my target weight, then started slacking off,” says Hartman.

She turned to Meetup groups because of the peer support: If someone’s expecting you to show up for a walk, you’re more likely to show. With her new Meetup, she gives group members plenty of opportunities to show. Monday through Thursday, the group meets at 5:15 p.m. at Shelley Lake to do two laps, or about five miles. Hartman says she set the time so members could come directly from work and not succumb to work fatigue or distracting coworkers who might, say, want to go out for dinner or a drink after work.

On Saturdays, the group does a longer hike. This past Saturday morning, for instance, they did the 6-mile Company Mill Trail at Umstead. Five hikers of varying abilities started, five hikers finished — together.

The group has 58 members. Browsing the club’s Meetup membership list, the top priority for most isn’t losing weight, it’s what Hartman is offering: motivation through a supportive group. Most members don’t know the good places in the Triangle to walk and hike, and they don’t know other women to hike and walk with.

“It’s an easy way to get to know people,” says member Maria Wall. Wall joined the group on day one and does two to three hikes a week with the Meetup.

Wall says the social component is a key element for not only getting to a workout, but through it as well. “When we get our mouths going,” she says, “it makes the time fly by.”

* * *

To learn more about the Raleigh Working Women’s Meetup Group, go here.
To find a similar Meetup group in your area, go here and enter in the appropriate key words (“women,” “weight loss,” “exercise,” etc.) and the town where you live.

Stretch on the grill.

There, on this flat clearing where the AT briefly intersects with civilization via a gravel Forest Service road, was a feast that would unravel the plans, at least for Tuesday, of at least two dozen AT thru-hikers. On the tailgate was a smorgasbord including bagels, oranges, Clif bars, carrots, Tootsie Rolls, Craisins, bananas, homemade chocolate chip cookies (from a friend of Jaime’s in Chicago), M&Ms, juice boxes, tortilla chips, avocados, salted peanuts, pretzels and sandwich rolls. Two coolers held tomatoes, lettuce, ice, Gatorade, cole slaw and potato salad. And on the grill —
Yes, the grill
— was chicken and bacon.
“I wasn’t as well organized as I could have been,” apologized Stretch. “There were a few things I forgot.”

Jaime gets a shot of Doug before he gets a shot.

Looking around, that seemed improbable. Like what?
“Well … I forgot plates.”
No one was complaining about the absence of place settings.
“We’ve spent days dreaming of the perfect sandwich,” said thru-hiker Dibbs as he assembled his dream Dagwood.
“Our plan was to get here a day earlier and set up a lemonade stand with fresh-squeezed lemonade,” said Stretch. “We were going to charge 25 cents or a hug.”
That plan got scuttled when the dads discovered the fast-moving Doug and Jaime were ahead of schedule. The dads had been following the couple’s progress via the Spot GPS tracking system the two were carrying.
By 11:30 Tuesday morning, a dozen hikers were partaking in the feast. “Looks like we won’t need to stop for lunch,” said Bimbo, who got his trail name courtesy of the cycling jersey he wore bearing the name of a Mexican bakery.
“I think we’ll be stopping for a lunch nap,” said Dibbs.
Almost as popular as the food was one of the camp chairs the dads brought.
“It feels so good to sit in a chair,” one hiker said. “Hey! You’ve gotta sit in this chair.”

Catching up on the news and sitting in a chair: Can life get much better?

Also popular was another missed component of daily life — a newspaper.
“Some kid was busted for disturbing a school assembly,” one hiker announced to no one in particular. “Can you believe that?”
Despite the morning hour, the Dads had brought along a 5 o’clock favorite.
“I asked Doug what he missed the most,” said Stretch, “and he said margaritas.” Thus was produced a stash of tequila, citrus juice and salt.
From the avocados one industrious thru-hiker made the perfect margarita companion, guacamole. “Put 100 monkeys in a room and one will know how to make guacamole,” Doug observed.
“It’s so hard to leave,” said Dibbs as he weighed the tailgate smorgasbord vs. his plan to cover another 11 miles.
When they arrived at their kids’ tent, Stretch and Chuck were bearing a handful of welcome treats. That, for Doug and Jaime, was more than enough.

Well wishes from back home.

“You really didn’t think we’d drive from Chicago and not bring all of this, did you?” asked Stretch.
“I couldn’t imagine you would bring all this,” Jaime said. “But this is what you do, Stretch. You make people happy.”
Just a couple of Trail Angels sprinkling some magic dust.

When it comes to me vs. pollen, it’s no contest: Pollen wins by a knockout. And I’m not alone: an estimated 35 million people suffer from seasonal allergies. However, allergist types say there are ways that we  can minimize the Green Cloud. Not laugh in its face and continue on our merry adventurous way sniffle free, mind you. But it least try and keep our heads from exploding by simply walking down the driveway to get the paper. Their suggestions:

• First, wait until after 10 a.m. to run down the driveway and fetch the paper. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, the worst times for pollen sufferers to be out and active are from 5 a.m. to 10 am.
• Find a non-allergic neighbor kid to do yard tasks such as mow the lawn, which stirs up pollen and molds. If you don’t mind the Monkish implications, wear a pollen mask if you need to go out for extended periods.
• Keep your windows closed and if possible, use air conditioning, which cleans, cools and dries the air.
• Vacation during the height of the pollen season to a more pollen-free area — the beach, for instance.
• When you come in from being outside, wash your clothes immediately and take a shower. Keeps the little green boogers from following you indoors.
• Don’t think that just because you can’t see pollen emitters that you are immune: Pollen can travel for miles, according to the AAAAI.
• Avoid activities in which you move fast and thus increase the number of incoming pollens and mold spores bombarding your facial orifices. Activities such as running and biking.

That is, the two things I do. Grr.

And achoo!

Learn more here and here.

“The average American Adult consumes 115 calories more per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday than they consume on weekdays.”

(FYI, there are 115 calories in an ounce of peanut butter, a half cup of boiled black beans, a serving of Norwegian Creamed Cabbage and a banana.)