A quick plug for what should be an entertaining and informative Earth
Day event actually being held on Earth Day (which is Wednesday, FYI).

I'm heading up to Grandfather Mountain Friday afternoon to backpack. Anyone have any suggestions on how to approach Grandfather for a backpack trip. My plan is to leave around noon, hopefully be on the mountain 4ish. I need to head back Sunday morning and would like to cover as much of the mountain as possible. Will entertain suggestions for both establishing a base camp and doing day hikes, or doing the entire mountain with a 40-pound pack. Also: I've never hiked here before.

Thoughts?

 The top of Grandfather Mountain, where it's supposed to be warmer this weekend. (Photo by Hugh Morton.)

With the weather this weekend, who isn't? Check out sister site nchikes.com for five hikes to take in April. And if you answered no to the aforementioned question because of the green haze doing monkey business with your sinuses, be advised that some of our recommended hikes are in the mountains and one at the coast, where, to paraphrase the state song of Kansas, the eyes are not cloudy all day.

Yet.

Three options for the first weekend of April.

Here's a hike I'm guessing you haven't done: Umstead State Park to Carter-Finley Stadium. (Unless you've done it before on a Rod Broadbelt marathon hike.) On the face of it, that might sound like an odd hike. It's not. It's just unusual ...

Buckquarter Creek Trail improvement will provide safer surface and reduce erosion.

One wet Sunday afternoon on the Eno.

Are we going to let a little snow, ice, wind and cold stop us? Heck, yes!

Spring beauties, frisky frogs and other discoveries on an 80-degree walk in the woods.

Longer days (thanks to the return of Daylight Saving Time; be sure to set your clocks ahead an hour Sunday morning) warmer temperatures (daytime hikes average 61) mean great weather for hiking in North Carolina. On the coast and in the Piedmont, the spring wildflower display begins. In the mountains, there's less of a chance you'll be caught up in a nasty winter weather "event."

Sound appealing? Our sister site, nchikes.com, has five recommendations for where to take a hike this month. Check 'em out here.