You'll never walk alone

One Saturday a month, for longer than I can remember, one of the sturdiest seniors you'll ever encounter has been leading what I've come to call his Marathon Marches at Umstead State Park. In the heat of summer, in August, Rod Broadbelt may cut the walks back to a little under 10 miles. When it's good and cold and building a sweat is a challenge, he'll up it to 22 or 23 miles. Sometimes Rod stays on the trail, sometimes he blazes his own (though on the latter, he always prehikes the route).

You don't have to wait long for someone to hike with in the Triangle.

Rod's hikes are in stark contrast to the walks described in today's Fit column. These are aerobic ventures first and foremost. You'll take a water break, you'll take a lunch break. You can talk — if you still have any breath. Otherwise, it's dang the rocks, tree roots and occasional killer climb and full speed ahead. I tagged along once on his Ruins Hike, billed as a hike to explore the remains of Umstead's human past. Great, I thought, a little history with my hike. Rod's oral history unfolded like this: "That used to be a farmer's house (pointing and not breaking stride), that was the root cellar (pointing and not breaking stride), that ... ."

Rod Broadbelt's Monthly Marathon March at Umstead may be the toughest group walk/hike around. And it's a blast.

Details: The group's next hike is Saturday and will be 12.5 miles (with shorter options offered). Meet in the lot at the park entrance of I-40 at Harrison Avenue promptly at 8 a.m.. Upcoming hikes: Oct. 25, 14 miles; Nov. 15 (the once-a-year-trip to Raven Rock State Park), 13.5 miles; Dec. 13, the aforementioned Ruins Hike. E-mail Rod at rbroadbelt@nc.rr.com or call him, before 7 p.m., at 363-6611.

A slightly — slightly — slower approach is taken by a group that isn't sure whether it's name is the Adventurous Trekkers or the Thursday Trekkers (the former seems ti be winning out). This group started in the 1990s as a gathering of Mensa members who wanted to take a weekly walk in the woods. The Mensa requirement eventually faded (I believe it began when I asked if I could come along); now, it's just folks who have Thursday morning free.

Hike leader Ian Potter always issues a hike synopsis. For a flavor of this hike, here are a few takes from this past Thursday's hike: "Mushrooms, mushrooms and more mushrooms, were everywhere this morning as nine hikers, five guys and four ladies hiked the Falls Lake trails near the dam. With the rain holding off but very high humidity, we shuttled to our starting point on Possum Track Road from our gathering point, the Falls Lake Visitors Center (Management Center). As we entered the forest trails we immediately notice the numerous mushroom patches...creamy white large ones, reddish and orangey yellow ones were particularly attractive, some at least 10-12 inches in diameter fully opened. ... . Also, with all the rain, the usual spider webs hanging across the trails this time of year were mostly absent to the delight of the lead hiker. ... The lake was noticeably high, especially compared to last year when were in the peak of our drought and there were a few spots where water reached our trail but everything was passable. We arrived back to the parking area about 12:30 PM, a pretty good hike for the first outing of the fall season."

Indeed.

Details: This week's hike begins at 9 a.m. and will cover 11 miles of the Company Mill and Sycamore trails. Meet at the Harrison Avenue/I-40 entrance. Contact Ian at BPotter777@aol.com.

You'll find a much wider array of local walking and hiking groups through meetup.com. There are a good dozen groups for which walking and hiking is a main focus. Foremost is the 4-year-old Triangle Hiking and Outdoors Group, which as of 8:45 this morning has 2,212 members. Though the THOC has since branched into other outdoor pursuits (yesterday a group went whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River), hiking remains the focus and there are hikes nearly every day. (Yesterday, again, in addition to whitewater rafting, there were hikes at Hanging Rock State Park, Lake Johnson and a moonlit hike west of Carrboro.)

There are local meetup hiking groups (The Cary Hiking Meetup Group, The Chapel Hill Hiking Meetup Group), gender-sepcific groups (Lady Trailblazers of the Triangle Hiking Meetup), groups for people not on a traditional schedule (Outdoors on Weekends), groups for people who need to work off a few pounds (Walk It Off).

And another good thing about meetup groups: If you don't find a meetup that meets your needs, start one.

Details: Go to meetup.com. Click "Find a Meetup, plug in Topic of Interest (hiking or walking), your zip code and how far away you're willing to drive and you're set.

Did I hear you go "Awww" when it turned out Rod Broadbelt's Ruins Hike wasn't so much about history? Then you might be interested in the hikes held by the Trading Path Association. Founded in 1998 by Hillsborough's Tom Magnuson, the TPA's mission is to uncover the past by finding the highways of yore. At least once a month, there's a hike along an old trace during which Tom reads the landscape and can tell you its past.

Details: Visit the TPA Web site for info on the group and its upcoming events.

And as today's story mentions, most local parks and rec departments have some kind of walking program. Some are guided, some self-directed. See what options are available in your community by visiting the parks and rec page of the N&O's triangle.com web site.

Know of a hiking group or walking club not included here? Drop us a line and we'll add it to our list, which we'll put up soon on triangle.com.