Saturday

4th Annual Triangle Fat Tire Festival & Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day
Mountain bike celebration
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Harris Lake County Park, New Hill

Forgive me if I’ve told this story before, but I’m telling it again. At this summer’s Huck-A-Buck race at Lake Crabtree, Steve Rogers (who would go on to win the Sport 45+ title in the TORC/Johnson Subaru summer XC series) and I were watching the boys from NC Bike Trials hop their bikes from sawhorse to picnic table to light post and back.

“I don’t know how you would even get started doing that,” I said to Steve. “I mean, how do you ‘ease’ into something like this? It’s like pole vaulting.”

There was a pause. “Actually,"Steve finally said, "I pole vaulted in college.”

“Excuse me,” the woman ... well, she didn’t exactly yell because she didn’t want to excite the snake, which was what she was about to alert us to: A three-foot brown snake that in the last five minutes had stretched itself across the boardwalk. The woman and her boyfriend were headed to our perch, a secluded deck off the half-mile boardwalk at the Walter B. Jones Center for the Sounds in Columbia. Not any more.

The best way to ensure privacy on the trail? Hire a guard snake.

Last week, we touched on why fall — with its cooling temperatures and changing colors — is a good time to launch a hiking program. Here’s more incentive: Snakes are on the move.

Once again, we find it’s hard to wait until Saturday to start the weekend. Especially if you’re a gear geek and there’s a new “Celestial Vessel” canoe to check out ...

Friday night

“Celestial Vessel”
Artsy 18-foot canoe by Satch Hoyt
Durham
7-9 p.m.

I love backpacking, in part because it’s the best way I’ve discovered to live in a vacuum, divorced from the day-to-day of the everyday. Upon your return, of course, that means getting caught up on the big news you missed. Last week I was backpacking in the Shining Rock Wilderness. When I got back late Friday, this was the big news I’d missed out on. 

It’s the last weekend before school starts for lots of kids in the region, best make the most of it. In fact, why wait until Saturday? Why not start Friday night?

Friday night

Crowder at Night
Night hike
Crowder District Park, Apex
8-9:30 p.m.
Ever wonder who’s behind all those weird noises you hear on a summer eve? Tag along with a naturalist at Crowder District Park and find what the nocturnal side of the natural world is up do. $5 per family, $3 individuals. Meet at the park’s Heron Shelter. 662-2850 for more.

Saturday