GetHiking! The Southeast's Classic Hikes: Doughton Park

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Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Escarpment offers an early opportunity for a mountain hike. That's why this hike is one of only two hikes from our 2015 GetHiking! North Carolina's Classic Hikes series to make it onto our 2016 GetHiking! The Southeast's Classic Hikes (http://getgoingnc.com/2015/12/in-2016-gethiking-the-southeasts-classic-hikes/) schedule. Part of the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park, Doughton is one spot along the 469-mile scenic byway better known for hiking than motoring. With 30 miles of trail, this 7,000-acre park offers a variety of ways to explore the gateway to the Appalachians.

Again, we will have two hikes. Both will start from the Longbottom Road Access, at the base of the escarpment. We'll take the 4.5-mile Cedar Ridge Trail up to the Parkway; a steady climb that, this time of year, before the trees have leafed out, offers views of the Yadkin Valley to the east. At the top, we'll make a short side trip to the Brinegar Cabin for a bit of history, then head south on the Bluff Mountain Trail. Here, the trail sticks to the ridge, starting in a hemlock forest, then meandering through a series of mountain meadows (channel your inner fraulein Maria (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brt0KH8q-94) ) to Bluff Mountain.

The shorter version of this hike will head back down the mountain at Bluff Mountain, on the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail and Grassy Gap Road. Total distance: about 12 miles.

The longer hikes continues on the Bluff Mountain Trail and returns to the Longbottom Road trailhead via the gently descending Flat Rock Ridge Trail. Total distance: 18 miles.

This hike is part of our 2016 GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes series, sequel to 2015’s inaugural GetHiking! North Carolina’s Classic Hikes series..

This is a fee program. Hikes are either $25 for a one-day hike, $35 for a weekend hike, with group camping included. Membership in the program is $75, which includes your first three hikes (if those hikes are all two-day, weekend hikes, you save $30). The fee also includes a joining gift (last year’s included GetHiking! T-shirts, hiking socks and camp towels), a swag bag for each hike, monthly emagazine with details of the upcoming hike and discounts on hiking gear at Great Outdoor Provision Co. You will be sent a PayPal invoice upon signing up for this hike.

Estimated drive time: Charlotte: 1 hour, 40 minutes; Greensboro: 1 hour, 30 minutes; Raleigh: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

For more information on the GetHiking! The Southeast’s Classic Hikes (http://getgoingnc.com/2015/12/in-2016-gethiking-the-southeasts-classic-hikes/) program and to sign up, visit GetGoingNC.com. You can also sign up and get more information by contacting Joe Miller at joe@getgoingnc.com.