I have quickly, and to my immense pleasure, found that North Carolina's State Parks and Forests contain natural wonders to rival and even surpass their more well-known Federal counterparts. These parks are also amazingly diverse. By now I've pretty much come to the realization that I'd like to eventually visit each and every one...
Adventure Log: 318.4 miles
Most of the galleries below have two numbers in parenthesis alongside their name. The first is the TOTAL MILEAGE of the route, the second is what I’m calling the “Petzoldt Rating” of DIFFICULTY. Developed by Paul Petzoldt, founder of NOLS, this rating system is the best I’ve found for standardizing the difficulty of hikes. It works as follows: One ‘energy unit’ is given for very mile travelled on flat terrain. You then add one more ‘energy unit’ for every 500-feet of elevation gain. For example, a one mile hike with 1,000-feet of gain would give you a rating of 3.00. Consequently a two mile hike with only 500-feet of gain would also give you a rating of 3.00. Please note, however, these ratings do not take into account weather, rough terrain, fitness level, etc. I’ve divided levels of difficulty into five levels, based on the following Petzoldt difficulty ranges:
0.00-2.49=EASY;
2.50-4.99=MODERATE;
5.00-7.49=CHALLENGING;
7.50-9.99=HARD;
10.00-12.49=VERY HARD;
12.50 & up=EXTREME
CLICK HERE for a Google map of hikes in these albums...
