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Events & Outings
Piedmont Land Conservancy hosts various events that are designed to connect people with nature. Outings include hikes, farm visits, paddle trips, and more. We would be happy to talk with you or your organization about hosting an outing for your team or group!
Get alerts about upcoming events and outings by joining our email list or following us on social media.
Sign up for our monthly enews to keep up to date with PLC events!
Upcoming Events
Volunteer Workday at Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve
Volunteering in the Garden
Saturday, March 9
Monday, March 11 (and Garden Refresher for guides/docents)
Monday, March 18
Monday, March 25
Forsyth Creek Week Long Creek Trail Wetlands Walk in Bethania
Sunday, March 17th | 2:00-4:00pm
Long Creek Trail Park | 5801 Bethania Tobaccoville Rd · Pfafftown, NC
Register by sending an email to Henry Fansler at henryfansler@windstream.net or 336-473-0283. Participants under 18 must be with a parent or guardian.
Meet at the Long Creek Trail parking lot off 5801 Bethania Tobaccoville Road. MAP
Trail Running 101
Saturday, March 23rd | 9:30-11:30am
Caraway Creek Preserve
Forsyth Creek Week Creek Crawl at Bethania's Black Walnut Bottom
Saturday, March 23rd | 2:00-4:00pm
Black Walnut Bottoms | 5393 Ham Horton Lane
We will meet at the picnic tables beside the Bethania visitor center for an overview of the creeks of Wachovia. We will then hike the Black Walnut Bottom Trail and see what makes a healthy creek, explore the area bordering the creek, and consider why the Moravians made their second settlement here.
Along the hike, we will search a creek for macro-invertebrates whose presence will tell us about the water quality. In water quality, “buggy is better.” Anyone wishing to join in this activity must have boots or water footwear and expect wet and muddy conditions. Towels and spare socks and shoes are recommended. The trail is 1.4 miles in length and rated easy by the Foothills Group.
More details of the area can be found at http://townofbethania.org/trails/black-walnut-bottom-trail/. Note that the Sierra Club requires all outing participants to sign a standard waiver. Participants under 18 must be with a parent or guardian.
Meet in the parking lot for the Bethania Visitors Center, 5393 Ham Horton Lane (near the intersection of Bethania Road and Main Street). MAP
Wildflower Walk at Fall Creek Falls at Mayo River State Park
Saturday, April 6 | 10:00-11:30am
Deshazo Mill Access at Mayo River State Park | 113 Deshazo Road Stoneville, North Carolina 27048
Join this guided hike lead by Mayo River State Park Ranger, Tim Abee. Tim will lead the group on a partially off-trail hike, creating a 1.5 mile loop. The focus of this hike will be spotting and enjoying early spring emphemeral wildflowers.
The group will leave from the parking area at 10:00am and will hike a loop up into the Virginia portion of the park, back down to the river, then follow the river to Falls Creek, up to the Falls, and finally back to the parking area. Some of this hike will be off trail through the woods and on a public road. This loop is considered moderate to strenuous.
The outing is open to the public but has a limit of 25 participants. Sign up soon and come eager to learn!
Wildflower Identification Workshop
Friday, April 12 | 1:00-4:00pm
Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve in Winston-Salem
Join PLC Conservation Advisor, Dr. Ken Bridle, to learn the tools to use and plant traits to look for when identifying spring wildflowers. Workshop includes some classroom discussion of keys, guides and apps, basic plant structures, and then a scout in the garden to find fresh examples and refine your skills.
Cost: $30 (free for Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve Volunteers)
Space is limited to 25 participants.
iNaturalist Workshop
Friday, April 19 | 1:30-4:00pm
Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve in Winston-Salem
Learn about iNaturalist with Ann Walter-Fromson, a certified North Carolina Environmental Educator and graduate of the North Carolina Botanical Garden’s Native Plant Studies program. iNaturalist is an easy-to-use citizen science app via mobile device (or website) that connects you to a community of nature enthusiasts and researchers to identify and collect data on plants and animals. By recording and sharing your observations, you add to a permanent record of research-quality data for scientists so that we can all better understand and protect nature’s biodiversity. The workshop will start with a classroom presentation and then move into the garden for practice using the apps.
Prior to the workshop: Please set up an iNaturalist account and install these two free apps on your mobile device, iNaturalist and Seek by iNaturalist. You can do this from the webpage www.iNaturalist.org or through your mobile app store (Apple App for iOS or Google Play for Android).
Cost: $30 (free for Emily Allen Wildflower Preserve Volunteers)
Space is limited to 20 participants.
Understanding and Identifying Wild Birds of the Piedmont
Saturday, April 27 | 9:00am-12:00pm
A partnership between Piedmont Land Conservancy and the Deep River Folk School
Come out for a walk along the Deep River State Trail with Fuzz Sanderson.
The outing is open to the public but has a limit of 25 participants. Sign up soon and come eager to learn!
More about the Deep River Folk School:
Started in 2019, the Deep River Folk School offers educational programming that provides knowledge, skills, and tools for Sustainable, Resilient Living. The Deep River Folk School is a partnership between Living Well Earth Stewards nonprofit and Sustenance Farm. Programming covers a wide range of topics with a focus on building your own housing, growing food, developing essential skills, and connecting to the natural world. At the Deep River Folk School we are excited to partner with Piedmont Land Conservancy for this series of free, community workshops along the Deep River State Trail focused on the natural and cultural resources and history of the Deep River area. For a more complete list of 2024 workshops and resources offered by the Deep River Folk School go to https://www.deepriverfolkschool.com/.
Boulder Exploration at Ridges Mountain
Sunday, April 28 | 1:00-3:00pm OR Monday, April 29 | 11:00am-1:00pm
Asheboro, North Carolina
You have two chances to explore a unique landscape in the Uwharrie Mountains with Piedmont Land Conservancy. This guided hike will be led by past PLC board member and avid hiker Matt Perry. Note that Ridges Mountain is not open to the public. PLC has reserved this group hike through the NC Zoo.
We will be hiking somewhere between 2 to 3 miles. Some of this hike will be on an old road, some trail, and some off trail through the woods. This hike is considered moderate to strenuous. There will be an opportunity to explore the big rocks at your own risk.
The guided hike will pass by a few upland pools. Upland Pools are rare, isolated wetlands in upland settings, with water deep enough to prevent the formation of a forest canopy across the basin. Water stands well into the growing season, though it often dries by the end of summer. These pools are breeding habitat for several amphibians.
The crowning feature of Ridges Mountain is the boulders (some are as high as 50 feet) located within the Monadnock Forest at the top that provide great viewing locations of the surrounding Randolph County.
Originally established in 2000 with a PLC and NC Zoo partnership, the preserve just grew again with as the NC Zoo added an addition 139 acres, making the preserve 423 acres in total! Read more in this press release.
Sign up for you date of choice below. Both hikes will be limited to 25 people.