(upbeat logo stinger) Next on North Carolina Weekend, we're getting out and into the open air as we explore our beautiful public spaces.

We'll test our backpacking skills on the mountains to sea trail, take in some colorful murals, and visit the beloved trolls at Dix Park in Raleigh.

Coming up next.

- Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Welcome to North Carolina Weekend, everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt-Noel, and this week, we are getting out into the open air to explore some of North Carolina's beautiful public spaces.

Right now, we're at Dix Park and Raleigh, a 308 acre green space in the heart of the city.

This beautiful park is home to fields of sunflowers, outdoor concerts, and some incredible works of art.

One of the park's newest additions is a collection of larger than life trolls created by internationally renowned recycled art activists, Thomas Dambo, made from reclaimed wood, fallen tree branches, and other recycled materials, five of these giant sculptures now form a trail through Dix Park and are part of a much larger collection of more than 150 trolls around the world.

We'll see more of these guys throughout the show, but first, longtime producer Miriam McSpadden takes us on a backpacking trip, along with her husband, who decided to try backpacking for the very first time.

- Hey, we're Brian and MJ.

We've been married for the last eight years, and we are full-time filmmakers, which means we're typically behind the camera.

But for this story, we thought it would be fun to take you along with us.

I grew up backpacking with my family in the mountains of Oregon, my whole life, but Brian has never been backpacking before.

So we thought it would be fun to take you along on his first backpacking trip.

Before we get on the trail, we had to learn about the gear we need while we're out here.

We visited our friends at Great Outdoor Provision Company and learned about all the gear that is available.

- Welcome.

- Hi, I'm Brian.

Good to meet you, I'm Chad.

I manage Great Outdoor Provision Company's Chapel Hill, North Carolina location.

We're a local outfitter with nine outlets in North Carolina and Virginia.

I understand you need some gear.

- Yeah, I'm a first time backpacker and just wondering what I need.

- Super.

I've got all kinds of ideas.

Let's get started.

Well, footwear is where it all starts.

It's where the rubber meets the road.

People think that the height of a boot is what determines its ankle support.

In fact, it's the midsole that determines a boot's ankle support largely.

Start your lacing at your toes and cinch firm tension all the way up.

A leather boot should start off comfortable.

You should know that it's going to get more comfortable over time as it conforms to your foot.

So much like footwear, finding the right fit and backpack is just of critical importance.

This is the Osprey pack sizer.

Connect the buckle there in the front.

Grab a hold of the tail of both of these pieces of webbing.

You're moving forward and backwards.

It's going to allow your hip crest to find the window here on the side.

What I'm going to do is read the back of this to find where that bump in your neck is, that C7 vertebra, and that'll help us determine what pack size to go with.

It's a 50 liter pack.

Take your heaviest stuff, like maybe your water.

And you're going to try and keep that as close to your body as you can.

Your camping mattress, can strap to the outside.

You've also got a place where you can put your water bottles or you can put tent poles here.

♪ - Feels really good.

Ready to do 30 miles.

How many miles are we doin'?

- We haven't decided yet.

- Many miles.

- Now it's time for us to think about your home on the road, your tent.

So we'll probably be looking more so at a two person tent.

- Sure.

And a two person tent can still feel plenty spacious.

There's a rain flight that goes over this as well.

That makes it fully sealed.

So even the biggest storm, you're not going to get any water in.

And a high quality tent like this doesn't have prominent seams on the floor.

And the ones that are there actually have seam tape over them.

So you're not going to have water oozing its way up on the ground.

Some people have called these essentials for the trail.

We've got some sunscreen and some insect repellent.

You need a way to navigate that doesn't rely on batteries and technology.

A knife is a great thing of folding knife is good.

Some people use multi tools.

Headlamps give you light around camp.

You need some way to start a fire.

You need either extra layer or an emergency shelter like we have in the Super Bivvy.

To safely drink water in the backcountry, you need to filter it.

Food is evolved.

Really high quality foods.

They just take five minutes.

And you're eating on the trail.

We've moved more and more to butane/iso propane.

You open the valve, you light a match and you're cooking.

Always important thing is some sort of a med kit, and Adventure Medical Kit has been a provider of these for many years and they do a great job of picking out the most essential items.

- I think we're ready to go on the trail.

- Sounds good to me.

- We are at the trailhead now with my new friend Jim Grote and Jim can you tell us a little bit about what the MST is?

- Sure, the MST Mountains to Sea Trail is North Carolina's flagship state trail.

It stretches from Klingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey's Ridge on the Outer Banks.

It's a beautiful trail and a great way to learn more about North Carolina.

So we're big advocates for lead no trace principles.

First of those is plan and prepare.

Second is stick to trails and overnight right.

And that means stay in established places.

Third, trash your trash.

If you bring it in, take it back out with you.

Similar to that is leave it as you find it.

Not only should you not leave what you brought in, but you shouldn't take things out that were already there.

Be careful with fire.

Use a campfire ring if you can, keep it small.

Keep wildlife wild.

Don't feed the bears, don't feed the deer.

And last, be considerate of others and share the outdoors.

- We're super lucky you're going to be joining us for the first few miles.

- I am really excited to get to hike with you for a little while, so let's get going.

♪ So this white dot here is the symbol of the Mountains to Sea Trail.

This means that there's a turn coming up.

The two dots are angled in the way that shows you which way to go.

One of the things that I love about hiking and backpacking is stopping to see what's around.

You can hear the sounds around you better, build in time to stop and just soak in what you're doing.

I think I'm going to turn around here, but I've really enjoyed hiking with you.

I hope you have a great trip.

- Really appreciate all the advice and going forward to updating you on how the rest of it goes.

(gentle music) ♪ (water trickling) - That's good, it's cold.

♪ - We came from all the way down there.

[breathing heavily] [whispers] That was tough.

- We're going to set up our tent, make some dinner and get some sleep.

(gentle music continues) (cooking sounds) - and trying it.

- That tastes perfect.

- 8:38, we are in bed.

- And we are ready to go sleep.

- Yeah, all right, good night.

- Good night.

(rain) - After our perfect weather yesterday.

- It's raining this morning.

But we got coffee, we got packed up, feeling better than last night and we're ready to knock off some more miles.

- We're hoping that the rain will let up at some points going to be a bit of a soggy day.

We realized that we forgot a waterproof covering for Brian's bag.

Inside his backpack are a few dry bags that will help keep his clothing dry.

- Thanks for selling me on these waterproof pants that are coming in handy right now.

- And the rain is really picking up again.

A lot.

Uh-oh, you got water in your shoe.

Yesterday it was uphill that kicked our butts and today it's the downhill.

- Just taking a nice little rest.

- And my old tennis got an exciting obstacle ahead of us.

- I unfortunately didn't bring water shoes.

So I'll be doing this barefoot.

It doesn't look too deep.

- Wow, it's cold.

Are you okay?

- Yeah.

- Oh my gosh!

We crossed that!

- It was a rainy day, but it's a beautiful evening now.

We're just gonna enjoy it.

(gentle guitar music) ♪ - Our final morning.

- Last climb.

♪ - I think we made it to the top.

- It was hard.

It's beautiful up here.

Now we're gonna hike back to where we dropped off our car at the end and go home.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) ♪ - We made it.

Something that I've dreamed of doing for a long time and I'm really proud of you.

I think I would cry.

So good job.

(music fades) - To plan your hike along the mountains to Sea Trail, go to mountainstoseatrail.org.

And for more trail adventures around the state, visit greattrailsnc.com.

(gentle accordion music) And now we're back at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh where five larger than life trolls are helping visitors explore the park in a whole new way.

Our guide on our troll hunt was park employee Nick Smith.

Nick, first troll, where are we?

- We are here at Baby Dix named after Dix Park.

She is the youngest of the three triplets of the family of trolls we have.

She's holding onto her mother's tail.

So if you follow the tail, you make it all the way to her mother who's resting in the heart of the forest.

- That is so cute.

Why don't we follow the tail?

- Let's do it.

♪ - [Deb] What's this made out of?

- Yes, so these are whiskey barrels that were donated into the project, taken apart and then reconstructed to be segments of the tail.

The tail is 650 feet long, which makes it the longest troll tail in the world.

- Oh my gosh, we get a distinction here in North Carolina.

(laughs) ♪ - Nick, where are we now?

- So we are in the pine grove.

We follow the mother's tail all the way to Mother Strong Tail who's resting in the heart of the forest and she's right behind us.

- Oh, she looks so peaceful.

So here at Dix Park, how many trolls are there and how long is the trail?

- So we have a family of five.

We have three triplets that are the kids, Dix, Dax and Dukes.

And then we have Mother Strong Tail behind us and Daddy Birds Eye.

So it's a family of five.

Each has its own role, each has its own personality and you need to visit each one.

Mother Strong Tail, she protects the family nest.

She's resting now knowing that her youngest baby Dix is on the edge still holding onto her tail and still in close contact.

Dix is other triplets, the older brothers, Dax and Dukes, they're more playful and mysterious.

They're playing hide and seek across the park and another section of woods.

And then the father, Daddy Birds Eye, is sitting looking out over downtown making sure there are no threats to warn against for the family that's here at the park.

- What did you think of the trolls?

- I think they're really, really cool and it was worth coming to Raleigh.

- What do you think about maybe bringing some friends back?

- I think I would love to do that to show them the experience.

[whimsical music] - For people who have no idea what the trolls are, what are they?

- So Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist.

He's an environmental artist that often works with trash or discarded materials.

And the purpose and the vision of the meshes is that discarded materials, materials that are thrown away and thought to be trash can actually make something artistic and special and that's what he's done with his trolls.

- He definitely has.

How do these come together?

- The artist works by asking the community to participate in the build.

So he arrives on site, we select the location for the troll.

They bring in portions of the troll that are made in his workshop in Denmark, but the remaining portions of the troll, the body and the tail is all built on site.

So we put a public call out for volunteers.

We have 350 volunteers over three weeks who put in every screw that brought these trolls to life and so it was a full community experience.

- This trail is very interactive.

How much a part of the builder's vision was that?

- Oh, the whole thing.

These sculptures are never intended to be just looked at.

They're intended to be loved and interacted with.

Since we have five, they spread out across the park.

So it's not as intuitive to find them.

It is a real hunt to find the trolls.

So when you arrive here, you often find a map and start looking and exploring.

- Of course we're talking about the trolls, but what else is here at Dix?

- Yes, so we just opened last year, the Gibson Play Plaza.

It's a destination play area, 20 acres of adventure world class play.

We're opening up a new amenity to the park just outside the woods here.

It's called Flowers Cottage, Cottage Coffee and Park Bar.

It's a coffee shop and it's an amenity with restrooms and drinks and snacks.

It's a great place to start an in-your-troll trek.

We also host major festivals.

We have smaller programs and events that's offered on almost a daily basis.

So between that and the open spaces, the big field, the groves that we have, the hammocks, there's always something for everyone here at the park.

And the park is always free and open to the public.

- Dix Park is located at 2105 Umstead Drive in Raleigh.

The park is open seven days a week from dawn until dusk.

And it's Family of Five Giant Trolls is free to explore.

To download a troll map and find out more information about the park's offerings visit dortheadixpark.org/visit.

These incredible sculptures have quickly become part of the personality of Dix Park.

And you can see why.

I mean, they're absolutely magnificent.

Now, let's head over to another public art project that's helping to define a place.

In Carolina Beach, artists are turning plain walls into colorful reflections of the town's history and culture.

Let's take a look.

(upbeat music) - I'm with Maureen Lewis, the president and founder of the Carolina Beach mural project.

And we're standing in front of a fantastic mural right now.

Maureen, tell me about this one.

- Well, Deb, this one is called the tribute to Carolina Shag.

And Carolina Beach has a really rich history of Shag music and dancing on the island.

This mural depicts Chicken Hicks who actually taught all the kids in Carolina Beach, all the different moves.

And the artist, Brian Lewis, also known as "JEKS NC", who has painted murals all around the world.

We're very happy to have him in our portfolio of mural artists in town.

- Maureen, how did the project get started?

How many murals are there now?

- Well, Deb, I moved from a town that was very rich in public art.

When I came here, I saw the potential and I asked around.

And there was a lot of will, but no one really knew how to do it.

And so I created this organization with a lot of like-minded people.

And we started in March of 2020.

And we have 19 murals installed since then with another one.

Number 20 is gonna come in fall.

- What role would you say the mural project has in town?

- This town is in a lot of transition right now.

And so I think it gives everyone a little understanding of our history and culture as it transitions from an old sleepy beach town to something that's a little bit more new.

It also encourages and inspires people, whether they are visitors or residents, just to take a look at a wall and see how it's been transformed.

The biggest challenge for us is getting wall space.

But once we have negotiated with the landlord, then we look at the location and say, what is the best theme for this particular wall?

And we send out an RFP to artists and they give us proposals and we choose the one that speaks to us in that space.

And we're very proud to say that all our murals are done by North Carolina artists.

- Oh, that's wonderful.

Fantastic.

Can you show me some more murals?

- Sure, come on.

- Deb, this mural is called Beach Breeze by artist Jenna Rice out of Greensboro.

And it's the first mural that we had done that's trompe l'oeil, which means Trick of the Eye and it's 3D.

So the further away you stand from it, the more it looks like it's actually happening on that wall.

- I think I can see a little bit of that happening right now.

- Yeah, you can see the clouds blowing in the wind.

This mural celebrates the annual kite festival that's always at Fort Fisher.

We are very proud that all of our murals celebrate either the culture or the history of Carolina Beach.

- Maureen, this one looks really different.

Tell me about this mural.

- Well, this is called Asphalt Arc.

And basically what we do is we take a mural and we put it down on a sidewalk.

And the kids love it.

It's very engaging.

- It is so bold and beautiful.

And what are locals and visitors saying about these murals?

- Well, actually, we thought we would do well if we could install two murals a year.

But the reception has been so phenomenal that we actually are able to find five murals every year.

- Wow.

So how do people find out more about the murals and where they are?

- They can come and visit us on CarolinaBeachMurals.org or visit us on our Facebook or Instagram page.

And we do have a downloadable map on our website that people can download and then follow the trail.

- Fantastic.

Well, I can't wait to do that.

Thank you so much for showing me around the murals.

- Well, thanks for the opportunity to share this with your audience.

- To find out about all the murals at CarolinaBeach visit their website at CarolinaBeachMurals.org and you can also follow them on Instagram.

If I told you our next stop involves snorkeling, you probably assumed that we're staying right here on the coast.

But we're actually heading in the opposite direction all the way to the mountains.

Let's discover the surprising underwater world of the Blue Ridge snorkel trail.

- When you think of snorkeling, you probably think of the ocean and coral reefs.

But what you might not know is there's a North Carolina snorkel trail that's nowhere near the coast.

There are 10 sites in the mountains of North Carolina where you can snorkel and explore the freshwater world of rivers and streams.

(light carribean style music) - So here we are in late summer in Canton, specifically at the Canton Rec Park.

It's a beautiful place.

It's officially a part of our Blue Ridge snorkel trail.

It's a wonderful spot to bring out your families.

Today we're getting in the water with mask and snorkels.

We're dipping our heads underneath to see what lies beneath that surface.

There's an explosion of colors, so much diversity to be found.

(muffled speech) - Oh!

All right!

- I couldn't keep up with her.

She's mad that we're getting out of it.

She's had a ball and this makes me happy because she'll be a lot more comfortable in the water for the rest of her life now.

It's been a great experience and I'm sure she's going to be telling all her friends as soon as she starts back to school about this Saturday in Canton.

- Tiny minnows look like it would be the sciaenidae.

- It's generational because if you learn about it, then you're going to pass that on to your kids.

Your kids are going to pass it on to their kids.

- The cool thing in here too though is all those little tiny things.

- Those that have been signed up for an hour or staying longer if that's any indication of the fun they're having.

- So we do have a good diversity of fish at this site and some of my favorite ones or the ones that hang out on the bottom.

We have the Tangerine Darter, which this time of year will still have some orange color.

We also have Skulpin that kind of hang out down under the rocks and if you're snorkeling by, sometimes they'll come out and see you.

We have darters, green darter, Tuckasegee Darter.

And they're kind of under the rocks and stuff.

Many people drive over rivers and they don't think about what's under the water and it's not until you get them under the water until their eyes open up and see that it's a whole new, fascinating world that they never even thought was there.

- I take all kind of folks snorkeling.

My first year I took more older females snorkeling and these were, they had a women's group or whether they were like a grandmother or an aunt or just friends but they were all retired and they would just giggle the whole way down and every time they would see a darter, I didn't know this was here, I thought this was only something you'd only find in the ocean and they would see our beautiful colored up fishes, our river chub nest with the shiners, the different colors, the oranges, the reds, the blues, the yellows and they were just amazed by it.

And then of course the helpender, everybody wants to see a helpender, the helpender is a cool animal.

The number one thing that folks would tell me after their trips, they would say, I had no idea, there was so much life in the river.

- So we are on the upper French broad river in Rosman and we are getting ready to go river snorkeling.

- Awesome, let's go see what we can find.

♪ - This is called in the family living the fill a day.

And so these are what old timers called, stick bait.

(water splashing) - Apprehension as to whether I should get outside is always something we're trying to knock down, whether it's familiarity of sight, getting to that, and or knowing what to do in that space, whether you're boating, fishing or just going out for a hike.

The Blue Ridge snorkel trail has addressed that directly, the design, both in the locations, the way people get down to the water, the way that it is, message to the communities, is all to encompass everybody in allowance, everybody to come to that water.

These are public waters, public access points, there's nothing private about it, and there's no friction, and it was designed to be that way.

So if you see a Blue Ridge snorkel trail designated site, you know that you are comfortable, you are allowed to be there, and we encourage you to go out to those sites.

♪ The Blue Ridge snorkel trail as whole, that program, that campaign, brought on by Wildlife Resource Commission, has just really made this a burgeoning field.

One that, a good problem to have to keep up with the demand, we love getting people in the water.

- You can swim your way through the North Carolina mountains at locations along the Blue Ridge snorkel trail, to plan your visit and see up to date information about site hours and conditions, visit ncfishes.com/blueridgesnorkel trail.

- Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had so much fun here at Dix Park, getting out into the open air and exploring the trolls, and I am so proud to say that I have seen all five, and I can check that off my list.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, remember you can always watch us again online, at pbsnc.org, and you can find all of our stories on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina week and everyone.

(upbeat theme music) ♪ - Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by, VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

(upbeat logo stinger)