The Adventure Forecast: This Weekend

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April 17, 2009

The Adventure Forecast: This Weekend

The last gasps of winter will howl across Colorado, the Pacific Northwest, and southern Wyoming this weekend, depositing some wet, heavy snow for spring skiers. But in the east, south, and much of the west, spring has officially sprung.

Timing couldn t be better for participants in Georgia s BRAG Spring Tune-up Ride ($65; brag.org). Based in Madison (once called the best small town in America), the riding weekend includes a century on Saturday. Consider it a tune-up for the Bike Ride Across Georgia, June 6-13. In North Carolina, meanwhile, paddlers are celebrating the spring run-off in style on the newly reborn Cheoah River (www.noc.com). The rivers nonstop technical action through Class IV and V rapids requires deft participation and more than a little hutspa from every paddler. Moving up the eastern seaboard, spring sun means softening snow on Mount Washington's Tuckerman's Ravine. The New Hampshire backcountry run has become rite of passage for all East Coast skiers (www.tuckerman.org) and one of our 50 Best American Adventures. On the left coast, meanwhile, clear skies and temperatures in the high 60s greet the 10,000 riders and 50,000 fans converging on Monterey, California for the Sea Otter Classic (seaotterclassic.com), North America's biggest cycling party. Those conditions continue inland, and, sure, they may feel a bit out-of-place on 14,179-foot Mount Shasta during the Winter Expedition Training course from SMS Mountain Guides (www.swsmtns.com). But we ll take the bluebird skies. It s still easy enough to remember the big-storm bluster of winter.