Cabin fever is one fever we have the cure for in Orange County. There are a lot of places to go to get out of the house and experience the transcendent beauty of the natural world, which seems more beautiful today than it ever has. Here are some recommended walking and hiking trails.

Just minutes from downtown Chapel Hill, the 300-acre Johnston Mill Nature Preserve contains three-and-a-half miles of great walking and hiking paths.

Want something close to campus? Carolina North Forest is a great option. The well-maintained trails are nestled within 750 acres of woodlands between Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Morgan Creek Trail, a 10-foot-wide paved trail that runs nearly a mile through Chapel Hill and connects directly to the town's Merritt's Pasture open space area.

The George and Julia Brumley Family Nature Preserve consists of more than 600 acres and is located about two miles southeast of Hillsborough, between Old N.C. 10 and New Hope Church Road. It features more than four miles of streams and 20 acres of wetlands.

Located next to the Eno River in Hillsborough, the Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail is under the care of Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. HOST is a walking trail through natural and cultural history. The original track was a half-mile horse track built by Julian S. Carr for Occoneechee Farms. Later expanded and used by NASCAR, this 44-acre site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2002.

Located on the property of Ayr Mount, a Federal-era plantation house built in 1815 in Hillsborough by William Kirkland, Poet’s Walk is a one-mile walking trail that meanders through woodlands and pastures alongside the banks of the Eno River.

Riverwalk Hillsborough is a paved, ADA accessible, urban greenway along the Eno River that stretches nearly 2 miles from Dimmocks Mill Road/Gold Park through West Hillsborough and Downtown over to the Occoneechee Speedway property trails.

Parks and Recreation agencies across Orange County will begin to open parks and some park amenities with safe-user guidelines beginning Thursday, May 28.

Town of Hillsborough

Town of Chapel Hill

Town of Carrboro

Orange County Park Locator

Photo above of Brumley Preserve by Sam Upchurch