Weekend Getaways: The New Flextime

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WEST
California, Steal Big Sur
A reasonably priced ocean-view room on Big Sur can be as rare as a Big Sur day without fog. But in November coastal murk yields to vivid warm days, and Treebones Resort on the southern Sur coast puts you in an oceanside yurt for a pittance ($155;
www.treebonesresort.com). This being Big Sur, your circular digs come with a hot tub where one can commune with oneness. You also get proximity to Jade Cove for beachcombing and a 3.5-mile (7-kilometer) redwood hike in Limekiln State Park.
 
Oregon, Ski First, Ski Often
The choice is yours: Wait a few weeks for deep snow (and deeper crowds) at Mount Hood's Timberline Lodge, or go now and have the first powder largely to yourself (pre-Thanksgiving rates start at $150 for two people; www.timberlinelodge.com). The ski area's average opening date is November 18, and this year marks the premiere of a new high-speed quad—ergo, access to eight new alpine trails ($49 lift ticket). And if the snow hesitates, there are far worse places to get skunked: Take a hike, take a sauna, sip a Cloud Cap Amber, and bemoan your fate.
 
Washington, Dive With Brainy Octopi
"They're very intelligent," says Captain Michael Block of the giant cephalopods that frolic in the 50-degree (10-degree Celsius) (read: dry suit) waters of Puget Sound. Spanning 12 feet (7 meters) from tentacle tip to tentacle tip, they can unscrew a jar of chopped fish to get at the morsels inside. Block's Teal Water Charters guides out of Gig Harbor, leading divers to the crafty octopi, eels, and seals ($75 for a two-tank dive; www.tealwater.com). Make a weekend of it by holing up at the waterfront Maritime Inn ($95; www.maritimeinn.com) and grabbing a burger at Tides Tavern.

ROCKIES
Arizona, Slot in Canyon X
Top secret Canyon X is the sandstone substitute for Antelope Canyon, the world's most photographed slot. And Charly Moore, owner of Page-based Overland Canyon Tours, is the only outfitter with a Navajo Nation license to guide it ($150 with lunch; www.overlandcanyontours.com). Shack up in the Page Boy Motel, a renovated classic ($65; www.thepageboy.com), then take Overland's tour of White Pocket in Vermilion Cliffs National Monument ($250 with lunch). The guides will even pick you up to shoot the sunrise reflected in White Pocket's sandstone pools.
 
Colorado, Soak in the Snow
You know you're in the boonies when the nearby Big City is Telluride. Dunton Hot Springs, a revived ghost town in the San Juans, is now haunted largely by Colorado urbanites immersing themselves in luxury solitude—and 107-degree (42-degree Celsius) mineral water in natural rock pools ($350; www.duntonhotsprings.com). Since Dunton usually celebrates a white Halloween, count on hundreds of miles of out-the-door XC. The 3.5-mile (6-kilometer) Fall/Winter Loop has views of four fourteeners, including Mount Wilson—poster peak for Coors beer cans.
 
Utah, Fly in Zion
Fall in Zion is no colder than cool, no warmer than warm, and likely to be dry. In other words: It's cycling season. On pavement, the 18-mile (29-kilometer) round-trip through Zion Canyon is a gradual uphill spin and an effortless return connecting the park's best viewpoints. Use Zion Lodge as a lunch and overnight stop ($150; www.zionlodge.com). Next day, don a pair of fat tires and hit nearby Gooseberry Mesa, a red-rock paradise at 5,200 feet (1,585 meters). Zion Cycles in Springdale rents LeMond Reno roadies ($35 a day) and full-suspension Trek Fuel EX 7s ($45; www.zioncycles.com).

CENTRAL
Michigan, Ride on Ice
Why go mountain biking in Michigan during muddy, chilly November? Because 1,999 others are doing it. The Iceman Cometh in Pere Marquette State Forest near Traverse City bills itself as North America's biggest single-day mountain bike race and is so popular that slots for the 27-mile (43-kilometer) main event filled in two days (November 10; www.iceman.com). But ancillary activities, such as beginner and recreational races (plus numerous shindigs), are open to latecomers. Grand Traverse Resort & Spa serves as headquarters and hosts the Ice Capades after-party ($149; www.grandtraverseresort.com).
 
Mississippi, Paddle Tupelo Honey
Mississippi's only Wild and Scenic River ain't the Big Muddy. It's little, clear (though tannic) Black Creek, which plies the Black Creek Wilderness in
De Soto National Forest—a realm of oxbow lakes, tupelo swamps, and stands of bald cypress in the Gulf Coast plains. The perfect paddle: a 20-miler (32-kilometer) from Brooklyn to Cypress Creek landing. November days are warm, and nights are just right for a campfire. Black Creek Canoe Rental in Brooklyn will set you up with a canoe and shuttle ($53) or guide you on a day trip ($15; www.blackcreekcanoe.com).

Texas, Go Birdy
November is a win-win month for birds and bird-watchers in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Whooping cranes and 400 other species get an all-you-can-eat buffet of shellfish, snakes, and wild fruit. Humans get an open-air aviary with weather in the 70s. Hook up with the folks at Rockport Birding and Kayak Adventures out of Fulton Harbor. They'll rent you a boat ($60) and motor you to and from a drop-off spot ($50; www.rockportadventures.com). Nest at the Inn at Fulton Harbor ($79; www.innatfultonharbor.com) and dine on shellfish at Charlotte Plummer's Seafare Restaurant.
 
EAST
Florida, Cast Into Mangroves
The tangled shoreline of the Everglades' 10,000 Islands is "the only place in the world where you can sight-cast for 100-pound (50-kilogram) fish in two feet (less than 1 meter) of water," according to Captain Mark Ward of Everglades Angler in Naples. While tossing streamers near the mangroves—home to tarpon, snook, and redfish—keep an eye out for manatees and dolphins. Everglades Angler will patiently coach duffers ($375 for a half day of guided fishing for two), or you can attend its fly-casting school (November 10; $95; www.evergladesangler.com). Olde Marco Island Inn is just ten minutes from the guide rendezvous in Goodland ($140; www.oldemarco.com).
 
Pennsylvania, Get Released
For paddlers the Lake Nockamixon drawdown is like Christmas times two. The dam release happens twice a year, in the first weekend of November
and the third weekend in March, and turns sleepy Tohickon Creek in Bucks County into a four-mile (six-kilometer) Class IV play park. Put in at Ralph Stover State Park, where Boy Scouts sell goodies amid a carnival atmosphere (www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks). A former speakeasy called Bucksville House has nice B&B rooms 20 minutes away ($125; www.bucksvillehouse.com).
 
South Carolina, Hunt a Legend
Your chances of finding a thought-to-be-extinct-but-rumored-to-be-alive ivory-billed woodpecker are as good—or bad—on the Black River in South Carolina as in the bogs of Arkansas. "I'm 70 percent sure I saw one in Black River's Big Dam Swamp," says guide Scott Demme of Black River Outdoors Center in Georgetown ($35 for weekend rentals, shuttle service available; www.blackriveroutdoors.com). The 1,300-acre (536-hectare) Black River Swamp Preserve's more usual suspects include otters, migrating hawks, and lingering fall colors.









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