North Carolina has lots of trails, but this next one's a little bit different.

We sent producer Michelle Lotker to a trail that's a little bit wet.

It's called the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail.

And it'll take you to a world you might not get to see very often.

[water rushing] [water gurgling] - 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.

[inquisitive 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 masks 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.

[snorkler speaking through mouthpiece] - 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.

Been a great experience, and I'm sure she's gonna 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 this [indistinct].

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

Your kids are gonna pass it on to their kids.

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

- [Preston] Those that have been signed up for an hour are 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 are 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 sculpin 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 darters, 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.

[relaxing music] - I take all kind of folks snorkeling.

My first year I took more older females snorkeling, and these were, you know, they had a women's group or whether they were like a grandmother, 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 something you can only "find in the ocean."

And they would see our beautiful colored-up fishes, our river chub nests 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 hellbender.

Everybody wants to see a hellbender.

The hellbender is a cool animal.

The number one thing that folks would tell me after their trips would, 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.

[cheerful music] [water gurgling] - This is called in the family Limnephilidae.

And so these are what old timers called stick bait.

- Apprehension as to whether I should get outside is always something we're trying to knock down.

Whether it's familiarity of a site, 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 messaged to the communities, is all to encompass everybody in allowance of 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 a 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 10 different locations on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail.

Two spots are temporarily closed after Hurricane Helene, but the rest are ready to welcome you.

Plan your trail at NCfishes.com, and look for Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail.