Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina

On May 8, 2023, we visited Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina near Winston-Salem. The park was initially started by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It offers 48 miles of hiking trails, waterfalls, biking, paddling swimming, fishing even rock climbing. It’s a beautiful and very popular park.

My son, his girlfriend and I hiked up Moore’s Wall loop trail (park’s map) or Moore’s knob trail (AllTrails). This is a 4.5 mile hike with a listed elevation of 958ft. It is rated as moderate by Alltrails and strenuous by the park. It was rather steep going up. I had to stop and catch my breath a few times, but I’d rate it as moderate. We took the trail clockwise, so we descended the 600 steps leading from/to the Fire Tower. Which way is better would depend on whether you prefer to hike up 600 steps or down. The views on top are expansive and magnificent. The weather was perfect, allowing us to see Pilot Mountain in the distance. Beautiful spring flowers adorned the trail: pink Rhododendrons and mountain Laurels. I was excited to see deer on my way down. One slowed down enough allowing me to snap a couple of photos.

After resting a few minutes near the beach area, we proceeded to explore three of the park’s waterfalls namely Window Falls, Hidden Falls and Upper Cascade. All were rather crowded on this Saturday afternoon. I uploaded videos of Window and Cascade falls at the bottom of this post.

We enjoyed our day at Hanging Rock State Park. I highly recommend hiking sticks if you decide to hike to the Fire Tower. I find them especially helpful when descending. If you prefer avoiding crowds, try to visit on a weekday.

References Hanging Rock State Park, Park Trail Map, Moore’s knob Trail, My Route on Alltrail

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