I visited Stone Mountain State Park for a day of hiking and exploring with my pup. It was a wonderful day trip destination from Charlotte, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time at this state park. The trails, scenery, views and facility were all top-notch!
STONE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK HIKE REVIEW
Hiking is an activity that I really enjoy and a hobby that I would like to devote more time to. This past Sunday was my birthday and I decided that I was going to give myself the gift of getting out of Charlotte and doing a day hike with Benji. I initially thought I would head west towards the Linville Gorge/Grandfather Mountain area but found myself heading north up I-77 instead to Stone Mountain State Park. A yoga teacher friend of mine who hikes a lot suggested Stone Mountain State Park and I’m so glad she did. What a find!!!
Benji and I were out on the trails for about 3.5 hours and covered 7.5 miles. I’m going to give you a full overview of the hike we did and what we saw along the way.
STONE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK
First, let’s talk about this amazing state park find! Here are some things to know about Stone Mountain State Park:
- Located just 90 minutes from the Charlotte city center and easily accessed via I-77
- 14,353-acre North Carolina state park in Alleghany County and Wilkes County
- The centerpiece of the park is Stone Mountain which is a dome of exposed granite that rises over 600 feet with an elevation of 2,305 above sea level
- There is a restored mid-19th-century farm at the mountain base known as the historic Hutchinson Homestead
- The park offers waterfalls, streams, mountain views, hiking trails and backcountry campsites
- The mountain offers some of the best rock climbing in North Carolina
- The creeks and streams feature great trout fishing
ALL ABOUT OUR HIKE ON THE STONE MOUNTAIN LOOP WITH SOME SCENIC DETOURS!
In the event anyone wants to recreate our hike, I highlighted our path on the trail map! I parked at the Lower Trailhead. I used the restroom facilities (toilets, sinks) and grabbed a trail map. I had done some research on All Trails prior to arriving and knew that I was going to do the Stone Mountain Loop and thought I would add on a few extra trails. Here’s what I ended up doing:
- Park at the Lower Trail Head
- Start on Stone Mountain Loop Trail
- Veer off onto Wolf Rock Trail
- Wolf Rock Trail to Cedar Rock Trail
- Cedar Rock Trail to Hutchinson Homestead/viewing Stone Mountain from the base
- Pick the Stone Mountain Loop Trail back up
- Veer off onto the Middle/Lower Falls Trail to see waterfalls (out and back)
- Get bacon the Stone Mountain Loop Trail and stay on until arriving back at Lower Trailhead
The total distance of this hike was right at 7.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1,586 feet. Note, there are many different trail configurations that you can choose for any amount of mileage that you’d like to hike. There is an upper parking area that offers quicker access to the summit.
Here we are at the lower trailhead ready to kick off our adventure!
Pretty quickly we got to this fork in the trail where we veered right. We would ultimately end up making our way back to the trailhead via the section of the trail on the left. I love that this hike is a loop and not an out and back!
It was about a mile of mostly uphill climbing to arrive at Wolf Rock.
WOLF ROCK
Wolf Rock was so impressive! It’s a very flat rock face that extends out a few hundred feet and is over one thousand feet wide. This photo does not even begin to do the size and scale of it justice. Wolf Rock offers pretty mountain views and is a great place to stop for a rest, snack or picnic.
We continued on and picked up the Cedar Rock Trail. There is an excellent view of Stone Mountain and the summit from a narrow opening on the Cedar Rock Trail.
STONE MOUNTAIN VIEW FROM THE BASE
The Cedar Rock Trail ended right at the Hutchinson Homestead and base of Stone Mountain. I didn’t take time to explore the Homestead but will on a future trip.
I gave Benji some water (he drank almost 40 ounces throughout our hike!) and we continued on our way. We picked up the Stone Mountain Loop Trail and headed towards the waterfalls.
MIDDLE FALLS, LOWER FALLS AND STONE MOUNTAIN FALLS
To access the Middle and Lower Falls, you take a separate out and back trail that’s about a mile round trip. We skipped middle falls because there was a creek crossing that would have required very wet feet but we did scramble down to lower falls.
Back on the Stone Mountain Loop Trail we made our way to Stone Mountain Falls. This is the largest of the three waterfalls by far. Our first view was from the base of the falls.
And after climbing up approximately one billion stairs (so.many.stairs) we arrived at the top of the falls.
We took a nice long break to catch our breath and have a snack and water (I say “we” because I shared my snack with Benji, haha). The Stone Mountain Loop Trail continues on from the top of the falls. There’s no getting around those stairs!
Shortly after passing through the upper falls you pass by the upper trailhead. We continued on the trail to head to the summit.
STONE MOUNTAIN SUMMIT
After another gradual climb, we arrived at the Stone Mountain summit. The summit was beautiful and offered views in the opposite direction of Wolf Rock, which was nice. One thing I love about hiking at Stone Mountain State Park is that there are SO many places to stop, hang out and enjoy the scenery.
And then what goes up, must come down! We had about a mile of downhill that was mostly stairs that were built into the mountain. Always rough on the toes! I was initially going to wear sneakers for this hike but I’m very glad that I made a last-minute switch to my hiking boots. I greatly appreciated the extra support, especially around the ankles.
We arrived back at the Lower Trailhead clocking in right around 7.5 miles.
Always the BEST feeling to switch from your boots to sandals back at the car!
CLOSING THOUGHTS ON HIKING STONE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK
- The trails never felt overcrowded. At the same time, I appreciated that they were well-trafficked enough on a Sunday that I regularly ran into other hikers because I was hiking solo with a dog.
- There were lots of people out with their dogs on the trails!
- Benji was SUCH A GOOD BOY! I was seriously so proud of him. He’s naturally athletic so I knew he’d have no problem with the physicality of it but he was well-behaved, non-reactive towards other dogs and stuck by my side like glue.
- What a gift to have this state park just 90 minutes from Charlotte. I feel like it’s definitely worth the extra drive time to skip Crowders (especially on a weekend) and do this one instead! This is a hike that I will certainly do over and over again!
- Very much appreciated that I could be in this much mountain scenery in just 90 minutes.
- The full Stone Mountain Loop is a strenuous hike. Consider strategically parking if you want to avoid the stair extravaganza and do a shorter hike.
- As far as kids are concerned, I think Finn would like this hike a lot but not in its entirety. I know he’d love the big rock faces. I would probably park at the lower trailhead and do Wolf Rock out and back or park at the upper trailhead and do the summit out and back (and probably down to the falls too).
QUESTIONS
Let me know what questions you have and if you have any scenic North Carolina hikes to recommend!
