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Hanging Rock State Park
We spent a weekend at Hanging Rock State Park in December 2015 and explored most of the park’s main attractions, including waterfalls and hikes to its most prominent peaks.
The 7,000-acre park in Stokes County was mostly built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1942. It is home to its namesake Hanging Rock, below, as well as opportunities for hiking, picnicking, camping, climbing, fishing, swimming and other outdoor activities.
Read below or click to go to information about Hanging Rock State Park’s:
The four easiest / fastest attractions to see at Hanging Rock:
1) The visitors center and its exhibits.
Pam watches a video at the visitors center in which men who were part of the Civilian Conservation Corps tell of their days building Hanging Rock State Park. There’s much more than we have pictured.
2) An overlook view of Hanging Rock, which is adjacent to the visitors center parking lot.
3) Rock Garden, which is at the end of a 0.1-mile paved nature trail near the visitors center parking lot.
4) Upper Cascades, which is a 0.2-mile easy walk from the visitors center parking lot (see more below).
Lake & Beach Area
Since we were there in December, the beach at the park’s 12-acre lake was not open (and fenced off). A sign at the large pavilion and bathhouse says it is the park’s most popular attraction. Fishing for bass and bream is also popular at the lake. Anglers fish from the banks, a pier and rental boats.
Next to the lake is one of two picnic grounds in the park, with a large picnic shelter that is at the top of a steep hill. The other picnic area is at the start of the Indian Creek Trail, which begins at the visitors center parking lot and goes to the Hidden Falls and Window Falls waterfalls (see below).
Waterfalls
The park identifies five waterfalls within its boundaries. Click the titles below for details about the hike to each and to see the park’s sixth waterfall.
Hidden Falls and Window Falls
From the visitors center parking lot, take the Indian Creek Trail to Hidden Falls (0.4 miles, easy) and Window Falls (0.6 miles, moderate).
Hidden Falls
Window Falls
Upper Cascades
The Upper Cascades trail is also accessed from the visitors center parking lot, and is 0.3 mile and easy.
Lower Cascades
The Lower Cascades Trail in .04 mile long and moderate. You must leave the main park area and find it off of Moore’s Springs Road. It is well worth the effort.
Tory’s Den Cave and Waterfall
Take a .02-mile easy trail to Tory’s Den waterfall and cave from a parking lot off of Moore’s Springs Road, outside of the main park area. Another approach is via the 2.7-mile, moderate Tory’s Den Trail, which you can pick up from the Moore’s Wall Loop Trail near Huckleberry Ridge.
Hanging Rock
Of the 20 miles of trails in the park, the hike to the top of Hanging Rock (aka Hanging Bluff; elev. 2,159 feet, prominence 340 feet) is perhaps the most popular. It is 1.3 miles (one way) and rated moderate.
Click through to see the hike to Hanging Rock and additional photos from the peak.
There are numerous places to catch views of the surrounding Piedmont from atop Hanging Rock.
Moore’s Knob, the highest peak in the park and the Sauratown range, can be seen at right on the ridge across from atop Hanging Rock.
Moore’s Knob
Moore’s Knob, with an elevation of 2,579 feet and a prominence of 1,440 feet, is the tallest of the Sauratown Mountains. The peak is accessed from the Moore’s Wall Loop Trail, which is a 4.7-mile roundtrip. The eastern side of the loop, hiking up from the lake, is about a 2-mile trip one-way.
Click through to see the hike to Moore’s Knob and additional photos from the peak.
The view atop Moore’s Knob is enhanced by an observation tower.
The distinctive shape of Pilot Mountain, some 16 miles away in its own state park, can be seen to the west from atop Moore’s Knob.
Below, the park’s lake and beach, where the Moore’s Wall Trail begins.
Hanging Rock and the park’s visitors center seen from atop Moore’s Knob.
Cabins
Hanging Rock State Park has a two-loop family campground that offers 73 sites. Each site accommodates up to two tents and has a tent pad, picnic table and grill. Drinking water and bathhouses with hot showers are at the center of each loop. One campsite is wheelchair accessible. Group camping is also available.
But we stayed in one of the park’s 10 cabins, which are located together across the street from the campground. Hanging Rock and Morrow Mountain are the only state parks with full-size cabins. (Carolina Beach State Park and Cliffs of the Neuse State Park have “camping cabins,” which do not have plumbing.)
For our two-night stay, we were assigned Cabin No. 9, below, which was clean and comfortable. It is one of two ADA-compliant cabins in the park. Cabins sleep six, counting use of a futon sofa. Cabins No. 7 – 10 are newer than the original six.
The cabins have two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room, screened porch, picnic table and grill.
Cabin No. 9 has a large wheelchair-accessible shower and closets with easily reached shelves and racks.
Every two cabins share a fire pit.
Cabins can be rented by the week in summer and have a two-night minimum the rest of the year. They must be reserved. They don’t allow pets.
The former Camp Sertoma 4-H Education Center, also known as the Vade Mecum Springs property and Moore Springs Campground, was donated to Hanging Rock State Park in 2014 but is not yet open to the public. The park acquired additional land in 2015 as well.
Hanging Rock is in Danbury, north of Winston-Salem in Stokes County off of N.C. 66 and N.C. 8 / 89.
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