Hiking in State Forests In North Carolina

Just about any site we list on our parks and forests pages has some kind of walking trail. For our Hiking pages, we list trails that are generally 5 miles or longer. We’ve provided links to maps and some additional information where it’s available.

Trail names, lengths (one-way) and difficulty levels may differ among publications. Check at park offices or ranger stations for maps and guides.

For the definitive guide to hiking in North Carolina, we recommend “North Carolina Hiking Trails” by Allen de Hart, which is a source for some of the information on our hiking pages.

Also, Joe Miller, the former outdoors/fitness reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, has published “100 Classic Hikes in North Carolina” and “Backpacking North Carolina.”

North Carolina’s two state forests offer varied hiking opportunities:

Bladen Lakes State Forest, Elizabethtown (Locator Map).
More than 130 miles of trails and dirt roads. Those who venture out can find landscape features like Carolina bays, pocosins, sand ridges, river bottoms and swamps.

DuPont State Recreational Forest, Cedar Mountain (Locator Map)
More than 90 miles of trails and dirt roads. Trails through the forest are suited for casual and more serious hikers, with some trails specified for equestrian and mountain bike use.  Three large waterfalls on the Little River offer stunning views, Grassy Creek has a couple more smaller falls, and yet another tumbles into Cascade Lake.