Local Hiking Series – Raven Rock State Park
Posted on | September 22, 2007 | 1 Comment | Share!!
Here’s the stats:
Acreage: 3300
Hiking:
18.7 miles of trails – 10 trails
Individual Camping: 5 Tent platforms are available for individual or family camping – 2.5 miles from access point below the park office. All supplies must be packed in. Fire rings are provided and the tent platforms can accommodate up to 4 tents.
Group camping: is available 2.2 miles from the parking area. Same rules apply, you
need to pack in your supplies. Once there, you’ll find 5 camping areas that are quite large. The brochure for Raven Rock says that these sites can accommodate up to 20 people. Having seen the sites, I totally believe it. Each site is a nice grassy area surrounded by trees. They each have a fire ring and a pit toilet (a pretty nice one!) is available. (Click here to download more information about group camping and the group camping application.)
Canoe camping: 1.7 miles from the park office and is not accessible by car. We didn’t get to check these sites out but what cool idea! Along the Cape Fear river bank are six campsites that you can access by canoe and set up camp! Amenities include fire rings and a pit toilet and it is recommended by the park that canoeists reserve sites ahead of time before heading out on the your trip.
Resources:
Division of parks and Recreation
Park Map
Address of park:
3009 Raven Rock Road, Lillington, NC 27546
Phone number:
919-893-4888
Email:
info.ravenrock@ncmail.net
About the trip:
The weather was just awesome!!! Highs were in the low 70’s, there was zero humidity, mixed clouds and sunshine.
We drove a while to get to this park and one things for sure: you are totally out in the boonies when you get to the front gates. Also, it should be noted, there is little to no cell phone service out there (we have Sprint).
When we arrived at the ranger station I was a little worried. The the building and it’s surroundings were pretty overgrown and, overall, it seemed pretty unkempt. But the ranger was really nice and found me a map of the area very quickly letting me know immediately that one of the main trails had been washed out when Alberto swept in. Map in hand, we left the ranger station and headed a couple hundred feet to the parking area where the park transformed completely. Well maintained, everything was easy to find, there was plenty of space for parking and the bathrooms were very close by. Definitely different from what we saw literally a stone’s throw away. Wasting no time, we shrugged our Camelbaks on, checked the map and headed out.
Today was going to be just a hiking day, no overnight stay, but we definitely wanted to check out the camp sites to see what they were like. Once you look at the map of the park you notice one thing right away: it very customizable from a hiking stand point. There are a ton of loops that can be taken alone or you can link other loops together and get to see more of the park. This is a great setup, because it gives you flexibility to get out and see as little of or the entire park as you see fit. Only got an hour? No problem! The American Beech Trail is only 0.5 miles and the loop is right at the parking area. Got all day? There’s plenty to see! And here’s the thing. This park is really beautiful! It’s all laid out nicely and there’s this awesome symbiosis of the plant and animal life there that doesn’t look manufactured at all. The trails are well maintained, easy to follow and they are all easy to hike. There are some light elevation changes at certain points, but nothing terribly strenuous.
We took our time at first, hitting the American Beech trail, then started the lower half of Raven Rock Loop Trail, heading up, then down sharply to Raven Rock itself where we planned to meet friends who we were going to hike with the rest of the day. There’s a great stair system that takes you down to the Cape Fear river bank at the base of Raven Rock.
Once down there, we were pretty amazed. For starters, the pics on the web of Raven Rock definitely don’t do it much justice. This cliff face is HUGE, and seems pretty out of place in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Scraggly trees and scrub brush grow on and right out of the rock face. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to discover and investigate and all of this is right on the edge of the Cape
Fear River which was also much larger than I expected. Due to the drought it was meandering at the time, but you could tell it was pretty deep and would be a force to be reckoned with if it was roaring.
We poked around for little bit, took a ton of pics, and before we knew it, our friends had shown up. The rest of the trip took us on pretty much the rest of the trail system that was available to us. We wanted to take a look at the camp sites so we took, the Little Creek Loop Trail, stopped at the sites (which, again, were really nice), ate lunch (picnic style!), and circled back linking up with the upper part of Raven Rock Loop where we stopped at the Over Look to enjoy a beautiful view of the river and the surrounding woodlands. From the over look we saw The Fish Traps and we all agreed we wanted to check that out before we left.
The Fish Traps, due to the river being so low, were a great finish to the day. Rocks protruded out of the water and there was plenty of areas to hop from rock to rock. It felt good to lay down on the sun-warmed rocks and just relax. Which we did, until we noticed the time, which was heading into the late afternoon. We all had to get going, so we took Fish Traps Trail out which brought us right back to the parking lot.
The Verdict:
Hands down, this is just a real gem of a park and we couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone reading this. Easy trails, plenty to see, great camping sites and lots of options to spend your day! Definitely worth the trip out! For more pics, go to our album!
Hi!
I’m here through Mel’s knitting blog. Your hiking pictures are GORGEOUS!! so inspiring! makes me want to break out the climbing gear and head for the hills… Please keep posting these wonderful adventures so I can live vicariously through you. My children are still too little to take for any serious hiking without me going into some kinda panic attack. And, while I’m telling you what to do and all, give those sweet pooches some HUGS for me too.
I’m usually not so pushy a guest, this text thing it’s wasy to go farther than one normally would
Love and Laughter,
Amy