Hiking in North Carolina: Morrow Mountain State Park

Introduction: One of the things that attracted my wife and I to North Carolina was the outdoors. People from here take for granted what nature has to offer in the form of hiking, mountains, rivers, greenways and the beaches. So far, we’ve done all of those except the mountains (we’re waiting for the fall).
Over Labor Day weekend, we had talked about heading to Boone and seeing the mountains, but at the last minute, we decided to take a much shorter drive and do the “mountains-light.”
Our trip to Morrow Mountain State Park will be the first of my “hiking” blogs … feel free to add suggestions for places I should go in the future.

Morrow Mountain State Park

Location: just east of Albemarle
Distance from Sanford: 70 miles (about 1 hour, 15 minutes)
Closest major city: Charlotte, 48 miles
No. of hiking trails: 5 (plus an equestrian trail)
Other anemities: Canoeing in the Yadkin River, overlooks of the Pee Dee River and Lake Tillery, swimming pool, family camping, picnic tables and a small museum.
Pet friendly? Pets allowed with leash
Web site: http://ils.unc.edu

The hiking:
My wife, Jennifer, and I consider ourselves not necessarily “beginners” when it comes to hiking, but we’re not professionals, either. We don’t carry the big hiking sticks from REI, and we go in tennis shoes, not hiking boots.
That said, we do backpack and we’re in pretty decent shape for this.
We’ve done many trails in and around the Piedmont, and Morrow Mountain was our first venture into the rocky terrains.
Morrow Mountain is a good beginning for anybody who wants to do serious hiking in the near future. It’s not the Smokies, as the highest peak is still just under 1,000 feet. We went on the 1st of September, also, and you don’t get the cool breezes I’ve heard so much about in the Appalachians.
Our trail: Of the five trails at Morrow Mountain, we chose the Mountain Loop Trail, a 1.5-mile trail (3 miles round-trip) that starts at the foot of Morrow Mountain and ends at the top of the peak.
The trail itself is narrow and unstable. Roots and loose rocks make for uneven footing, and vegetation grows just enough to where it tickles your ankles most of the way. The first half mile of the trail is a windy, but even-leveled stretch that has few big climbs. But it’s the final half mile of the trail actually takes you straight up the mountain, and for the beginner, this can be a tiring stretch.
We went on a 90-degree day, and the heat and humidity got to us more than the difficulty of the hike. Still, my wife, I and our Jack Russell Terrier made it after just a few water breaks with relative ease.
The top of Morrow Mountain we’re sure is beautiful in the fall or spring, or on a particularly clear day. But our hike, like I said, was muggy, and a haze surrounded the lookouts when we reached the top, hindering the view. From the top, you can look down on valleys with a few homes, and you can get a nice look at the surrounding peaks in the area. In addition to a few lookout points, the top includes picnic tables and restrooms. For those who don’t like to hoof it, a road also leads to the top … and we came across a few bikers who looked far less tired than we were.
We walked back down the way we came, but detoured one of the horse trails on the way back … coming across a family of three with three beautiful horses. Just be careful of the droppings if you choose these trails … they’re wider and a little smoother, but they don’t go all the way atop the mountain.
Overall, we really liked this hike. We’ve done a lot of trails in and around Raleigh and Sanford (I’ll review them as we do them again), but we’re grading this one the toughest so far in the Piedmont region. I recommend it for anyone who wants a mountain “feel” with just half the drive (and half the height). The views aren’t quite “spectacular,” but they’re nice … and the drive along 24/27 to get there is beautiful as well.

Morrow Mountain trail
(grades out of 5 *’s)
Difficulty: ***
Views: **
Fun: ***