Ah, the struggles of loving to hike but living in the piedmont.
Raven Rock is not so much of hiking, but it is a nice getaway from the city. Only about an hour away from Raleigh, the drive took us through Fuquay-Varina and a handful of other small towns. The visitor center there is quite beautiful, and worth a quick stop inside. The overlook and Raven Rock trail is a 2 minute walk down the street from the center. You’ll come to a part in the trail where the loop begins, and you can go left or right. I would recommend going right and not venturing at all on the left. On the right, it’s mostly flat and goes along a stream. The left side of the loop is eroded gravel and uneven ground with nothing pretty to see (there is an outhouse though).
It’s a quick trail, and after going down like 100 steps, you’ll run right into the rocks.
The State Park was formed because the rocky mountain soil collided with the piedmont at some point, creating the rocky facades. It’s beautiful in person and you can walk along the rocks. The trail just kind of ends when the rocks get too difficult to navigate — then back up the stairs you go.
The outlook (back up the stairs + 1/2 mile or so) looks like this. Im sure in the fall it’s lovely. From here, you can go to the right and walk uphill on loose gravel, or go back the way you came and walk along the sandy stream path.
There’s another trail closer to the visitor center that leads to Cape Fear River. That again comes to a strange stopping point.. or so you think! The little waterfall rapids are only a foot or so deep (when I was there), and as long as you watched your footing, were completely crossable. I even saw a yellow lab do it. You cross above the little fall and can get to the cool rocks on the other side and go swimming.
There are lots of flat rocks for sunning and it’s shallow enough so the water is warm. We did see a water snake near the higher rock (the one you’ll be tempted to jump off of near the original crossing). So maybe don’t. There are more little rapids you can walk through, but you will come to a point where they’ll sweep you away for a little ride down the rocks (I did not enjoy it but some people might).
Overall, it was a nice day trip and I’m glad we went. Not many people were there and the majority of the trails are in the shade. If you do want to see awesome rocks though, I would recommend making the trip to Pilot Mtn. if you haven’t been there yet.
A Place in Prague 