As the leaves change color and the weather gets cooler, it’s the perfect time to get outside and hike. With the piedmont, coast and mountains, North Carolina offers diverse hikes, and the state government designated this year as the Year of the Trail. Whether you hike around NC State, Raleigh or North Carolina in general, here are some great hikes and outdoor trails for any experience level.
NC State hikes
Lake Raleigh is located on NC State’s Centennial Campus. With hiking and mountain biking trails, Lake Raleigh is a great hiking option simply because of how easy it is for students to get to.
Wellness and Recreation’s Outdoor Adventure trips program, which hosts a variety of outdoor trips for students each semester including hiking trips, has two Lake Raleigh hiking trips planned for the upcoming spring semester, one in March and one in April — dates to come.
“It’s really accessible for the average students specifically because we have bus routes that go right there,” said Katie Shapiro, a third-year studying statistics and an outdoor adventure assistant trips leader. “So if you have a Saturday, and, you know, it’s a beautiful afternoon, that would be a really perfect place if you don’t have your own transportation to go outside and get away for a little bit. I think there’s three trails. One is a quarter mile and then there’s two that are about a mile.”
Whether you go alone, with a program or with friends, the convenient location of Lake Raleigh and the short trails makes it perfect for beginners.
While natural surface trails might be common in hiking, paved trails are also a great option to hike.
Benjamin Guadarrama, a second-year studying economics, has explored Raleigh and North Carolina with the National Parks Club as the club’s volunteer officer. The National Parks Club plans hiking, camping and adventure trips for its members and works to educate on conservation and the outdoors.
“I come from a more mountainous outdoor area,” Guadarrama said. “But the greenway is a good way to get off campus and relax. Reedy Creek trail goes right through campus, and Walnut Creek trail is down on Centennial Campus that crosses right along the riverside.”
The Reedy Creek trail runs all the way from Umstead State Park through NC State’s main campus to the NC Museum of Art. The fully paved trail is both a convenient way to explore Raleigh without a car and an accessible hiking trail.
Raleigh hikes
With 34.5 miles of hiking trails, Umstead State Park is a prime spot for hiking. Only a 25-minute drive from NC State’s main campus, Umstead is also a popular trip destination for the Outdoor Adventure trips program.
“Umstead is really popular because it’s really accessible,” Shapiro said. “The trails are not very difficult. They’re not very strenuous, and there’s a wide range of length.”
From half a mile to 13-mile trails, Umstead has something for everyone. For beginner hikers, Shapiro recommends starting with the shorter trails.
While not the most conventional location for hiking, the NC Museum of Art’s Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park is a great way to connect with both nature and art. With 4.7 miles of trails surrounding the museum, it features over a dozen different sculptures dotted around the trails.
One of the best parts about Museum Park is its proximity to NC State’s campus. Using the Reedy Creek Greenway, it is roughly three miles to walk or bike from NC State’s campus, all without using major roadways.
North Carolina Hikes
Pilot Mountain State Park is 20 miles northwest of Winston-Salem and features an impressive mix of both mountain and river section trails. Situated around Pilot Mountain, the park has 14 miles of trails to choose from, including a portion of the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea trail.
The variety of trails and beautiful scenery explains why Pilot Mountain is a popular destination for NC State outdoor clubs and rock climbing.
Located along the banks of the Cape Fear River, Raven Rock State Park is named after the 150-foot tall Raven Rock, a crystalline structure located in the heart of the park, and is a frequent hiking spot for the Outdoor Adventures trips program.
For students who are beginners or brand-new to hiking, the trips program can be an accessible way to get into hiking.
“In a general sense for all trips, unless explicitly specified, you should expect everything to really be taken care of,” Shapiro said. “We design it so individuals who have no experience and nothing with them can come on the trip and have a good time.”
Guadarrama’s advice for those looking to get into hiking is to resist ads encouraging spending lots of money on new gear and to work with what gear they already have.
“I started off with just my tennis shoes and a water bottle I already had,” Guadamarra said. “It doesn’t take that much to enjoy the outdoors. You just go outside, make sure you’re hydrated, and make sure you take care of your feet. Other than that, it’s one of the best hobbies out there for its price range.”
The Outdoor Adventures trip program will have a hike and yoga trip to Raven Rock in March.
