Stone Mountain State Park (NC) - November 28, 2020
The search for waterfalls shows no signs of slowing. On a nice November day, we hooked up with friends and headed north to Stone Mountain State Park. The park is an easy 90 minute drive from home, straight up I-77. We took the Elkin exit, drove past exit for Carter Falls, and pulled in to the Upper Trailhead Parking Lot.
From here we made a strategic error. We knew our whole group didn't want to make the 4.5 mile loop with >1,000 of elevation gain. The main waterfall was a short distance on the map. So we left the parking lot on a 0.3 mile trek to the falls. We were greeted by the top of a 200 foot beautiful waterfall. We were also greeted by roughly 300 stairs. We climbed down, down, down through one landing on to the base. There were lots of places for the kids to play and they enjoyed climbing on the rocks. However, we had to go back up those stairs to continue out way to the summit.
After making it back to the fork, some of our group peeled off back to the parking lot. Most of the group continued on another 1.4 miles to the summit. The trip to the top was no where near as difficult as the stairs. There was a small group of switchbacks at one point, but nothing we couldn't handle. The top was a gorgeous cleared, weathered, granite face. The view was clear and it was nice to get a little rest.
We returned to the parking lot, ate our lunch, then headed over to Widow's Creek Falls within the park. The hike to this one was listed as just over 100 yards. It was an easy to get to fall, with lots of area for play. Would be good in the summer I'm sure. Some of our kids split to the other side of the falls, so I executed a beautiful jump over the 12 foot stream. However, to get back across, we tried to get across a narrower, but more uneven section. I ended up falling in after slipping on a mossy rock. Luckily I didn't have E on me at this point. I was mostly unhurt, and luckily we were done with our day anyway.
Overall, we enjoyed the park. The trails were nice and there was plenty more we didn't get to. We would definitely go back!
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