DuPont State Forest, NC - Hike Report & Pics

“DuPont State Forest DayHike
Wintergreen Falls & Stone Mountain
SCJack, Amy, Pressly, Sharon
Sunday, March 28, 2004

Pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/129185619eMYhCj


Hike Report:

DuPont State forest has about 100 miles of designated trails, so you can visit again and again without doing the same hike twice. The trails all frequently intersect each other making for endless loop combinations. Most of the trails are wide track and I have yet to hike any that were more than moderate in difficulty. The highlight of the forest are several wonderful waterfalls. You can pick up a good map of the area at most North Carolina Visitor Centers, or visit www.dupontforest.com.

Today we hit an area of the forest that we haven’t been before, starting at the Guion Farm Parking Area. We met up with Pressly a few minutes before the designated meeting time of 9:30am. We were also expecting to meet up with Tim and Christine and decided to wait until 9:45am. My standard rule of thumb is to wait 15 minutes past the established meeting time, and I am glad we did because Sharon (who we weren’t expecting) arrived a few minutes late. 9:45 arrived, so we left a note and a map for Tim & Christine showing the route for the 1st part of our hike, and then hit the trail.

Our First Destination was Wintergreen Falls. This is a very easy 1.5-mile (3.0-mile round trip) hike. The hike to Wintergreen Falls is pretty much just a leisurely stroll through the forest with not a whole lot to see along the way. There were numerous forks in the trail and I was surprised to see that most of them weren’t marked. From past hikes in other areas of DuPont State Forest, this was the first time I ran into trail intersections that did not have any signs. It wasn’t very difficult to figure out which way to go and we made it to Wintergreen Falls with no problems.

Wintergreen Falls is a nice 25-ft waterfall on Grassy Creek, but nothing spectacular. If you are looking for the really spectacular waterfalls, some of the others in DuPont State Forest are much more impressive (Triple Falls, High Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Hooker Falls). However, Wintergreen Falls is well worth the easy 3.0-mile hike.

Wintergreen Falls Hike (3.0 Miles Round Trip)
SCJacks Trail Rating = 4.0/10
Difficulty Rating = 2.0/10
Waterfall Rating = 4.0/10


Stone Mountain Hike

Starting from Guion Farm Parking Area, here is our Hike Route and estimated Mileage.

1.5 miles - Sky Valley Road
0.4 miles - Rocky Ridge Road
0.9 miles - West Stone Mountain Road
0.3 miles - Stone Mountain Trail to the Top of Stone Mountain
1.2 miles - backtrack to Rocky Ridge Road
0.9 miles - Rocky Ridge Road to Old CCC Road
0.8 miles - Old CCC to Sky Valley Road back to the parking area
---------------
6.0 miles - TOTAL

This hike takes you to the highest point in DuPont State Forest (Stone Mountain 3620-ft), and the 1100-ft elevation gain makes it the most strenuous hike in the park. However, most of the climb is a moderate grade making the hike not too difficult (Amy would probably disagree with this statement). Even though there are better mountain views out there, the views from the top of Stone Mountain are still impressive and well worth the climb. By exploring around the top of Stone Mountain’s granite knob, views in every direction can be found.

After a nice break at the top of Stone Mountain, we back tracked a little and continued on our loop, which obviously was mostly downhill for the return to the parking area.

SCJacks Trail Rating = 6.0/10
Difficulty Rating = 6.0/10


It was a great day for hiking, warm enough for shorts, but not too hot; Some Cloud Cover, but not enough to make it gloomy; and a cool, refreshing mountain breeze. Amy got to meet both Pressly and Sharon for the 1st time, who are always great company to have along for a hike. When I got home I had an email from Tim & Christine apologizing for not showing up. They both came down with some sort of bug and weren’t feeling up to hiking. I hope they are feeling better and hopefully can make the next hike.

I would recommend both of these hikes, but I wouldn’t put them at the top of your list, as there are a lot of better hikes out there.

SCJack”

“Nic pics. Amy is a hottie, you lucky dog. And thanks for taking the time and putting together a trail report.”

“scjack, Nice pics and trail report as usual”

“nice pic of the Morning Cloak butterfly”