Hanging Rock State Park

Wonderful park! They rate the trails either easy, moderate, or strenuous. We took a moderate one to the waterfalls, and it’s beautiful. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart though. I saw in another review somewhere that someone highly recommended it as a great stop for families, and I think it’s not a great stop if your kids are little. We were prepared for our two-year-old to ride on my husband’s back, so we were fine, but I’m not sure I’d do it again as there wasn’t anywhere safe enough for her to walk around when we got to either waterfall. If hiking is something your whole family is into, definitely go—if not, then make sure you find easy trails.

Such beautiful scenery, the hikes are at a decent incline so if you're a little out of shape I say tackle the Hanging Rock and after a break the waterfalls rather than going to all 5 points. I only went for a day trip but I'm looking forward to camping and spending more time in the park!

This is an awesome N.C. State Park. There is a lot more to do than just the Hanging Rock (but you have to check that out). Make sure you make some time to check out all of the waterfalls. They are spectacular for this area of North Carolina.

https://gotheadventureway.com/your-guide-to-hanging-rock-state-park/

i just stayed at hanging rock state park and it is wonderful. the cabin was modern and spacious, the trails were excellent. although a little early in the season for swimming, the lake and beach looked inviting and the price was right. the cabin we stayed in was handicapped accessible with a ramp and grabbars etc. and a screened in porch. i wish we could have stayed longer. also the price for the awesome cabin that sleeps 6 (maybe more but we had 6) was a very reasonable $88/day or $446/week.

AMAZING!! This should be a 5/5 stop! When we arrived we were blown away. There were multiple hiking paths that were easy to navigate (although strenuous at times) clean bathrooms and extremely nice employees.. Our site was wonderfully maintained and within a close walk to restroom. We were able to hike to the top of a look out and watch a sunset! Highly recommend this park to everyone!!!

This was one of my favorite camping trips to date. The park is beautiful with many great hiking trails including to the top of Hanging Rock. The educational programs for the kids are great. Our daughter earned her first Junior Ranger badge.

The restrooms/showers are older but clean. Campsites are spacious.

No cell service which ensured a relaxing weekend unplugged.

Highly recommended!

We stayed for one night at Hanging Rock in June 2017. We stayed in site 72, which is at the very end of the loop so it was very private. Tons of wooded area on the back side of the camp site. Fire ring with grill, picnic table and a tent pad also on the site. No electric or water hook ups. The restroom and showers were clean, there's even an industrial sink behind the bath house for washing dishes. Lots of beautiful hiking options, a lake, and a large picnic area if you are only there to hang out for the day. We loved this park!

Hanging rock sp

Beautiful and quite state park in NC at an elevation 1800ish . We were here at beginning of May, it was breezy but already getting warm. We arrived after office closed and there was a list of available sites for that night. If you’re looking for a site for a couple of nights you will have to check Reserve America and see what’s available. Ranger came around later and collected cash for the site. He also had fire wood for sale.

There are some great moderate hikes to various rock formations and waterfalls. There is a lake with a “beach” for swimming in summer. Kayaking on the nearby Dan River is an option also.

Bathhouses are old and probably need updating but fairly clean. Behind bath house on the lower loop there are four concrete sinks for dishes. Double check which loops have hot water during winter months.
Visitor center and check in closed at 4:45.
Park gates do close at night and do not open back up till morning. No gate code.
WiFi is available inside visitors center.
Verizon 3g. To 1-2 Lte Sometimes you could get a text through and sometimes you could surf slowly in the on the internet.
73 sites no electric - no water
10 cabins

3 stars for cleanliness is for the bathrooms. Campsite and park would be 5

Notes:
Google says closest grocery store is approximately 7 miles away.

Daytrips
* Mount Airy “Mayberry” town that inspired the Andy Griffith Show. There’s a museum, soda shop ect..

* Pilot Mountain State Park. You can hike to top if birds are not nesting or you can drive to a vantage point and look across and see the mountain.

* Danbury: The Artist Way, Coffee, ice cream and art.

So much to do, hiking, waterfalls, tubing the Dan River. Clean and friendly rangers.

We really enjoyed Hanging Rock! I’ll get to the Pros in a minute, but first here is the one thing we wish we had known as RVers before we drove there.
There is a pretty steep grade into and out of the park. We have a 23ft airstream towed by a Tundra and we were a little nervous about our truck making it uphill. And downhill our brakes were definitely smoking- we wish we had known earlier to check our brakes.

Another thing to know is there is NO cell service around the park, so download all your maps and directions ahead of time. The visitor center was closed when we went (June 2021) so we couldn’t get paper maps either. There were a few posted that we took photos of on our phones.

Apart from that, the park was great!! Lots of tent campers in June and not really any RVs.

Highlights:
- lots of hiking trails and 5 different waterfalls
- By far the best waterfall was Lower Cascades because it had a larger swimming area at the bottom.
- Hike to Hanging rock was great but so were other less popular trails
- Hike EARLY on weekends, it gets crowded. We finished our hikes by 11am and it was perfect- plus we beat the heat.
- There are mountain biking trails but we didn’t bring our bikes.

Campsite info:
- dry camping only (no hookups)
- Very shaded sites so we stayed pretty cool with windows/fans open
- Not much cell service (kinda nice)
- Lots of trees for hammocks!
- Wouldn’t suggest an rv larger than ours (23 ft) as we were pretty tight.