Video: Stone Mountain State Park NC

[TallPaul]

My daughter & I got out during an unseasonably warm January weekend & enjoyed an overnight trip to Stone Mountain State Park in N.C.
It was 65* when we started out, and overnight lows were probably around mid-50's. Gotta love the Carolinas.

I wanted to try Stone Mountain during the off season as there are only 6 sites, and it is first come, first serve. You sign in at the trailhead.
I higly recommend reading eflat7's site description before going (quoted at the bottom of this).
My plan was to re-read his site descriptions at the trailhead but that failed because there was NO cell service, so I couldn't remember if site "B" was "bad" or "beautiful".

The hike in was nice - the trail started out uphill, then followed a creek. After passing site A (which looked like a nice option), we went further uphill to site B.
Site B turned out to be "beautiful" (thankfully), but it had 2 strangers occupying it. Hmmm...

Then I noticed a hammock was setup.. "Are you on HammockForums?" "Yes"... found it was CubicleWarrior (from HF) and his friend. I had camped near his dad (Groundhog) at Uwharrie this year. Groundhog also happened to be at Wilderness Logics over the holidays & happened to see them fill my order & sent me PM telling me it was being shipped. Cue the "Small World" music.

Turns out somebody was occupying their site (F) and they were hoping site B would be free. Well, we invited them to stay & we enjoyed a night of hammock talk, a nice fire, and they shared some hot chocolate (and later pop tarts) with my daughter, and some adult beverages with me. Life couldn't get much better.

Now I'm not sure if it was the beverages or what.. but one memorable part was CubicleWarrior shouting out (around midnight?) that he had heard a tree crack, then come crashing down in the woods someplace. I slept thru the crashing part, but I did hear him talking and heard my daughter say she was ok. I do recall being slightly bothered that his friend didn't chime in but not worried enough I guess to go check on him. (If you watch the video, check out the tree I hung off of.. probably not my best choice).

This was my daughters first night in a hammock. She didn't sleep as much as she would have liked, but I'd warned her ahead of time it might not go perfect the first time so she wasn't put off. She was talking about a garage or backyard hang already on the way home

One lesson learned is while hammocks allow you to camp on a hillside, the hillside can be challenge. The ground went from a little slippery to pretty slippery. We ended up holding onto the ridgeline to get everything setup. It was never a real problem but it made me realize how much longer things take compared to flat ground with trees perfectly spaced.

Here's a short video on the trip.



Here's a link to eflat7's 2009 write-up (an oldie but a goodie).

Site A is the closest, about 1.4 miles from the parking lot. Very easy access, looks pretty heavily used. It sas its own waterfall and is surrounded on all three sides by widows creek, which we filtered water from all weekend. It was actually great tasting water and didnt have that creeky taste at all. Lots of trees for hammocks.

Site B was very beautiful. Very green with a creek running through the middle of it on a steep hillside. I will likely choose this site when I go back. Lots of trees. I think it is the prettiest.

Site C is just a little up the same trail as site B. It is a big site with two fire rings. It is back off the trail a ways so it offers pretty good privacy. I dont remember seeing a water source but I may be wrong. Lots of trees for hangers.

Site D Was at the very top of the mountain. There is one trail from site A that leads to B C D in that order and one trail that leads from site A to site E F, in that order. The entire trail leading to sites B C D is entirely uphill. It is 1.5 miles to site D from A, but 3.0 from the parking lot, and is a heart pumper. The trail to sites E F has one big hill but isnt that big of a deal. Site D seems kinda small, has a small fire ring and no water source. I personally don't think I would enjoy it, but someone who packs in all their water and likes complete solidarity would enjoy it. Plenty of hanging opportunities here also.

Site E sits right across the bridge that crosses Widows creek and is right on the water. Has a nice fire ring and looks like would be a great tent site. There really isnt a good place for more that one hammock in this site. I really like the site and the creek is pretty wide here, but 2 hammockers would be cramped.

Site F is at the very end of the trail that leads to sites E F. It is a pretty good ways from any other site and would definitely offer good privacy. It sits in a horseshoe of the creek like site A. This site is very flat and has alot of room. When we were there saturday, there was a little trash from the previous tenants and some clothesline still strung between the trees. Lots of rocks here to use for sitting, eating, etc. I think I still like B better, but its a cool site.