Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area

I would say this is a rather nice trail, nestled right near a busy interstate area. The only reason for the 4-star is the road noise. It was coming from the interstate, most of the hike. Don't let your mind stay there...if you have great friends with you, you will soon forget about that. The trail is poorly marked, however, it is a short trail, so not easy to get lost.

Fun hike! Nice overlook. While it is less than 2 miles (as the crow flies) from downtown Hillsborough, at times, you feel like you are in the western North Carolina wilderness. The park provides some of the more rugged hiking trails in the area. The Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area is part of the North Carolina State Parks system.

Great place for a 2 mile hike to a beautiful overlook. Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring water in the summer months. It is a hike uphill. There are 2 trails to get there. The red trail 2.2 miles and the yellow trail is only .15 miles. The park is well taken care of.

This is one of our favorite places to hike. The 2 mile loop is very challenging with all different types of terrain: roots, clay, gravel, dirt, moss, rocks. You definitely need hiking gear and to be prepared for a moderate level hike. The entrance is gravel and narrow and the parking lot gets full so we like to come early. Most of the trail is shaded and there is a beautiful overlook halfway.

Beautiful hike. You may want to download AllTrails or something similar to help you navigate. We saw some people wandering off-trail to find the next section (though the red circles are rather easy to follow). Well-maintained trail with a couple well-marked detours as they complete their work. We hiked counter-clockwise in order to ease the steep climbs for my 3yo & 6yo. The river looked very brown & stagnant, not sure if you’d want to swim/wade in it?? Perhaps it was simply in need of rain. Lovely views at the lookout. In all, we hiked about 2.25miles. We’d definitely come back!

Parking lot is dirt off a dirt road. There is a bathroom but it’s a composting toilet and I’m not sure how often it is cleaned. Bring your own hand sanitizer.