Haw River State Park
Haw River State Park is the twentieth park in our 2025 North Carolina State Park Challenge. I didn’t know too much about this park going into it- everything online says the park centers around its Environmental Education and Conference Center. So I didn’t know how much there would be for just a day trip, but we were happily surprised. We stopped by the park office to grab our passport stamp and patch before heading out on the trails. We took the Wetlands Trail out to the boardwalk- the staff was setting up for a group that was coming in later that day, but it didn’t affect us and what we were doing. You could just see some tents where they were setting up on some of the trails and then at the group cabins, but they were not in the way of the trails. We continued on the Piedmont Loop Trail to the Lake Loop Trail- all the trails are interconnecting so its easy to make it a short or long hiking day.
After we finished hiking around the lake and enjoying the views, we stopped by the Disc Golf Course. It’s something very unique to this park and they have made it their own by putting environmental facts on each of the tee markers. There is a score card at the Disc Golf sign, just bring your own pen and discs! We headed back towards the main office and stopped off at their Haw River State Park sign to take a couple photos before heading out for the day. It was another hot summer day so we once again made it a half day park- there is a second access area that we did not go to (Iron Ore Belt Access). It has a nice long 3.2 mile loop out to Beaver Pond if you wanted to add on to the day! Enjoy!
Park Details:
ADDRESS: 339 Conference Center Drive, Brown Summit, NC 27214
HOURS: 8am-5pm year round (closed on Christmas Day)
IRON ORE BELT ACCESS HOURS: November-February: 8am-6pm
March-May & September-October: 8am-8pm
June-August: 8am-9pm
VISITOR CENTER: Open Daily 8am-5pm
PASSPORT STAMP: Located at the Park Office
ENTRANCE FEE: No Entrance Fee
TRAILS: 2.5 miles of hiking trails at the Summit, and 4 miles of hiking trails at the Iron Ore Belt Access
ACTIVITIES: Hiking, Fishing, & Disc Golf
DOG RULES: Dogs are not allowed in park buildings and must be on a leash no longer than 6ft. Please pick up after your pet!
Check out our videos about this Park on instagram @axel.theadventurepup
