Raven Rock State Park

This place has multiple trails and plenty of things to see after those long walks. Some of the paths can be a bit hard to navigate so put on some proper hiking shoes/​boots and you should be fine. I’d not recommend going down some paths in the rain or when wet as the rocks can be slick.
I did stroll around for most of the day and was able to get some great video. It’s a park worth going to at least once if you’re in the area :)

We are hikers who are spoiled by the big mountains of the Adirondacks and Appalachia’s.
Having moved recently to Raleigh NC we have been looking for local parks to hike. Finding them few and far between with little to offer.
Ravens Rock is by far the best State Park in the area. It is an easy one hour drive from Raleigh. It has well maintained trails, friendly staff and rangers, a great indoors exhibit and many miles of trials for hiking. It is not the high peaks mountains but Raven Rock is a most go to park. We will be going back several times a year. It can be busy on weekends so if solitude is what you are after, go during the week days.

If you enjoy hiking and want to try a park other than Umstead, check out Raven Rock. It’s about an hour away from RDU near Lillington. Though the park is most known for the rock, I prefer the Campbell Creek trail which does not include the rock or «the scenic viewpoint» on the Cape Fear River. The Campbell Creek trail is 5.1 miles and is fairly easy — there are some hills but for the active hiker they are very modest. For about a mile and a half you walk on a single track trail by a creek and there are various spots you can take a moment and get your feet wet there. I love the foliage by the creek — ferns, bamboo, and a variety of trees. You can stop and enjoy a view of the Cape Fear River from the Campbell Creek trail but it’s not as breathtaking as «scenic viewpoint» on the Raven Rock Trail. The only thing I wish there were more of on the CCT are benches. There is 1 bench on the 5.1 mile trail — kind of near the half way point and it would be nice if they had a few more.
The Raven Rock Trail is the more popular trail and the nice thing about it is the different access points as well as the amazing view of the Cape Fear River.
There are some shorter trails at Raven Rock too.
I have not been to the nature center there but it looks like a nice one and the bathroom facilities near the Raven Rock trails are better than at a lot of other state parks. The picnic area is also very nice.
We like to combine a trip to Raven Rock with a trip to Sunni Sky’s Ice Cream in Angier — they are not right next to each other but definitely make for a delightful day trip.

We love going to raven rock. The 5 mile hole is great for a ruck march work out! And camping is great for the family! Very clean. We never see trash, never see crazy loud people. It’s a great park!

Great park! Lots of trails, very clean and we’ll maintained. Hope to overnight camp here soon!

Great place to take your family for some outdoor fun. Trails are not over grown and they take good care of the place. I would recommend more trash cans just for those folks who don’t like to hold onto their trash, but it’s a great place to go. Picnic tables, grills, and camp areas.

We made the trip down from Durham for a little late afternoon hiking. Nice trails, very well marked, largely under tree canopy, so not too hot. A couple options for your trails can take you to the rock itself, which is rather unique — stairs built on the rock face that take you down to the river to explore around a little bit. Other trails may take you to overlooks, but they are small and narrow, enough space for about 4 — 6 people. Still, a pretty view over the Cape Fear River.
The best trail for us was a short jaunt down to the Fish Traps, where a lower river level and nice broad rocks made wading out to the middle of the river really enjoyable as the sun set. Very relaxing.
Picnic facilities look awesome, very well kept, and bathrooms were also solid. Worth a trip from the Triangle!
Directional advice — Google Maps pointed out three entrances to the park, so we came into the north, which ended up just being a gravel road that cuts through the park on the north part of the river. The horse trails come off of this, but didn’t look good for hiking. We had to swing all the way around to enter from the south.

Great for hiking. I had the dogs and we took a 4 mile trail. It was beautiful but super steep so be aware of the ground and wear the right shoes. All in all it is my favorite hiking spot of the many I have visited this year.

We were looking for a park with good trails not too far from Cary. Found Raven Rock on an app and it was only 40 miles away! New visitor center with video of the park and animal displays. A variety of trails/​loops are available. We wanted scenery so chose the Raven Rock trail, a couple of miles and not a difficult hike. 100 steps going down to see the large rock (make sure you go left) and coming up may be challenging but benches along the way. Less than a mile into the trail, before the steps, is a beautiful overlook of the river and trees. A total of 20 miles of trails to choose from. Nice picnic areas and very clean looking park. Maps available at the visitor center, plenty of parking.

Raven Rock is a phenomenal state park that’s a short trek from the Triangle area (just over an hour from Durham), but makes you feel like you’re immersed in some deep nature!
The park offers just about everything you could need for an afternoon, day, or weekend trip with excellent hiking, fishing, bridle trails, canoeing, and camping. There are not any mountain biking trails, but we clearly won’t penalize them for that (you can’t have everything!). I have only been here for the hiking, and thus that’s really all that I’m qualified to speak to. With respect to the trails, they are pretty darn amazing – they meander, offer some beautiful views of the namesake Raven Rock and the Cape Fear River, have some minimal elevation gains, and are very well-​maintained. The trails are not super technical in most spots, but do offer some challenges and above all get you in touch with the peace of nature. The Campbell Creek Loop Trail (with the adjoining short off-​shoot Lanier Falls trail) and the Raven Rock Loop Trail are my two favorites in the park. They clock in at 5 and 2.6 miles round trip respectively, and offer gorgeous views of the varying terrains within the park. There are also numerous other trails within the Raven Rock confines, and as others have mentioned it’s definitely a positive that the hiking and bridle trails do not intersect. I don’t have anything against horses, but I do think it’s best to avoid possible spooking (especially when trail running) whenever possible.
Though I have yet to partake, the park also offers canoeing, fishing, and camping (including canoe camp sites!). Furthermore, the Raven Rock Rumble (a pick your poison of a 5 mile or 10 mile trail race) is held here every November as well. Sadly, lack of fitness and stress fractures have kept this guy out of that run in different years, but I hope to complete it someday!
Bottom line, Raven Rock fulfills the ABC’s of a great state park. Accessible, Beautiful, and Canoeable. Ok, that’s an imaginary standard I just made up, but you should still plan a getaway here!

What a great local resource. I recently traveled to Raven Rock from Cary, NC for a trail race and I was pleasantly surprised by the extent and variety of trails in the park. My race was only 5 miles long and after the first 2.5 miles of pretty much constant ups and downs, there was a nice 2 mile section that wound it’s way along the river. If we lived nearby, we’d definitely run here on a regular basis. I see from other reviews, there are overlooks and even horse facilities, so I think we’ll be back before next year’s Raven Rock Rumble race.

Great park close to Sanford. Took my two pups who loved it. Easy trail but enjoyable. We didn’t go all the way down to the rock because there were several stairs. Not too hot on a sunny day as it was mostly shaded on the trail. Only ran into 3 people on the on a Thursdy. Several benches to stop and rest and picnic areas. I’ll be back!

Drove down for a Saturday afternoon in December. The weather was a bit chilly, but there were lots of cars in the parking lot. The Raven Rock trail parking area had about 25 – 30 cars in it, whereas the lot by the Visitors Center had about 3 or 4 cars. So, you can tell which trails are more popular. :)
The Visitors Center appears to be very new and is extremely nicely kept. The are clean restrooms inside the building and friendly staff to point you towards the right trailhead.
Trails are clearly marked and the signs are fantastic. They are very well maintained and I don’t think I have ever seen less trash in a state park. It was awesome to be able to hike without constantly passing by empty soda cans, beer bottles and fishing junk.
If you take the Campbell Creek Loop trail, I’d highly recommend the extra quarter mile for the Lanier Falls Trail. It is really worth it!
Another nice point about this park is that the hiking half of the park doesn’t intersect with the horseback riding half of the park at all. Not that I don’t like horses, because I do, but I’ve often found that horseback riders will steer off on a regular hiking trail and then leave horse poo all over the trail. I’m sure they don’t want hikers on their trails either, so it’s nice that the activities are separated.
Anyways, this is a great place to spend an afternoon hiking without dragging yourself and your gear 2 or 3 hours to the mountains. :)

Want a great escape without driving for hours? Check out Raven Rock over near Lillington. There are several miles worth of mild to moderate trails for hiking, picnic tables for gatherings, and there are even camping facilities.
The park is positioned against the Cape Fear River and has the rock formation of its namesake positioned along those banks. From the main parking area, the hike is approximately one mile of well groomed foot trails. The toughest part of the hike is probably the stairs leading down to the banks, but in my opinion, it is worth the effort. There are benches and other places to rest along the path for those that need to take a break. My wife and son (7 years old at the time) were able to make this hike without any problems.
There are plenty of other trails that lead around the woods and along the river bank as well. There is a fantastic lookout that looks over the river and the trees beyond.
I find this to be a very relaxing place that is secluded enough to highlight all that nature has to offer without having to drive forever to get to. It’s a great getaway and I would recommend it to anyone looking to just get away for a little while.

Wonderful place, I expected to have to pay to get in and would have happily paid. Great trails, we walked to Raven Rock and went beyond the end of the trail at the river. Highly recommended and great fr dogs.

A quick drive (just over an hour) out of Durham, Raven Rock is a wonderful place to go hiking. The park is kept very well — there is a welcome center with a small learning area about geology and wildlife at the park as well as at least two restroom buildings. There are other activities to do here like kayaking, horseback riding, and camping, but so far, I’ve only been here for hiking.
If you have a half-​day and just want to take in some nature, I recommend going around the Raven Rock Loop (a little over 2 mi.) and take the offshoot to see the fish traps. Trails are clearly marked and there are signs at junctions. There is an impressive set of stairs going down to the bottom of the jagged face of the mountain. My camera died, but the sight was definitely worth the steep climb down and up.

This place is great for a quick hike or an all day outing. For starters, the bathrooms at the parking lot are clean, which says a lot about the maintenance that goes into the park and trails. There are great BBQ areas, which are all very clean. There are miles and miles worth of trails with different grades of slope. You could easily walk 20 miles if you walked all the trails. The Cape Fear River passes through it, and it has some great views.

Unlike this Raven Rock
, you will not find the remnants of the United States government receiving orders from a Malcom McDowell-​voiced computer attempting to ethnically cleanse the remainder of the DC area of impurities (ie anything that is not them). Instead, you’ll find a very cool, clean park that is relatively out of the way of most of civilization, and a nice afternoon walk.
So, a friend of mine and I were waiting for a car to be checked, and Cook Out doesn’t have seating, so we came out here after a 12 mile drive from Sanford. There are some very nice picnic benches out here and some grills (I didn’t check to see if these worked), and it’s a generally quiet area.
The trails themselves are well-​marked, with about a 2 mile main trail around the park that deviates at both a great overlook of the river below, and then finally a trail down to Raven Rock itself. All really pretty.
It’s a nice, easy walk for a mid-​afternoon, and while you’ll see people out there, it’s not overpopulated at all.
It’s a nice park that’s out of the way, and a perfect nice afternoon mini-​trip.