Raven Rock State Park seems to be a good place for hiking, and several different trails lead away from the parking lot. These are of varying difficuly, from very short to fairly long. The entire park is fiarly large, and covers nearly 4000 acres,

Fish traps trail passes through a forest of pines, oaks, and maples. Mountain laurel, shown in this photo, was also fairly common along this trail. The trails slopes steadily downhill, and closer to the river it is terraced.

At the point where the trail reaches the river, you can take a series of steps right down to the river. Here is a shot of the river from that point.

The river runs over some large rocks here, producing some rapids. Listening to the water going over the rocks gives one a sense of the size and power of the Cape Fear River.

The trail continues on alongside the the river for a short distance. To the right, the ground slopes sharply upward, and to the left is the river.

This marks the end of fish traps trail.

Here is a shot looking back up fishtraps trail.

Instead of taking the trail straight back to the parking lot, I decided to take the raven rock loop. This took me past the overlook, shown in this picture. Raven rock rises 150 feet above the river, and the overlook offers some fantastic views of the river.

Here is one view of the river from the overlook.

Here is a second view of the river from the overlook.

Past the overlook, the trail takes you to a series of steps that lead down to the river.

Here is a view from the bottom of the steps.

At the bottom of the steps, the trail continues on for a short distance, and this photo rwas taken looking back along that trail. The river runs to the left, and raven rock looms high overhead.

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For questions or comments contact me at mark.mcclure@uncp.edu
This page was last updated April 18, 2003