Just north of Winston Salem is Hanging Rock State Park. Only ~2 hours from Raleigh, it can make a great day trip. This time though, we spent two nights at the campground.
We reserved our campsite online for $20 /night. A good deal, esp. considering we got site #8 which is arguably the best location on the map.
The first night it rained constantly, and our inflatable air mattress slowly kept going flat. 🙁 I’ve had this queen-sized air mattress for over 10 years and this is the first leak it’s ever had. Luckily, with some serious investigation I found the leak and easily repaired it with the patch kit we always carry along. I learned something new:
Keeping your mattress / equipment clean isn’t always enough. This leak was caused by a small crack in a seam; a stress-crack, from folding and storing the mattress the exact same way for years. So now I’m folding it slightly differently every time I put it away.
Hanging Rock has one main (must-do) loop of ~5 miles to go up to the observation platform.
A view of Moore’s Knob (Hanging Rock observation platform) from the Visitors’ Center:
The fall colors were probably at their peak here last weekend. A few trees were losing most of their leaves, but the views were still beautiful.
The climb to the top is steep,
but worth the trip.
We were not the first ones here today.
Will have to remember to bring the hammock next time though.
The hike back down somehow seems longer…
