Tory's Den

Let's talk now about Tory's Den and Falls. These are still in and around Hanging Rock State Park. Even though you might leave the park boundaries as you travel you will usually pop back into the park as you get close to the parking lot.

Last time I talked about being out at the Lower Cascades on Hall Road. If you continue west on Hall Rd you will be driving around the north rim of the park and looking south. As you travel you can see the back of what is part of Moore's Wall Loop. As you continue to drive you will come to Mickey Rd where you take a left. Proceed to Charlie Young Rd and take another left. As you do this you will drive up a small hill towards the parking lot.

Both the cave and the falls are on the same trail and close together so you might as well take them both in. The map says the trail is 2.3 miles one way but it didn't seem like that at all. Ther sources say .6 round trip.

Apparently the story of the caves naming goes back to the Revolutionary War. The story goes that a member of the Whig party lived nearby and had a daughter that was kidnapped and held for ransom by the Tories. The daughter was eventually rescued. The cave isn't very deep but it's a large room and you can see evidence of smoke all throughout the walls of the cave. I don't know if this is the kidnapped daughters doing but I'd spend a night here for sure!

The adjacent falls are more drippy then anything. I'm sure it lets go after a good rain but the day we visited, not so much. However, toward the bottom of the falls there is a little gully that is fun to climb around in. All in all, the hike was short and the cave was cool. You can see the falls just fine from rock ledges around the falls plus there is a wooden observation area with steps down to it so this is fairly kid friendly.

Have fun!

Hanging Rock State Park cont

Picking up where we left off with Hanging Rock State Park.

I want to talk briefly about Hidden and Window Falls. Both of these falls are on Indian Creek Trail and very close to the main parking lot.

Hidden Falls is first on the trail. It is "hidden" except for the sign that points to it . Follow the side trail down to a rhododendron filled cove. It's small but neat and not hard to get to.

As you get close to Window Falls don't miss the top portion of the falls to the left before the trail drops down to the lower portion. Tucked back in a narrow crack between to larger boulders is how the falls gets its name.

The large over hanging rock forms a window to revel the top of the falls. It is small but neat and not hard to get to.

The rest of Widow Falls flows across and down to the bottom portion of the falls. The bottom portion of Window Falls has a pretty good drop to it and there are wash out trails to take you to the bottom of the falls. I have never seen it gushing as the creek that feeds it is small.

There is lots of stuff to climb around on at the bottom so have fun!

I am really looking forward to talking about the next area of the park. Upper and Lower Cascade Falls are must sees. They are fairly easy to get to and are very nice waterfalls. We will start with the Upper as it is closer to the main parking lot of Hanging Rock State Park. Head out on the short trail and you will end up at the head waters of the falls. Be careful as the rocks are covered in moss and they are very slick. Plus there is a nice drop over by the edge.

Its maybe a 50 ft drop to the bottom and to get there you have to take a wash out trail so keep your eyes open for it as your walking to the Upper from the parking lot. If you find a wash out trail and get below the Upper (this is not Lower Cascade) you will find a neat place with lots of places to climb around. See to the right... When I took this, the big tree was there which was fun. We used the tree to climb half way up the falls. I don't know if its still there. If it is, it has to be rotten by now so I don't recommend this... Cool place and close to the parking lot!





Now I want to head to the Lower Cascades. This is a nice waterfall. The fall itself is maybe 15 feet high but it's in this little cove and there is a very large pool a few feet deep at the bottom that is excellent on a summer day.

To get here you have to leave the park so head out the way you came. At the entrance gate as your leaving the park, turn left back on to Moore's Spring road which is how you came in. Not far down take a left on Hall road. Right as you cross back into the boundary of Hanging Rock State Park you will see a sign for the falls on the right. There is a parking lot to pull into there. Once out, locate the trail and start your decent. There are a few places along the trail while it's still flat to look down into the gully that hides the falls. The trail turns into a washout and gets steep. I remember having to use exposed roots and tree limbs to get up and down so be careful.

Lastly, please take the "Don't throw rocks" sign seriously. Last time I was there with my family, my mom stayed topside while my wife, little bother and myself went down to the falls. Well my mom got bored and started throwing rocks over the side. She almost killed my little brother... We were swimming in the water and a huge rock missed my brothers head by maybe a foot. That was almost a bad day.

Other then the near death experience... This is one of my favorite places so I hope you enjoy it!

Pilot Knob & Hanging Rock State Park

Lets start with North Carolina... My wife and I lived in Winston-Salem for about a year and a half while I worked in a retail store in a local mall there. Whenever we had time off together we would literally run for the hills. I will start with one of the closest places to Winston and then go farther out. All of my directions will start from Winston unless I'm speaking about multiple places in an area of NC. There is much to see in this great state and I regret that I have not seen much more since we moved from there.

Pilot Knob is really easy to get to and you can make it as adventurous as you want. Once you get past the drive up the mountain, you park and walk up a short semi steep in parts well maintained trail. I took this picture from the end of the short trail at the observation area. There is another trail down below that allows you to walk around the entire base of the knob. Really fun to do! Once my younger brother-in-law came up with Mom and Dad to visit me and my wife and we took them up here. He was about 7 then and had no problem on the trail around the base.

To get to Pilot Knob,

Take Hwy 52 North from Winston to the exit for Pilot Mountain Park Rd/Hwy 2053 . There is not an exit number but a state park sign for Pilot Mtn greats you about a quarter mile before the exit. It is about 30 miles North of Winston.


I took this picture from an over pass just prior to the exit you need to take. As you can see, you will be able observe the mountain well before you get to it. It will be on the left side of the highway as you travel towards the exit.

Once you exit, hang a left on Pilot Mountain Park Rd/Hwy 2053 and pass under Highway 52. Follow the road up the mountain to the parking lot and have fun! There are also facilities there like bathrooms and water fountains.



Hanging Rock is also in the area close to Pilot Knob. There is much to do in Hanging Rock State Park so set aside a whole day. You can also camp in the park so you can really make it a weekend trip if you want.

First I'll tell you how to get there, then we can talk about stuff to do.

From Hwy 52, heading north from Winston, take exit 122 on RJR Moore Road. Turn left at the top of the ramp and for a distance of 17 miles follow the signs for Hanging Rock State Park. From RJR Moore Road turn left on NC 66 north. Turn right on Moore's Springs Road, which ends near the park entrance to the right.

Once your in the park, head on into the main parking lot. Not the Lake lot, not yet. I recommend getting on Hanging Rock Trail first. The trail is moderate at 1.3 miles one way so plan accordingly. The trail starts out nice and gravelly with some ups and downs. It will however get skinner and more aggressive. This is a great trail with lots of things to climb around on. There were not any guard rails last time I was up here so be careful! The drops are step and it is very easy to get hurt up here. Not the best place for kids. As you can see the view is awesome. There are a lot of levels when you get to the top. My wife took this of me after I climbed down and around to get to this boulder where I took the above shot.

Another cool hike I did one day was Moore's Wall Loop. It is 4.3 miles all around and starts by the lake which is where it also finishes. This was a nice day hike. It is labeled as strenuous on the map so pack a lunch and plenty of water. I don't recall the hike being too bad but that was 7 years ago when I was 50 pounds lighter... Once you get to the top of the ridge, you can see lots of cool stuff. The observation tower is up here as well. From the top of the tower, the view is amazing.

On your way down you will come to a feature called balanced rock. You can see it below in the low center of the picture. I guess it looks like it might fall? I guess it sort of did... Wasn't about to go stand on it to see if I could get it to wobble...

Indian face is listed on the map but I never could find it so good luck. On my way back down once in the valley, instead of going back the way I came, I took a fishing trail to the left and walked around the back of the lake. Its neat because a lot of people don't take this path and towards the end you come to a man made dam that forms the lake. You will end up back on the road to the parking lot for the lake. You just have to walk around the lake house. The hike was awesome! To see the whole park laid out in front of you from the summit is pretty cool. The detour in the valley was cool but it will won't make or break the trip.

There is a few more sites to talk about in this park but I hate long web pages so I am gonna start another blog. I plan to discuss Upper and Lower Cascades, Hidden Falls, Window Falls and the Tory's Den area.