There’s a new nature park in North Carolina. Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area has hilly hiking trails, a lookout tower, a handful of campsites, and breathtaking mountain views. Best of all, it’s easily accessible since it’s wedged in between two of the largest cities in the Tar Heel State.
The Cane Creek Mountains are a small range in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. They are home to Cane Creek Mountain, which, at 987 feet, is the state’s highest peak east of Greensboro. They also sit south of Burlington, which is nestled in between Greensboro, a vibrant city with plenty of charming communities, and Raleigh, a lush oasis with urban charm and a thriving art scene. Once you start heading south, you’ll discover rural communities such as Snow Camp. It was the perfect spot to build a nature park.
Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area is opening in incremental stages. It began welcoming visitors on one trailhead, the Pine Hill Trailhead, to start exploring its streams and forests in the spring of 2020. More trails, trailheads, and the campsites followed in the next few years, along with the Monadnock Lookout Tower, an observation tower that provides 360-degree views over the entire nature park. There are now multiple areas with parking lots and restrooms as well. One Google reviewer recommends Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area “for anyone wanting to see the beautiful Piedmont.”
Follow the trails through Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area
There are now more than 15 miles of hiking trails, all interconnected loops, winding through Cane Creek Mountains Natural Area. They’re accessible from three trailheads, each marked with colored blazes containing four-digit emergency codes. You’ll find the Peach Orchard Trailhead on the nature park’s western edge. It leads to three trails that combine into nearly 5 miles. The Varnals Creek Trail is a short loop out to its namesake. It connects with the Mountainview Trail, which passes a stone dam en route to your first glimpse of Cane Creek Mountain. Then, you can veer off on the Lark Loop, a steep, challenging climb…