Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / North Carolina / Piedmont and Coast

Birkhead Mountains Wilderness Loop

Birkhead Mountains Wilderness, Uwharrie National Forest (Tot Hill Farm trailhead, near Asheboro)

The Birkhead Mountains Wilderness covers about 5,160 acres at the north end of the Uwharrie National Forest, near Asheboro. Congress protected it in the 1984 North Carolina Wilderness Act. The Forest Service says horses and pack animals aren’t allowed, and all of its trails are hiking-only.

Wikipedia says the area’s core was once the plantation of John Watson Birkhead, and the woods are full of reminders of later homesteads, farms, and gold mining. The Birkhead Mountain Trail itself was part of Joe Moffitt’s original Uwharrie Trail, built for his Boy Scouts in the late 1960s.

The hike

MyHikes describes an 11.3-mile loop from the Tot Hill Farm access on the north side. The Birkhead Mountain Trail crosses Talbotts Branch on a wooden bridge at 0.2 mile, then climbs to the summit of Coolers Knob Mountain at 1.2 miles, where there are campsites on both sides of the trail. The yellow-blazed Camp Three Trail branches off at 1.8 miles, the Robbins Branch Trail at 2.6, and the Camp Three Trail rejoins near a large site the guides call Camp 5 at 3.0.

Continuing south along the ridge, the loop passes the Christopher Bingham graveyard side path at 4.8 miles, turns onto the Hannahs Creek Trail at 5.1, and follows it to the Robbins Branch Trail at 6.7. The return on Robbins Branch includes four crossings of the creek around mile 8.3 to 8.6, then rejoins the Birkhead Mountain Trail at 9.5 for the walk back north.

The Camp Three Trail makes a side loop off the ridge. The LandTrust for Central NC says it was made and marked by Boy Scouts in the early 1970s, and lists Stegosaurus (Twin) Rocks, mine pits along Lost Branch, the Rush homeplace, and the Rush gold mine. Camp 3 sits along the North Prong of Hannahs Creek with a spring.

Internet Brothers, which included the Birkhead in a 2018 list of wilderness backpacking trips, mentions old-growth hardwoods and remnants of farms, old roads, gold mining, and logging, and says overnight trips here suit hikers who are already comfortable with backpacking basics. The MyHikes trip report from March 2019 found trees down and mud after late-winter storms.

The Uwharrie National Recreation Trail, in the southern part of the forest, is the longer backpacking option nearby.

Tips

Camping

No permits or reservations were found; Wikipedia says dispersed camping is allowed. MyHikes lists more than a dozen established sites, including Coolers Knob (1.2 miles), Camp 5 (3.0), sites near the Hannahs Creek junction, a boulder field at 6.5, and a large site beside Robbins Branch at 8.7. Internet Brothers says to camp at least 200 feet from streams, roads, and wildlife fields. The Forest Service asks visitors to “leave no trace” and to leave historic remains undisturbed. There is no potable water or restroom at the trailheads.

Inside Intel: GetGoingNC, a guide service that runs basecamp trips here, hikes in about 3 miles from the Tot Hill access to Camp 5 and notes that it has water. The 2019 MyHikes trip report mentions an old covered spring at Camp 3.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Morning coffee at Camp 5:

The big Camp 5 site in the Birkhead sits about 3 miles in with water close by, an easy place for a slow breakfast on a small stove. See the camp stoves reviewers recommend.

Compare the top 5 →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.