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Trails / North Carolina / Blue Ridge High Country

Stone Mountain State Park: Widow's Creek Backcountry Sites

Stone Mountain State Park (backpack parking lot, near Roaring Gap)

Stone Mountain State Park, in Alleghany and Wilkes counties, is best known for its 600-foot granite dome, a National Natural Landmark. Its backcountry camping is quieter: four primitive sites up the Widow’s Creek valley on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, from about 1.5 to 3 miles from the backpack parking lot.

At 1.5 to 3 miles in, it’s a short backpacking trip, with the park’s waterfalls and dome trails nearby for day hikes.

The hike

The backcountry sites are along the Widow’s Creek Trail, which NC State Parks says is part of the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail. Hiking Project lists it at 2.4 miles, climbing about 1,000 feet from roughly 1,350 to 2,400 feet, with a mostly smooth tread of sand and rock, and says it leads on toward the longer MST section to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Widow’s Creek Falls is near the start. Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive, who stopped there in 2009, found it “just up the road from the backpackers’ parking lot” and agreed with the Waterfalls of North Carolina site that it may be the prettiest falls in the park, adding that it “looks even better when there’s a strong flow.”

The park says that at a fork, the campsites are on the left path while the trail continues right. Site A is about 1.5 miles from the lot and site D about 3 miles. A Hiking Project photo shows a cascade near site A.

For a day hike from camp, the park’s best-known trail is the Stone Mountain Loop over the dome, though part of it near the falls is closed for stair replacement. Mangan’s 2009 loop added Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock, which he said face away from Stone Mountain with views of the Blue Ridge, and he warned that the descent off the dome is “almost as tiring as going up.”

Kids in Parks listed the park as only partly reopened in November 2024 after Hurricane Helene, with some MST sections still closed. In 2026, the Friends of the MST say a short section near John P. Frank Parkway is closed for construction, with a 4.9-mile detour over the Stone Mountain Loop and summit.

For a bigger backcountry trip on the Parkway above, see Doughton Park’s Basin Cove.

Tips

Camping

NC State Parks lists four primitive tent sites, A through D, each for up to six people. Reservations are required online or at 1-877-722-6762, and campers must register at the visitor center or campground contact station. Camp only on the designated site and keep gear on the tent pad or within the site. There are no facilities. Pack out all trash and food, and fully put out any fire.

Inside Intel: A Hiking Project user who camped at site A in June 2019 called it “amazing”; the same visitor reported that sites E and F were closed by fallen trees, so stick to the four sites the park lists.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Winter on Widow's Creek:

The backcountry sites at Stone Mountain are close enough to the car for a cold-season first night, so a warmer bag is the main thing to pack. See which sleeping bags testers rate.

See the picks →

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.