Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / North Carolina / Piedmont and Coast

Uwharrie National Recreation Trail

Uwharrie National Forest (NC 24/27 trailhead to Jumping Off Rock, near Troy)

The Uwharrie Mountains rise in the Piedmont about an hour and a quarter from Charlotte, according to Great Outdoor Provision. They are low hills (Wikipedia gives the original trail’s high point, King Mountain, as about 1,020 feet), but the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail threads about 20 miles of ridges, creeks, old homesites, cemeteries, and mines through the national forest.

Wikipedia credits the trail to Joe Moffitt, an Asheboro Scoutmaster who in the late 1960s pieced together a path so his scouts could earn their 50 Miler award without driving to the Appalachians. The Forest Service guide says the trail was completed in 1975 and designated a national recreation trail in 1979.

The hike

The Forest Service guide describes the trail as white-blazed, easy to moderate, open year-round, and hiking-only. Its access points, south to north, are the NC 24/27 trailhead about 10 miles west of Troy, Yates Place Camp on Dusty Level Road, the NC 109 trailhead about 8 miles northwest of Troy, and the Jumping Off Rock trailhead on Flint Hill Road near Ophir. Hiking Project adds Tower Road as another crossing with limited parking.

Hiking Project calls the terrain hilly, with frequent climbs and descents, several creek crossings, and rock gardens, totaling about 2,800 feet of gain. About three miles from the southern trailhead, Great Outdoor Provision notes, the trail crosses Dennis Mountain, where oak-hickory forest gives way to chestnut oak, Virginia pine, and a small mountain meadow near the top. On the northern section, the Forest Service points to Dark Mountain’s western view.

The southern trailhead is also the start of the yellow-blazed Dutchman’s Creek Trail, which the Forest Service lists at 11 miles; it connects with the southern Uwharrie Trail to make loop options. A contributor on The Outbound says the first five miles of Dutchman’s Creek are mellow and the remaining six harder, including a steep stretch known as Hallucination Hill. Phillip Asby, who hiked the short southern loop with his son in November 2016, found both trails well maintained and well blazed and said the Uwharrie Trail is straighter, less rugged, and busier than Dutchman’s Creek.

North of Jumping Off Rock, Wikipedia says volunteers and The LandTrust for Central NC opened an 8.5-mile extension to High Pine Church Road in 2021, part of an effort to restore the trail’s original 40-mile length.

For a wilderness overnight a short drive north, see the Birkhead Mountains Wilderness.

Tips

Camping

The Forest Service guide says several dispersed campsites lie along the route. Yates Place Camp, open to groups and individuals, is a quarter mile off the trail by a connector. West Morris Mountain Campground, about half a mile off the trail, has tent and camper sites with picnic tables, lantern posts, fire rings, and vault toilets, and is popular with Scouts and hunters. Hiking Project also lists the Wood Run Hunt Camp. No permit was found for camping on the trail.

Inside Intel: Asby, writing on the Backpacking Light forum, found campsites “plentiful,” with several close to the southern trailhead, so a late-arriving group can hike in a short way and still find a spot; he and his son had their first site, about two miles in, to themselves.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Rocky ground in the old Uwharries:

The Uwharrie Trail's campsites sit among roots and rock gardens on low, rocky ridges, so a pad with real cushion pays off. See the sleeping pads reviewers like.

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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.