Haw River Sp Iron Ore

A very nice blue heron loop trail. Trails are marked and well maintained. Iron ore trail is a short trail to the pit. Picnic tables are available and on the trail and bench seating to rest or just take in the view. Restrooms available the parking area. It is a great place for the whole family and dog friendly.

This is a 5 star trail all day long. Well maintained, well marked.

Beautiful park, easy hike. I went with a group and we passed quite a few others out walking their dogs or just enjoying the (really) brisk morning. We were near peak on leaf color and it was really pretty. Interesting things to see include the unusually heavy rocks that form a kind of rock garden along the trail, a fenced off pit that they think might represent a very old mining attempt, and the headwaters of the Haw River (which are a bit swampy but still pretty.

Perfect place for a short (3 . 5) mile hike. Lilac asters blooming everywhere in mid October.

This is wonderful trail. Not too challenging but definitely a fun hike!

You have three great hiking trail options! One is the road you come into, to walk up and down. the other two are dirt pathways in two directions. Nice Pokémon go hunting ground for your tech-savvy people who like an easy trail. Old school restrooms are available! Picnic areas and dog friendly with trash available to dispose.

Beautiful, quiet wooded walking trails. The Great Heron Loop trail goes by the river and is extremely peaceful.

very well maintained trail. lovely scenery.

Amazing forest with a great hike! This seems to be a very new addition to Haw River State Park and far more accommodating than The Summit, the older portion of the park, which has strange year-round 5 PM hours (at least, as I saw on the website still and found out the hard way in summer 2020 when I got locked in). Unlike The Summit, this location has much more generous hours, the winter ones being 6 PM while in spring 8 PM, and by summer 9 PM... you're not as likely to get locked in here and have much better options, including a parking lot OUTSIDE the gates allowing you to access the park for longer.

Park rangers seem quite friendly here and the place is well kept up. It has very interesting bathrooms, but be warned that there are no lights inside. They're very 'green' bathrooms, having no flush system... as gross as that sounds on paper, it's not, they're very new but only one person can use them at a time.

Trail construction seems to be ongoing at Iron Ore Belt Access, but the main trail (3.2 miles long) is completed and quite an adventure. New trails or cut throughs seem to be being built around the park, which will help those who may get out to one point on the trail and lose energy and have to go back soon.

I just got back from my first ever trip to the Iron Ore Belt Access point and really enjoyed it. If you hike or bike in from the small parking lot outside the gates at N. Church Street, it may be about a mile's journey to the actual trail itself, so be warned if you feel like you'll just park outside the gates and walk on in!

This place truly does have the most amazing view of the Haw River, about 2/3 of the way through your hike when going counterclockwise around the main trail... wow. I hit it at sunset, making it even more mysterious as it seems to be a lowland that stretches out forever, small trees coming up from the water. Winter, at least late winter, is a good time to come based off that experience!

Well maintained trails, easy walking, quiet. We were on a guided tour with Kelly today and she was so knowledgeable about the park and its natural wonders. We had a fun time & will be back for the longer blue heron loop trail later.

It’s a nice park with a well groomed trail. Scenery isn’t amazing like it might be in the mountains, but it was still very pretty.

Great place for birding. With good trails.

Great hike. Beautiful park. Only thing needed is benches on trail and picnic tables. Glad I found parks

Great little path. It is close to me to go here for a little walk in the woods. Trails are nice and well kept.

Remote, quiet, 99% shade on the trail, narrow trail in places with few roots and rocks, compared to Umstead SP, for trail running.

Pretty park. Good hiking choices as far as short and easy or long and moderate.

Beautiful walk... beautiful woods..good parking lot with clean outhouse.

Always fun to walk my dogs there!

Great hiking area!!! A great almost 4 mile walk..beautiful!!

Very nice trail, great ranger lead activities.