Stone Mountain State Park Review
My son and I went backpacking this weekend at Stone Mountain State Park in North Carolina. We got in Friday night and camped at site B (about 1.5 miles in from the parking lot.) The next morning, after breakfast, we hiked up to sites C and D to check them out and then we bushwacked (very easy, since it is all old growth forest, with little underbrush) southeast from site D up the ridgeline towards the unnamed peak (beyond waypoint 3 in the screen grab below, note that the waypoints are only approximate)
Stone Mountain Backpacking Topo
We thought we had actually made it to the unnamed peak labelled at elevation 2334, but alas, when I synced my GPS later with the map it showed otherwise. Regardless, my son was still quite excited to have climbed his first mountain. And, since it was “unnamed”, I told him he should name it (pretending that we were the first to discover it) which he appropriately named “Mt. Ingersoll” 
After going back down to our site, we made lunch and then went down to site A and waded into Widows Creek at the base of a small waterfall and also got fresh drinking water. Upon returning to camp, we both took a short nap and then hiked up to check out sites E and F.
On Sunday, we got up, packed up and hiked back to the car. We then went swimming at the wonderful swimming hole in Widows Creek right near the road. It is a decent size and has a series of waterfalls and “rock slides” which my son loved riding down. The water was quite cold, but felt really good after two days in the woods w/o a shower.
Next, we went up to the lower parking lot to Stone Mountain and we hiked back to the Hutchinson Homestead and the rock climing area. Both were cool to check out, especially the rock climbing area, were there are some ginormous rocks to climb around on, one of which we dubbed Paul Bunyan’s Table, due to its large size and flat top. Finally, we finished the day by wetting a line in the East Prong Roaring River, where I taught my son the basics of fly casting.
We then left the park and partook in an time honored backpacking tradition (at least for me) in which we stopped at a nearby restaurant (in this case, the Stone Mountain Country Store) and had a big ol’ cheeseburger, fries and ice cream!
All in all, it was a phenomenal weekend. The trip to Stone Mtn was about 3 hours. The backcountry sites were well laid out and not too far, making them perfect as an introduction to backpacking for both kids and adults. If you get there on Friday, the sites are usually not filled yet. They were all filled by Saturday mid-afternoon. As far as the individual sites go, I would rate them from best to worst as: F, E, A, B, D, C. Note, that I did not see any water available at sites D and C, and B required (at least during summer when the water levels are lower) a short hike down towards site A in order to get water. Site D I rate higher than C, mostly due to the fact that is on top of a ridge, which lends itself to being cooler, despite it being farther from water.
Lastly, though, I wouldn’t say this is an area for serious backpackers, unless they are doing the MST, simply because there aren’t enough trails. My map shows there being trails all around, but in fact, the State no longer maintains them. For example, going north from site D is a “trail” that is mostly clear and is completely navigable, but it has some blow-down on it that makes it a little bit tougher for young kids. I did not check out the frontcountry sites, but people I talked to said they were clean and well maintained. We also did not hike to the top of Stone Mountain or to the falls there, but I hear they are nice and we plan to go back and do them.
