ENO TRAILS - Public Hiking Trails on the Eno River

OCCONEECHEE MTN. AREA Occoneechee Mountain Trail - 2.2 mi Overlook Trail - 0.1 mi* Summit Trail - 0.35 mi* Brown Elfin Knob Trail - 0.15 mi* Chestnut Oak Trail - 0.6 mi* King's Highway Park Trail - 0.9 mi	All trails in the OCCONEECHEE AREA are contained within the Occoneechee Mountain State Park southwest of downtown Hillsborough off Orange Grove Road. Take Virginia Cades road past two small fishing lakes and park in the designated parking lot. Trails in this area are: Occoneechee Mountain Trail which goes completely around the high bluffs that make up this park; Overlook Trail which spurs off from the north side and skirts past an impressive overlook before meeting the Summit Trail to the peak (The actual peak belongs to the Orange County as is used to a communications tower and abandoned lookout - This Summit trail to the lookout towers is now closed to the public, with a large sign proclaiming it is for Authorized Personnel Only); the Chestnut Oak Trail which is brand new and cuts across the entire park east-west on the high ridgeline; and the Brown Elfin Knob Trail which explores the bluffs on the east side of the park. ( * = See Below.) FAVORITE COMBINATION TRAILS FOR LONGER HIKES IN THIS AREA: This is such a small park that you could easily do all the trails, or a combination of loops and figure-eight's to take in much of the trail system in on afternoon hike. I recently did a large figure-eight encompassing all of these trails in less than 6 miles.
CHESTNUT OAK TRAIL:	NOTE: All trails marked with an asterisk (*) require access to it from another trail. Consult the maps to determine how best to reach this trail, or read the trail description for options and recommended combined trails. Mileages given here ADD to the distance required to access the trail from another.
	This is a new trail as of Spring 2012. The park officials have closed the Summit Trail beyond the split to this Chestnut Oak Trail, and prohibit visitors from accessing the communications towers at the end of the road. Chestnut Oak runs basically east and west from the Overlook/Summit Trails to the western loop of the Occoneechee Mtn Loop Trail, along the higher ridge line. It runs through some nice Mountain Laurel, and Witch Hazel patches along the way. Most people combine the Occoneechee Mountain Loop Trail with the Summit and Overlook Trails as one longer hike. The new Chestnut Oak Trail now links the Summit Trail with the west side of the park on the higher ridge line.
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By Jay "Greybeard" Schwantes