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January 2024 by daniel linville
This is a 5 star trail all day long. Well maintained, well marked.
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October 2023 by Tomi J
Perfect place for a short (3 . 5) mile hike. Lilac asters blooming everywhere in mid October.
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October 2023 by Speakingoftruth23
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.
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June 2023 by Google user
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.
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May 2023 by B Shumate
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.
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May 2022 by Michael Sbihli
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.
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April 2022 by Stacy Babb Vickers
Very quiet. Trails are well-maintained.
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April 2022 by Cassandra Reeves May
My daughter and I went to the park yesterday for a school field trip. From the very first people that we met in the visitor’s center to all of the guides, everyone was welcoming, professional and informative. The kids were encouraged to join in the activities and get real hands-on. I feel like we all learned a lot and had a great time!!! Thank you Sage and Carissa particularly!
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December 2021 by Beth Barton
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.
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August 2021 by LM Carlson
A fantastic park to see wildflowers, butterflies, dragonflies, and birds. Trails are well maintained for ease of navigation.
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August 2021 by Bonnie Plante
Beautiful, quiet wooded walking trails. The Great Heron Loop trail goes by the river and is extremely peaceful.
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August 2021 by Steven Buckner
very well maintained trail. lovely scenery.
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August 2021 by Crystal Willett
This was a great trail and I really enjoyed all the wildlife, mushrooms and things to discover along the trail. Not crowded and was a wonderful day spent hiking.
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July 2021 by Rick Nobers
The Iron Ore Belt access is a separate entrance to Haw River State Park. Summit entrance and this aren't connected. This entrance has the Great Blue Heron Loop Trail.Upon entering the park, there is a small parking lot with a set of bathrooms and trash/recycling containers.The Great Blue Heron Loop Trail requires a short, easy .35 mile walk from the parking lot to get to. It is the only trail in this access. The trail loop itself is a 3.2 mile walk, labeled as moderate (I thought it was easy) through forest type scenery. The trail is well made. It is flat laterally but does have some up and down. This is nothing strenuous however. The trail has lots of trees uprooted from rain, a lot of controlled burn, and looks to be in constant maintenance with sawing. There are a few downed trees crossing the trail and it's muddy at spots.The favorite part to me is the smell of pine, timber, and forest type aroma. A great, easy walk through nature.
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July 2021 by Patrick
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!
