13 Miles on an 11 mile hike in the Uwharries

Last weekend, I spent most of Saturday walking a 13 mile 11 mile hike. The plan was to put in 11 miles to meet requirements for a Scout merit badge for some of the scouts in Troop 202 (Cary, NC). I agreed to tag along because I had hiked this combination of trails a few years ago and because I needed the miles to get ready for a trip in a week or so. We were in the Wood Run section of the Uwharrie National Forest. Our route was a loop combination of portions of the Uwharrie and Dutchman’s Creek trails. The guidebook lists the length as just over 11 miles, but due to some rerouting since the guidebook was published our hike was very close to 13 miles. Not sure why it never seems to be less distance…always more.

The Uwharrie mountains are considered to be the oldest mountains in North America formed by a chain of islands crushed during a collision between the North American and African continental plates. During our hike, we crested a peak elevation of around 725 feet above sea level. The highest point in the range is almost 1,000 feet! While this may sound like a stroll through the hills there are enough ups and downs to keep things interesting. Generally there is plenty of water available and a number of nice creek side primitive campsites along the way if you plan to break the trip up. The weather was nice so we encountered a number of backpacking groups during the day.

In addition to the hiking, there are some great mountain bike trails in this area of the forest. Both the Supertree and Keyauwee are fun rides, but Keyauwee is the more challenging of the two. With the great weather, there were a lot of riders on the trails last weekend. There is also evidence that new trails are being added to the trail network at Wood Run.