High Shoals Waterfall and HQ Loop Trail

Connelly Springs, NC | South Mountains State Park

Trail Date: June 2, 2019

Difficulty	Distance	Time	Elevation
Moderate	5.1 Miles	2.31 Hours	997 Feet

---

Things to Know

	Dog Friendly
	Loop Trail
	Marked
	Waterfall

---

So one. If you have T-Mobile you’re loosing signal when you’re 15 minutes away from the parking lot. There I’ve warned you beforehand. So if you search this in AllTrails and then use the directions; the coordinates takes you to the parking lot which is basically the beginning of everything. Surrounding the parking lot is campsites and a lot of picnic areas.

The trail started out very busy with a number of other hikers…mainly families. PROTIP - when the trail splits go LEFT. Go towards the

High Shoals Waterfall

first. It makes the back end of the loop of the entire trail downhill.

On the way up to the waterfall beware of the steps. They are rather steep and narrow so if you’re goin in a group like I did you’re more than likely going to be in a single file line. The trails outside of the stair portion itself are wide enough to comfortably walk in pairs. Now as you trek towards the waterfall… you’re walking next to a river…which if you wanted to you could cut off and allow your dogs a drink of water.

When you reach the top of the waterfall… there is a man made platform (which you can easily jump over if you want to get closer to the waterfall) however with the heavy traffic it soon becomes over crowded and with dogs you may not want to deal with the hassle.

NOw this is why I rated this trail moderate.

Once you get your fill of the waterfall the trail continues upward. so what does that mean… it means stairs. Narrow Steep Stairs. BUT that’s not too bad. Its the part where you start

Headquarters Loop Trail

. This is where the trail itself gets steep and I will estimate to say you have a good 30 minutes of nothing but walking up a gravel hill. According to the map you’re walking along a ridgeline, which accounts for the elevation gain. when you reach the peak of your elevation gain… there isn’t much a lookout like when you reach the top of the mountain. So don’t be surprised when you just suddenly find your self on your descent. However, once you reach the top… the trail is pretty much all downhill from there.

Another PROTIP - bring Bug Spray. gnats are everywhere and even with bug spray they are guaranteed to bother you.

Overall, the trail was enjoyable with enough of a challenge in the elevation gain and the length. Maybe I’ll do a return trip and do another trail in the same Mountain Park.