If you live in Raleigh you can lead a rich and full hiking life without driving more than an hour from home. Umstead State Park, in the heart of the Triangle, offers more than 30 miles of trail within its 5,600 forested acres. Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve offers escape for those who don’t know they’re in need of it, ditto for Clemmons State Educational Forest, where the dendrologic denizens are more than happy to tell you their story. And rare is the metro area that has a 60-mile natural surface trail in its midst, but that’s just what you’ll find along the south shore of Falls Lake. There’s good reason why Raleigh is referred to as the city within a park — a park with more than 200 miles of natural and paved-surface trails.

Clemmons Educational State Park

Falls Lake Trail

Hemlock Bluffs Natural Area

Umstead State Park: Company Mill Trail

Umstead State Park: Sycamore Trail