The Best Hiking Trails in Durham

I love Eno River State Park. I try to go at least once a week (rain or shine!) with my dog and we both have a great time each time we go! My favorites are the Cox Mountain trail if I'm feeling like climbing hills and the Holden's Mill trail for scrambling over rocks (and also climbing hills!) It's a great place to go all year round.

Wow, what a terrific trail! I had a two week work trip in the Chapel Hill area recently, and my mister came to visit over a weekend with our dog. Our dog is a corgi, and he has seemingly endless amounts of energy, so we were a bit concerned about what fun he could have during their visit. We picked the American Tobacco Trail to help him walk off some of his energy, and had an excellent time. The trail is very well-marked, maintained, and super dog-friendly. If we lived in the area, we absolutely would use it regularly.

Duke Forest is an often overlooked local treasure. There are multiple trails, picnic areas, horseback trails, and parking access scattered throughout. None are very clearly marked so purchase a map from Duke if you plan to do extensive hiking. This is a 'working' forest so occasionally you will run into an area where there is a science experiment or forestry activity going on.