Main Climbing Areas Rock Climbing

From I-85, take Exit 13 and go Left off the ramp. Continue through the light and the road will become Archie Whitesides Rd. (SR 1122). Follow this for roughly 2 miles until it dead-ends into Linwood Rd. Go Left on Linwood Rd. for about 0.1 mile and make a Right into the parking lot. Here you'll find an information kiosk and restrooms.

From the parking lot, follow the Backside Trail about a mile up a steep gravel trail. Please stay on the trail as land managers have put up a fence and signs to encourage people to do just that. The trail follows a wooden staircase that ends at an overlook and the top of the Practice Wall. This is also (usually) the end for most hikers, so people will congregate here and remark on the view of distant Charlotte (and engage climbers in a discussion of the dangers of climbing and the mental stability of those that climb).

The hike is about 20 minutes or less. There is a summit ridge that travels northeast from the Practice Wall which leads to the rest of the other areas (sans Hidden Wall).