Agile Trekker: Hooker Falls and Triple Falls, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/29/2025	4.7 miles	2 hours 39 minutes	395'	2.1 mph	358.1

Parking:

Hooker Falls Access Area

Map:

Gaia GPS app
Pisgah Map Co. Dupont State Recreational Forest (copyright 2019)
N.C. Forest Service: DuPont State Recretional Forest Map -- 2025

Directions:

From the right side of the parking area, head towards the Hooker Falls Trailhead. Where the trail splits, take Holly Road to the right. Hike on Holly Road until it hits paved Staton Rd. Turn around and hike back. Turn right on Hooker Falls Trail before reaching the parking lot. Visit the Moore Cemetery. Continue on to Hooker Falls. Turn around and head back to the parking lot. Cross the parking lot and follow the sign to Triple Falls via the Triple Falls Trail. When approaching the lowest fall, leave the trail and walk along the rocks by the river to the base of Triple Falls. Hike back to the trail. Turn left and climb steeply uphill. From there you can see all three falls. Hike to the covered shelter. Return back on Triple Falls Trail to the parking area.

A chilly day, but sunny so we headed out to Dupont for a hike. It's a weekend, so it was crowded. We planned a hike with 2 waterfalls - that would probably have been better on a weekday.

First, we headed up Holly Road. We had never been on this trail before. It started out as a gravel trail and then turned into a dirt trail. It is not as wide as other things labeled as roads in Dupont. There was a little car noise at the start and end of Holly Road, due to its proximity to Staton Road. However, it was peaceful, with no other hikers on the trail. It just leads to the Lake Imaging parking area, so I'm sure it gets very little use.

When we got back to the intersection of Holly Road and Hooker Falls Trail, we realized that our Dupont Map is out of date. I'm not sure if there is a newer version available. Their website doesn't show the copyright date of their maps. Anyways Pisgah Map Co. shows two trails - Moore Cemetery Road and Hooker Falls Road. In reality, now there is just Hooker Falls Trail which heads to the cemetery then turns south to view the falls. The NC Forest Service Map is more accurate than the Pisgah Map Company map here. Anyways, the Moore Cemetery is now enclosed with fencing and a sign that said only authorized visitors can enter. That's too bad. I like visiting cemeteries, and we've walked in this one in the past. Here's some history of the cemetery. We walked down to Hooker Falls. Oh, what a great place for dog swimming. We've let him swim here before. Unfortunately, it was really cold today. Krumm thought we were being cruel. We did let him stick his feet in the water, but no swimming today.

Then onto Triple Falls. Again, crowds of people out hiking here. We saw icicles on the sides of the waterfall, but luckily the wet rocks we walked on to reach the base of the falls were not icy. We happened to run into a friend from my sketching group, also out for a hike. We returned to Triple Falls Trail, hiked to the top to get a view of all 3 falls, which you can't see when you are at the base of the falls. No swimming here of course, but we let Krumm dip his feet in. Not as nice of a place for swimming due to multiple cascades along the river.