7 North Carolina Natural Wonders You Need To Add To Your Outdoor Bucket List For 2020

It’s been a wild and wacky year, but some sense of normalcy can still be found with a road trip here and there to discover some of the best natural wonders right here in our own back yard in North Carolina. Below are seven that you can still check off your bucket list for the year. Load up the car and hit the road to explore the natural beauty of the Tar Heel State!

Google Maps/Kathy Bogenberger

Easily one of the most recognizable natural landmarks in the Tar Heel State, Pilot Mountain can be admired both from afar and up close. It's located within Pilot Mountain State Park where you can hike all the way to the top.

Flickr/Matt Herring

Jockey's Ridge State Park boasts living sand dunes that reach heights of 100 feet above sea level. Don't believe it? The dunes are ocean-side, so go check it out in person.

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Flickr/Frank Kehren

What can we say here? Dry Falls is one of the most visited waterfalls in the state but fighting the crowds is worth it to see — and then walk behind — this 65-foot waterfall that pours into a gorge in the Nantahala National Forest. Bonus: It's only a short walk from the parking area.

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Google Maps/J Harris

Located a short 25 miles south of Asheville, Looking Glass Rock is worthy of a journey to view it at least from a distance. The pluton monolith is evidence of a previously subterranean mass of magma that cooled slowly underground. If you'd like to see it up close, there's a hike (of course) that'll get you there but it's a steady uphill journey filled with switchbacks.

Flickr/David Fulmer

If you've traveled a bit throughout the U.S., then you know many states have a landmark they've named Chimney Rock. However, North Carolina is one of the very few that allow access to the very top of the chimney. You can climb up this 315-foot monolith, or take an elevator to within 40-plus steps to the top. It's found at Chimney Rock State Park.

Flickr/bobistraveling

North Carolina's tallest waterfall is a must-see. It's the tallest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains and measures an impressive 411 feet flowing on the Whitewater River. Just as the river crosses the South Carolina border, Lower Whitewater falls adds another 400-foot drop to this waterfall series.

Google Maps/Jason Goertzen

Designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974, Stone Mountain is a granite monadnock at the center of Stone Mountain State Park. Trails wind all through the park and one of them leads up the back side of this mountain so you can climb to the very top to admire the view.

How many of these have you visited in North Carolina? It’s never too soon to plan a return trip to them, either. Get outside and play before 2020 slips away and we’re battling frigid temps again.