Adventure Parks
Durham County
OC Aerial’s adventure park in Durham offers climbing, bouldering, a 34-element ropes course, a ninja course with four unique runs, zip line, 18- and 21-foot slides, the popular warped walls and much more.
Xtreme Park Adventures in Durham offers more than 10 adventure attractions on its 50 acres, including airsoft, paintball, ropes courses, laser tag and other activities.
Orange County
Progression Climbing is Chapel Hill’s first and only bouldering gym, spanning 3,500 feet of terrain. Take a yoga class, try a youth program or train with the staff. UNC Campus Recreation features three auto-belays, workshops and climbing classes at Rams Head Recreation Center, while Fetzer Gym offers bouldering and a climbing wall. Try out the indoor climbing wall at Chapel Hill Community Center and test your strength, no matter your skill level.
Wake County
TreeRunner Raleigh Adventure Park provides 13 aerial courses with more than 90 obstacles, as well as a Junior Park for ages 4-7. Go Ape zip line and adventure park in Raleigh’s Blue Jay Point County Park features aerial adventure courses and zip lines, including a 200-foot zip line on its Treetop Journey adventure.
Raleigh’s Urban Air Adventure Park features an indoor ropes course and playground combination, a drop zone, tumble track, virtual reality, a rock climbing wall, Sky Rider and wall-to-wall trampolines with competitive games like dodgeball, wipeout and bumper cars. Urban Air’s Morrisville location also features indoor skydiving!
Triangle-wide
With locations in Raleigh, Morrisville and Durham, Triangle Rock Club offers yoga, Pilates, climbing and general fitness spaces. Try its state-of-the-art climbing walls, auto-belays and top-out bouldering. The larger of TRC’s two Raleigh locations, The Salvage Yard, is the largest climbing gym in North Carolina, spanning more than 40,000-square-feet.
Kids ages eight and younger can burn off some energy in the ball pits, jump on trampolines, glide down slides and more during open play at Angel Island Fun Park in Cary or Durham.
Hiking, Kayaking and Canoeing
Wake County
Family-owned Neuse River Outfitters in Wake Forest provides kayak rentals, fishing lessons and relaxing trips down the Neuse River.
Bond Park Boathouse in Cary rents pedal boats, kayaks, sailboats, canoes, row boats and life jackets to take out on Bond Lake.
Durham County
Explore canoeing and kayaking with Frog Hollow Outdoors, which offers instructional classes, self-guided trips, private group adventures and more.
Chatham County
Explore a scenic route on the Deep River with Endor Paddle on a self-guided kayaking or tubing trip, which typically begin at Deep River Park in Bear Creek and end by Camelback Bridge.
Triangle-wide
Entirely women-owned and -operated, Two Sisters Adventure Company offers small group and outdoor adventures including guided trips, summer camps and classes for various skill levels in a welcoming space.
The 1,200-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail extends from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks and features a 78.6-mile segment from the Eno River State Park to the Falls Lake Dam. The trail travels alongside the Eno River, dips into Durham and Penny’s Bend Nature Preserve, and follows the southern part of the reservoir before ending just outside of Raleigh. Above, Nashua Oraby, Hussein El-Genk and their four children, Ayyub, Zakariyya, Kareema and Rasheed, hike at West Point on the Eno city park in Durham, which contains a stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.
Hiking Trails
North Carolina is the Great Trails State, and the NC General Assembly NC designated 2023 as NC Year of the Trail, an effort led by the Great Trails State Coalition to celebrate our vast network of trails, greenways and blueways, which showcase our diverse landscapes. Enjoy quiet rivers, vibrant urban greenways, serene lakes and much more at various state parks and natural areas throughout the Triangle. Some of our favorites include:
- William B. Umstead State Park
- Ellerbee Creek Trail
- Eno River State Park
- Knightdale Station Park
- American Tobacco Trail
- Falls Lake State Recreation Area
- Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve
- Capital Area Greenway System
- Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area
- Robertson Millpond Preserve
- Jordan Lake State Recreation Area
- Carolina North Forest
- Neuse River Trail
- Lake Crabtree County Park
- Johnston Mill Nature Preserve
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Check local park and trail websites for information on safety and hours of operation.
