Discover Martin Marietta Park

If you’re planning a visit to Martin Marietta Park and looking to plan out your hike, you’ve come to the right place. The park’s four trails wind through 888 acres of a former limestone quarry that has been transformed into one of the most distinctive outdoor destinations in New Bern, NC, offering something for every kind of visitor — from a family-friendly half-mile literacy walk to a 2.9-mile loop along quarry lakes. Click on the trail names below to dive deeper into each one — including what to expect on the path, where to find the trailhead, and our own first-hand notes from the trail.

Trail Name	Length	Trail Type	Difficulty	Trail Use
Dragonfly Trail	2.9-mile	Loop	Easy	Hiking and Biking
Explorer Trail	2.3-mile	Out-and-Back	Easy	Hiking and Biking
Island Pond Trail	1.75-mile	Loop	Easy	Hiking and Biking
Story Walk Trail	0.5-mile	Loop	Easy	Hiking and Biking

Planning Your Hike

For a short, easy walk that’s perfect for families, the Story Walk Trail is a delightful half-mile loop developed in collaboration with the Friends of the New Bern Public Library that displays pages from a children’s book mounted at child-friendly heights along the path. It wraps around a pavilion and playground, making it a natural family hub — and it pairs well with the Explorer Trail, a 2.3-mile route with stunning views of the park’s largest lake, accessible via two wooden observation platforms.

For visitors looking for a longer outing, the Dragonfly Trail is the park’s longest at 2.9 miles, taking hikers, bikers, and trail runners on a scenic loop past quarry lakes and Spanish moss-draped trees, with thousands of colorful dragonflies giving the trail its name. The Island Pond Trail is a 1.75-mile loop with views of two of the park’s lakes and a distinctive wooded section lined with pine trees — unique to this trail. The Dragonfly and Island Pond Trails connect for an even longer combined outing.

All four trails feature flat, easy terrain with mostly gravel and sand surfaces, making them genuinely accessible to wheelchairs and strollers (with a few natural-surface and grassy patches to watch out for along the way). For an even fuller look at the trail network, check out our hiker’s guide to Martin Marietta Park.