Cascades Preserve – List of Trails

A searchable and sortable list of all the trails at Cascades Preserve — the 130-acre protected hardwood forest located just outside Kernersville, NC, near Oak Ridge in Guilford County. Sort the table by blaze, length, trail type, or difficulty to filter your options, and click on the trail name to open the full sub-page with photos, editorial context, and everything we’ve learned about the trail.

The Cascades Preserve trail network is anchored by the Falling Waters Trail — the central spine that connects to both of the preserve’s other trail extensions. Between the three trails, hikers can build a Cascades Preserve visit ranging from ~1.5 miles to over 4 miles, depending on which combinations they choose.

Trail Name	Blaze	Length	Trail Type	Difficulty	Trail Use
Falling Waters Trail	White Diamond	1.53-mile	Loop	Moderate	Hiking
Headwaters Trail	Blue Circle	2.2-mile	Out-and-Back	Moderate	Hiking
Keyauwee Trail	Red Diamond	0.5-mile	Loop	Moderate	Hiking

Choosing Your Cascades Preserve Trail

For the signature Cascades Preserve experience and the network’s central spine, start with the Falling Waters Trail — a 1.53-mile loop marked by White Diamond blazes that winds alongside the preserve’s namesake rocky creeks. The trail’s most memorable moments come from the cascading water flow after rainfall, when the creek water level rises, and the water-over-stone effect is at its most visually and audibly distinctive. Both of the preserve’s other trails branch off Falling Waters, making it the natural starting point for any visit to Cascades Preserve.

For a longer extension with a Mountains-to-Sea Trail connection, add the Headwaters Trail — a 2.2-mile out-and-back marked by Blue Circle blazes along the headwaters of the Haw River. The trail is genuinely singular because it’s part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail — NC’s premier long-distance trail that runs over 1,175 miles from Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains to Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the Outer Banks. Hikers can access Headwaters via the standard preserve parking on Goodwill Church Road (with a portion of Falling Waters Trail as an approach), or via the small gravel parking lot on Linville Road for direct access.

For a shorter add-on with pre-colonial cultural context, add the Keyauwee Trail — a 0.5-mile loop marked by Red Diamond blazes with a gentle ridge climb through hardwood forest and soft pine-needle-covered paths. The trail is named after the Keyauwee — a Siouan-speaking Native American tribe whose traditional homeland included the NC Piedmont region until the early 1700s. Because both ends of the Keyauwee loop connect back to Falling Waters, combining the two trails creates a natural figure-eight hike — approximately 2 miles total covering rocky creek terrain, hardwood ridge, and pine-needle paths.

For a deeper dive into planning your Cascades Preserve visit — including combined hikes across all three trails — check out our comprehensive Hike the Cascades Preserve trail guide blog post.

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