Forest Ridge Park — Attraction in Wake Forest

This is a great park - exceptional for the city - it is a larger area with a longer network of trails than most of the smaller parks scattered in and around Raleigh. The majority of the park is situated along a peninsula that reaches out into falls lake. For this reason the shoreline trail offers a particularly scenic route along which you can gain a sense of departure from the urban confines not far away. If you like to get philosophical about your park related endeavors, or you love your morning caffeine infused with a meditative walk, definitely give this park a try.

There is main building with restrooms and some other stuff, a sheltered area with picnic tables as well as a playground area. The parking is always ample in my experience (though I frequent this location mainly earlier in the day 8am-10am ish). Like any natural oasis, it is a great place to walk the dogs.

The trails themselves provide an easy to moderate hike - enough to get your heart rate going but you won't be coming home full of scrapes and bruises (some of us seek these types of things!) It is a manageable traverse for adults as well as small children. There is also a gravel road running the length of the park where one can embark on a leisurely stroll void of any obstacles whatsoever - I want to say you could even push a stroller here - but you might want to verify that for yourself first. You can easily spend a few hours here walking with plenty of trail space yet to uncover. I would venture to say that there are only a couple of parks in Raleigh that offer a trail network with any substantially...

Our favorite local gem of a park. It is relatively new, just opened in 2017 and is still getting its feet under itself, but honestly, its one of those places that you are glad its not packed with people.

They have an abundance of lovely trails and they keep adding them. I know I have been going here for over a year regularly and just recently they have extended one trail and added another. The trails are well kept and not incredibly busy so you really feel like you get to escape into nature.

If you are someone with kids, the playground is great! It seems to always be the busiest attraction and seems to have enough adventure for the kids to keep them occupied. We took our nephews on a hike and then a run around the playground and they seemed to really enjoy all the things there and hey even us adults had fun too!

The shelters can be reserved so just keep an eye out for those on nice and hot days as you might not be able to use them if there is an event going on, but the woods are right there if you want to get out of the sun.

I know there are mountain biking trails but you should keep an eye on the Raleigh Parks website because I know they are much more subject to closure than the hiking trails. They also have a disk golf course which I believe opens up during the fall and winter months, but the website has the most up to date info for...

So this park? It’s got more trails than my backyard — which, for the record, has exactly one trail: the one from my back door to the grill. Didn’t get to hike them, but I saw enough trees to make a lumberjack blush, and the birds were out there singing like they’d just gotten Spotify Premium.

Then there was this guy on a bike ramp. Absolutely nailed it. Meanwhile, I stood there realizing that I’m the human equivalent of bubble wrap—safe, squeaky, and easily flattened by gravity.

Now, the playground. My 3-year-old lost his mind in pure joy, and I gotta admit — the zip line zips. Like, hold-onto-your-juice-box-and-pray kind of zip. There’s also plenty of open space, which is great if you’re into mowing lawns or pretending you’re in a cinematic drone shot of your own life.

And the cherry on top? It’s close to restaurants. Which is critical, because after pretending to exercise, nothing hits quite like “earning” a burger the size of your face.

Five stars. Would absolutely go again, probably after I’ve emotionally recovered from watching...