The highest point in the range is Icy knob (privately owned, part of a gated community) which rises to 3,000 feet (914.4 m) above sea level.
Today the park covers 20,949 acres (84.78 km²), and includes the impressive High Shoals Falls, which cascade over 80 feet down a sheer cliff and form a large, deep pool at the bottom.
Numerous rare and endangered plants lie within its boundaries, much of them documented by botanist Bill Moye, whose efforts helped expand the park to its present size.
Adjacent to the state park the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's South Mountain Game Land encompasses an additional 22,575 acres in Burke, Cleveland, McDowell and Rutherford counties.
Bordering the state lands, Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, a nonprofit land trust based in Morganton, manages 1,906 acres in the South Mountains Headwaters and Cane Creek Meadows Preserves as well as smaller tracts in the Wilderness Gateway State Trail corridor.