I just want to give a shout out to North Carolina’s fantastic State Park system. These parks are completely FREE to visit! It was such a surprise when I went to parks in SC and VA that required entrance fees.
Me and my wife started our journey through the parks with Jockey’s Ridge back around 2018, and just finished up with the Great Dismal Swamp a few days ago. Along the way, we got to explore a great number of places in North Carolina that we otherwise would have never gone to, finding lots of cool towns and local shops and restaurants.
While not every one of the 41 parks was an amazing experience, by and large they were a great way to explore and learn more about this great state!
Sounds amazing. Any stand out parks, or moments?
Jockey’s Ridge was probably the most different from anything else. Its just hills of sand. You get out there and it feels like you are lost in the desert. You can do hang gliding and stuff too.
If you have a long weekend, Stone Mountain, Pilot Mountain, and Hanging Rock are located fairly close to each other, and were all quite memorable for me. We stayed at Mount Airy when we went there, as it is centrally located between the three parks.
At the dismal swamp state park, we encountered a ton of deer as we were hiking on the “Supple-Jack Trail”. I don’t know if they are just active at this time of year, or really abundant in that area, but we probably saw at least 10, and kept coming up on them as we walked the trail, often startling both us and the deer!
We mostly stuck to light-to-moderate hiking for the most part, but there are a variety of different types of things to do, depending on the park. Some are historic forts where you can experience a bit of history. There is boating and fishing. A few even have some good mountain biking trails.
Also, while its technically not a “state park” for some reason, the DuPont state recreational forest is really cool too, and definitely worth visiting.
Here are a few of the resources that I found helpful when I was researching parks to visit:
