Lake Norman State Park
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Today, me and my girlfriend Liz visited the closest state park on the list, Lake Norman State Park. I had never chosen to visit the park in the past, as I was expecting it to be busy and small. Neither was true. The park is tucked back a good distance from the highway, just south of Troutman, NC.
The park office looks brand new and the staff was friendly and helpful. There was lots of interesting information inside the visitor center and a neat wrap around porch spawns the back of the building, with chairs facing the lake. The lake was more populated than the park in the 90 degree weather. The boat rentals are apparently close to here, although we didn't check that out on this trip.
We decided to do the three mile lake loop trail to attempt to see what the park had to offer and keep things short on the hot day. While the views of the lake were neat, the trail was slightly more difficult than expected. Roots provided constant tripping hazards, and we ended up hiking up and down a few hills. Access to the water is plentiful along the trail, with both overlooks and areas where you could walk straight in. The trail was also dirty, with trash under the bridges and filling holes in trees.
I'll probably go back and try the boating at some point in time, but the trail doesn't stand out as something I'd want to do again.
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Great commentary. When I saw the post, I thought, hmmm, maybe something to do this week. After reading the review of the trail, will pick a different spot. Sounds like they need a boy scout troop to get in there and do a trash pickup. 🙂 Nothing worse than nature marred by litter.
I was wishing I had a bag to do trash pickup. Don’t think I’m saying it was a bad trail- just more trash than i usually see. Probably because a more common area.