Lake Norman State Park — Attraction in Troutman

Park is really pretty. Water was warm! Run pretty efficiently too! With a park ranger/ life guard on site at the swimming area when we went this past Saturday. The lifeguards ensured no rough housing and that no one was swimming outside the designated areas, but other than that we’re very nice and laid back. It was pretty busy (photos show how it looked 30 min before closing so it was less busy then) but we were still able to find a great parking spot and swim without any issues. The roped off swimming area is a little small but even with a lot of people we were able to have a great day swimming and playing in the sand! My 4 year old twins could go about half way out before it was over their heads and after that it goes from around 4ft to over my head (I’m 5”2) right by the yellow lines that rope off the swim area. No rocks or anything which is always a plus! There are a huge set of stairs or a ramp around the long way which may take a minute to get down onto the beach bc there is no place where the ramp actually feeds off onto the sand. But it’s doable with a wheel chair, stroller, or wagon…Right up from the swimming area there are plenty of shaded picnic tables and grills to eat and BBQ. Outside showers/in side showers bathrooms/changing area right above the swimming area. Relatively clean and well maintained for a park! There’s a concession stand with a few different things but I’d pack food if you’re looking to be there all day. It was $6 for adults IF they are swimming and $4 for children who are swimming. If you don’t plan to swim you don’t have to pay. There is absolutely NO shade on or directly surrounding the beach so I’d suggest bringing an umbrella on a sunny day. Or you could just leave your stuff on a picnic table and hang out there when not in the water bc it is very close. Make sure to bring some plastic bags for removing your trash as they were located at the top of the stairs and as you leave in the parking lot. Overall we really enjoyed it here and plan to be back!

Some other quick points:

If your using GOGGLE MAPS make sure to select the picnic area (it asked me this when I typed in lake Norman beach) as your destination and not the park itself as this option will bring you right to the beach parking area.

If you don’t mind swimming without a lifeguard according to the website you can swim ( I’m sure for free) after hours. It states “swimming at your own risk” during these times. I’d imagine until dusk when usually parks themselves close. When we left @ 5pm ( 30 min before closing) there were quite a few people just getting there and setting up picnic tables so I’m like 90% sure...

Wow, nice. So I'd like to preface with the fact that we're from New England and we've camped in every New England state at the most famous parks, this is near one of the best state parks we've ever camped. The roads all around the park are excellent. There's two boat launches, an awesome swimming area with restrooms and showers, an amazing picnic area with plenty of shade and grills and two large pagodas with very large grills and access to the water, and a great group tent area. The sites are pretty great with a nice tent pad area and a vehicle/rv pad area, and a nice fire ring with grate at every site. They're spaced and situated pretty nicely (of course almost as always it'd be nice if there was even more spacing and/or trees between the sites). There's a brand new renovated shower and restroom facility that's pretty great and clean with plenty of ventilation (our only one negative here was that the shower curtains could probably use replacing). There's six newly-built cabins with electric, heat and A/C, and these also have a tent pad and a fire ring area. There's a trail running through the entire park and a lakeside trail around Lake Norman. It's a pretty big park and great for running and cycling and walking. There's a great mountain bike trail as well. Plenty of natural forestry shade keeps it quite cool throughout the entire park, and we saw a herd of deer including a baby fawn! It's overall absolutely wonderful and we just had to do a review-plenty of shade and a wonderful natural environment to hang out as a get-together of friends and/or family while swimming and grilling/having a cookout and maybe camp for the night or the weekend and you can even bring your boat too for some fishing; it's pretty great. The hosts and the rangers were friendly and helpful. We even thought what an awesome location this would be for a chill, low-key wedding (like we wish now that...

9-2-23

We come to parks to hike, and as far as the "lake' state parks go, this might be the best in that regard (I've been to all of them). I am comparing to James, Phelps (Pettigrew), Waccamaw, Jordan, Singletary, Jones, etc.

Lake Norman State Park is well utilized and well maintained. Expect the water to be hopping with swimmers, boats both motorized and not, fishing lines, you name it. This park has 30 or so miles of biking trails, so this is also a biker destination.

But the hiking trails. We did the following:

Alder/Dragonfly: About 1.4 miles and a loop. Accessed from the visitor center or to the left rear of it. Well marked. VERY popular with families. Easy to moderate. Has a ton of roots, some rolling hills, and some unevenness. Completely shaded. Wide and well-worn. Excellent views of the lake with plenty of cutouts, small beach type areas, and wooden viewing areas. Excellent.

Lake Shore: About a 6.2 mile loop. Has it's own parking lot but can also be accessed at the large lot near the swimming pavilion. Easy to moderate. Completely shaded. Clay mostly with roots. Some rolling hills and occasional unevenness. White diamond blazes with numerical markings (1-227) and also 1-mile markers. Excellent views of the lake throughout, particularly the southern two miles near the trailhead.

Both trails are good views and good hiking relative to the aforementioned NC "lake" state parks. Both are heavily utilized, but trail etiquette is excellent. I find this one of maybe two "lake" state parks warranting a trip. It's totally a...