North Carolina: 36 state parks, 6 natural areas and 4 recreation areas

Camping, trails, fees and current alerts are on each park’s page. See these parks on a map

All 46 parks

Bob's Creek State Natural AreaMore than 6,000 acres of sheltered coves, ravines, and rock formations in the Foothills, protecting streams…
Carolina Beach State ParkHome to the Venus flytrap and to Sugarloaf Dune, a 50-foot rise that once guided river pilots, along with…
Carvers Creek State ParkTwo accesses northwest of Fayetteville: Long Valley Farm, once James Stillman Rockefeller's winter retreat…
Chimney Rock State ParkA 315-foot freestanding spire above Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure, reached by elevator or on foot, with a…
Cliffs of the Neuse State ParkBluffs 90 feet over the Neuse River, their faces banded with sand, clay, seashells, shale, and gravel. An…
Crowders Mountain State ParkTwo peaks with towering cliffs and long views over the Piedmont, plus rock climbing at Linwood and bouldering…
Dismal Swamp State ParkThe way into the Great Dismal Swamp, the largest remaining swamp in the eastern United States, with a history…
Elk Knob State ParkEstablished in 2003 to protect the mountain and the headwaters of the New River's North Fork, with a summit…
Eno River State ParkSeven access areas strung along a swift, shallow river ten miles from downtown Durham, past landmarks like…
Falls Lake State Recreation AreaSeven access areas on the reservoir with more than 300 campsites, from lakeside pull-ins to backpacking…
Fort Fisher State Recreation AreaThe only park in the system with four-wheel-drive beach access, which makes it a favorite for surf fishing. A…
Fort Macon State ParkA meticulously restored pre-Civil War fort with daily guided tours and regular cannon and musket…
Goose Creek State ParkCoastal wetlands along the Pamlico River and a cypress swamp seen from a long boardwalk. Remnant boat piers…
Gorges State ParkOver 8,000 acres of temperate rainforest on the Blue Ridge Escarpment, holding 26 waterfalls, plunging river…
Grandfather Mountain State ParkSevere weather and demanding terrain, with routes that have hikers scrambling cliffs, gripping cables, and…
Hammocks Beach State ParkA mainland base and three barrier islands, including four-mile Bear Island, reached by passenger ferry…
Hanging Rock State ParkA Civilian Conservation Corps park whose trails reach mountain views, rock outcrops, waterfalls, and a cave…
Haw River State ParkBuilt around The Summit, a residential environmental education and conference center that hosts retreats…
Jockey's Ridge State ParkThe tallest living sand dune system on the Atlantic coast, and the eastern terminus of the Mountains-to-Sea…
Jones Lake State ParkOpened as the first North Carolina state park to welcome Black Americans, and still a community destination…
Jordan Lake State Recreation AreaSeven access areas and more than 1,000 campsites spread across five of them, for tents, trailers, RVs, and…
Kerr Lake State Recreation AreaEight access areas around a 50,000-acre reservoir, with seven campgrounds and hundreds of sites near the…
Lake James State ParkTwo accesses onto a picturesque mountain lake, with campsites at both and some reachable only by paddling…
Lake Norman State ParkThe Itusi Trail's nearly 31 miles of single-track make this the region's mountain biking destination, along…
Lake Waccamaw State ParkThe shore of the largest Carolina bay, and one of the few of those 500,000 craters holding open water rather…
Lower Haw River State Natural Area1,357 acres along both banks of the Haw River between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro, rated Exceptional for…
Lumber River State ParkTwo accesses about an hour apart on a 115-mile blackwater river — the only one in the state named a National…
Mayo River State ParkA main access at Mayo Mountain with hiking trails, fishing ponds, a picnic shelter, and a group campsite…
Medoc Mountain State ParkA 325-foot remnant of a range that towered 350 million years ago, now laced with trails for hikers, bikers…
Merchants Millpond State ParkA 760-acre millpond more than 190 years old, where old-growth cypress draped in Spanish moss turn Lassiter…
Morrow Mountain State ParkA summit above the Yadkin River and Lake Tillery, in country where Native people worked rhyodacite into tools…
Mount Jefferson State Natural AreaA mountain that rises abruptly from the surrounding landscape, with views reaching Tennessee from its…
Mount Mitchell State ParkAt 6,684 feet the highest point east of the Mississippi, and the park that began North Carolina's system. An…
New River State ParkSeven accesses on a National Wild and Scenic River that flows north through three states, gentle enough for…
Occoneechee Mountain State Natural AreaA quick escape from Durham, with trails winding through mountain laurel and rhododendron and a summit…
Pettigrew State ParkLake Phelps and the Scuppernong River, where wintering tundra swans gather beneath cavernous cypress…
Pilot Mountain State ParkThe geologic knob that beacons over the country northwest of Winston-Salem, with accesses on both the rugged…
Pisgah View State ParkA new park in the shade of Mount Pisgah, where small spring-fed waterfalls feed rich mountain coves that brim…
Raven Rock State ParkA 150-foot crystalline outcrop above the Cape Fear River, reached by bluff trails lined with mountain laurel…
Rendezvous MountainA Blue Ridge forest given over to learning, with magnificent mountain hardwoods above Wilkes County…
Salmon Creek State Natural AreaAbout 1,300 acres of upland forest and cypress-gum swamp near where the Chowan River meets Albemarle Sound…
Singletary Lake State ParkA Carolina bay lake given over to group camping: groups bunk in dormitory cabins, eat in a mess hall and have…
South Mountains State ParkBackcountry where the Appalachian Mountains meet the Foothills, rising to 3,000 feet past an 80-foot…
Stone Mountain State ParkA 600-foot granite dome designated a National Natural Landmark, with the restored mid-19th-century Hutchinson…
Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature PreserveLongleaf pines, some of them centuries old, towering over wiregrass in a remnant of the forest that once…
William B. Umstead State ParkA wooded retreat ten miles from downtown Raleigh, with an extensive hiking and multiuse trail network and…

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North Carolina: 36 state parks, 6 natural areas and 4 recreation areas

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