Lake Norman Lakeshore Trail



The Lakeshore Trail located in Lake Norman State Park (Troutman, North Carolina) is a nice well travelled, well maintained trail that for the most part holds to its namesake by following a lot of the shoreline in this part of the park. This was actually my first time in Lake Norman State Park, even though we live nearby; we usually go to a few other smaller parks/public access areas around Lake Norman for fishing, etc. The drive in to the state park was a nice wooded drive with plenty of signage directing you to the appropriate areas you wish to visit, including a visitors center, camping, swimming, and hiking. The Lakeshore Trail has its own designated trailhead and parking area and again, is well marked and easy to find with plenty of parking. The trail is actually a loop which makes this hike even nicer and you have a few options as you get started: hike the entire loop in either direction or make a shorter hike with a cut-off trail that is right near the parking area, essentially cutting the loop in half.

I opted to hike the entire trail in the clockwise direction. The trail is well marked with white diamond blaze, easy to follow, and fairly easy to hike. The trail does have frequent roots but almost no rocks to navigate. The entire trail is under tree cover and the remainder of the forest has a fairly clear underbrush leaving the majority of the forest floor covered in leaves. The leaf floor allows for an audible warning/indication of nearby wildlife which included deer, racoon, squirrels, and birds on my trip. I have heard others state they have seen a few other species there as well. There was minimal elevation change (a few ups and downs) and a grand total of 1 switchback which was unnecessary (it primarily existed for connection to another trail). There are a few wooden bridges along the way and you are afforded some nice views of Lake Norman. The main trail does lead you to a few spots right on the shoreline and there are many side trails that do so as well for those that wish to swim or fish during their hike. There are also several wooden benches which seem to be placed almost exactly at mile or half mile marks and makes for nice rest spots if needed. The hike is easy to moderate with the moderate rating only determined by overall length of the hike and a few very minor inclines.

Total Miles: 5.5 miles is what 2 different devices stated for me but all documentation states 5 miles for the entire loop. Moderate (mostly due to length).

Features: Lake views, wildlife

Wildlife count: 21 Deer (some on the drive in, some on trail), 1 Racoon, a lot of squirrels

Overall rating: 4/5






Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 19, 2021 at 3:38 PM

    Beautiful, I'm close to here but never hiked it, I'll have to check it out.

    ReplyDelete

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