Lake Norman State Park

Seems like a nice set of trails for the north of Charlotte crowd with a couple different loops to choose from. We just went for a walk/​hike after lunch with friends, but look forward to going back and running the trails. Although it seemed like there may be more mountain bikes then runners and that’s always a fun game trying to avoid getting run over. With trails ranging from like 2 to 9 mile loops, free to enter, it seems like a winner.

Went camping and bathhouse were so bad might even be health hazard. I notified the state park of disgrace and never received any response

We hiked the Lakeshore Trail with the dog yesterday and it was great. Nice workout and it is really close to the water, so the dog could jump in and cool off many times. I can definitely recommend it. The trail is also in the shade the whole way so it doesn’t get too hot. Will definitely go back. Kids that are a little older can definitely come along too. I’d say 7 years and older.

This used to be a great, free place to swim on Lake Norman. There is no longer any free swimming on the 3-​county lake. My family of 4 costs $ 18 to swim ! That is absurd for lake swimming. $ 5/​adults (13 & up), $ 4 (12 & under). I can’t go here at that cost. Certainly not more than once per summer. Very sad.

Very nice place to take a hike. Tip they have a rest room down by the beach. Beautiful in the winter

I went camping here for the first time over Labor Day weekend. The weather didn’t exactly cooperate, but it was still a great time. I think there are 30-​some campsites, which you can reserve online, and they are dog friendly. They come with 2 sand pads for your tent (if that’s your camping method of choice), a picnic table, fire ring with a handy grill grate, and a lantern/​trash hook (raccoons will visit if they can get in your trash). Some are more private than others; the map on the reservation site is pretty accurate. There is no electric hook ups, but there is drinking water and a bathhouse. The bathhouse is not glamorous. I saw a few spiders and even a baby toad, but the way I see it, if I’m camping and there is a place with running water, it’s a plus.
There is a ton to do here besides sit around your campsite, which I do still enjoy. My suggestion is to hike the Lake Trail when you first get here to find some good swimming and fishing spots. If it is hot around your campsite, I guarantee it won’t be down at the southern part of the trail. There are a number of trails for hiking or mountain biking, fishing is good from the shore & better from a boat, and you can swim at their beach too. If you can’t figure out what to do, chat with the campground host. He’s friendly, comes around with bundles of firewood for sale, and I’m sure he has more suggestions.

This is mainly focused on the Swimming Beach.
The experience at the beach was pretty negative and lacking. If you value not being hassled and corralled like cattle be very weary coming here. I am not sure if they are flowing very strict state policies, but the entire process of purchasing swimming tickets and other operations are dumb.
It’s 5 dollar per person (which isn’t bad, except they treat you like intruders). After you purchase you get a hand scribble piece of paper with the number of tickets you bought. You then go to another counter and then you have to have a person that matches your gender place a colored wrist band on you. (I saw several people miss this step and head to the beach because they were not informed. They would then be approached by beach guards because they thought they were trespassing.)
They say that you are allowed to have floating device, but they will deny you to use them if there are more than 50 people on the beach. The beach is also only about a 80 yards across (but they had 3 aggressive life guards staffed). Also, they say they allow beach balls footballs, etc…, but will ask you to stop due to a throwing hazard to other guest patrons at their discretion.
The water was nice with beach sand up close and a hard a clay bottom as the further you got out. However, do not even to go near the yellow corral barrier, or else you will receive a flurry of whistles from the lifeguards.
Also, beware if there are dark clouds in the area. If the lifeguards thinking they heard thunder they will shut down the beach immediately for a minimum of 30 mins. You not only have to leave the water, but have to go the whole up to the the bathhouse and wait behind a gated area.
The experience of the beach was very mixed, but made me feel negatively about it because of the backwards and extreme safety consciousness of the park. However the setting and the area was very pleasant. If it was a free area, or a had a less draconian policy for patrons, I would change my review.

This is my first time actually hiking in this park. I used the Lake Shore Trail where they have beautiful views of Lake Norman. That trail is 5 miles long and is moderate meaning they have hills. They also have a 12 mile bike trail where you can hike too called the Itusi Trail. You can camp, fish, picnic, go boating and they even have a swim beach. Great place for the whole family to spend the day or whole weekend.

A-​OK Beach! Clean Modern Facilities, Showers, plenty Room to Dress!
Football on the Beach! Quite Entertaining sometimes! Sober Park, so it is all for Real!
Speedo Time!!! Ok, you go here during the week you may see some guys (School is out) in underwear rather than «regular «swimwear whatever that means… No Tighty Whities (Red Clay abounds) more like grey or black Boxerbriefs [not a «Square-​Cut» these have UNDERWEAR Fly’s], when you go you’ll see for yourself! I would assume they wanted to go at the spurr of the moment and did not taking swim trunks, well ok and this is NOT a Nude Beach either… RNR in this Particular situation means Redneck Riviera and, I can not say anything else since I, uh, only mean it as information and you’ll probably have fun if you like places like this!
Muddy Water… We have a Surplus of Red Clay in this part of the Country…
When I finally get to Swim in one of those Clear Spring-​fed Pools in Florida, I’ll probably give up all these places for good!

I bit removed from the Charlotte beaten path… but worth the trip! A couple friends and I decided to strap our mountain bikes to the roofs of our cars and make a trek out to the park. Having seen the trail maps online, the park boasts about 30+ miles of trail riding. You can also do hiking and trail running (just yield to the bikes).
Our group ranges from avid cyclist to recreational (me being the latter) but our expert cycling friend lead us onto the most difficult trail from the get go. Luckily I didn’t see the signs, but about a mile into the ride, I was huffing and puffing and thinking in my head, «this sounded like a better idea that it was turning out to be». I put my head down and just focus on the trail and the growing pains in my backside from all the jostling. It didn’t exactly help that I was using a solid frame bike. Mountain bikes now-​a-​days have nice shocks and bells and whistles… makes me want to get a new bike, but my bike survived.
We almost made it all the way through but I caught some air and my chain fell off during the landing. I managed to get it back on, but not before some more people passed us on the trail (insult to injury). It was all in good fun.
We stuck to the «easy» trail for a cool down and it was a lot more enjoyable. The park really caters toward mountain bikers from what I saw. Parking was ample. There was even a changing shack where you can change into your bike gear (nice and big — better compared to doing it in your car). There was also a portable bathroom that was large (handicaped) so you could change in there as well.
Overall a great place to ride! I’ll be coming back — I need to sharpen my skills and fitness so I wouldn’t be taking breaks every 15 seconds, but I’ll keep at it.

Ahhh, the summer sun gave us a break today, and we decided to take a little hike during this wonderful 78 °F afternoon. While Latta is always an option I wanted to try somewhere new, and it dawned on me that we hadn’t made our way to the state park yet. So we jumped in the car and headed up to ol’ Troutman for the Lake Norman State Park.
Getting there is pretty easy as there are plenty of signs to follow once you get off 77. The good news is that there is no fee for entering the park, so you can drive on down to one of two parking lots that connect to the hiking trails. There are other lots that connect to the swimming, camping and other areas but I’m only interesting in the hiking. The park was very clean and is clearly well maintained, and even though there were plenty of people in the parking lots you didn’t feel crowded at all as you hiked through the woods.
The trails were nice and dry when we went which made for some easy hiking. My biggest complaint about the trails is that they are not clearly labeled at all, and the maps they offer are also difficult to follow. There are a couple of different hiking trails to choose from that take you along the lake or some creeks, depending on which trails you choose. The Alder Trail is a short, easy hike (less than one mile) that is located in the first parking lot and loops around two of the nearby creeks. If you want a better trail (in terms of length and scenery) keep heading down the main road until you see signs for the Lake Shore Trail, which is between 2 – 8 miles around Lake Norman, depending on where you start and if you opt to take any of the short cut trails. We preferred Lake Shore to Alder as it had a much better view and the woods around it were more serene. There is also Itusi Trail which is a 12 mile trail designed for mountain bikes, but hikers are allowed on there also.
Lake Norman State Park offers some decent hiking trails that are well kept and surrounded by beautiful forest and lake shore views. I only wish that these trails and the maps were more clearly parked so you could more easily plan out your hike before starting out. While it’s a hike for us (pun intended) to get here from Huntersville, the superb quality of the park means we will definitely be coming back.

Beautiful views, mother nature at her best. When they are not suffering budget cuts, they offer canoe/​kayak rentals cheap. There is a boat launch, fishing dock (catch and release– unless you WANT to grow an extra appendage), lots of foot and bike trails and shelters for picnics, BBQs and parties. The only drawbacks: rental availability varies by season b/​c of state budgets, the shelters and directional signs are not really well marked, snakes, snakes, snakes (though it isn’t the fault of park staff.)

If I fail the bar, which is looking more and more likely, it will be largely because this place FORCES me to not want to stay inside and study. I can’t help it. My parents decided to move here, right on the lake, get a boat, a tube that is hella fun to be ride on when it’s being pulled by the boat, kayaks, and mountain bikes so all I want to do is hang out by the lake or go riding in the trails (like the other chick that reviewed this place said, some of these are pretty hilly and difficult but you can find a lot of hot dudes in bike shorts so it’s totally worth it). If it weren’t for the fact that I’d have to live in the middle of nowhere in this damn humidity with all these huge, terrifying bugs and the very weird locals (just down the street from here while driving into town I saw someone in the middle of June driving a golf cart with a christmas tree in the back, for no apparent reason, WHAT THE HELL, TROUTMAN?) I’d never want to leave.

Why why WHY has no one given this place a review? Ahh, hello people, we pay for these parks in our taxes, why not take advantange of their «free-​ness» these days?
Also known as Duke Power State Park, Duke Power donated over 1300 acres of land to the state to make this park.
All the way at the end of the park, there is a beach where you can swim in the lake. Pretty cool cause it is FREE. There are facilities at the beach, so no need to panic or pee-​pee in the lake.
The bike trails are some of the best that I have ridden. Lots of levels of difficulty, from leisure to experienced balls to the wall riders.
The park rangers are always out and about. The rangers that I have met have been very helpful, always friendly and always neatly put together. Not that it makes a difference if they were dirty, but these guys take care of themselves and the park.
There are also pavillions to BBQ, some by the beach, and some by the boating ramp.
Yes, there is a boating ramp. I believe it is $ 2.00 to launch a boat. Pretty cheap by the standards of Miami where it was in excess of $ 20 and a hail mary to find parking.
Parking here at the park is sooooo easy. Never crowded and packed.
The only thing that stinks, literally about the park is that people smoke those nasty cancer sticks at the beach. I wish the park rangers could do something to enforce a no smoking policy. Maybe there is one, maybe some people just need some sense smacked into them, especially in a family setting such as a state park. No one wants to inhale your carcinogens people! Especially die hard bikers!!!