uwharrie national forest

My husband and I went here to hike and enjoy the outside. We were not disappointed. This National Forest is very well kept. All the trails are well marked and easy to follow. If hiking is not your thing and you'd rather bike, there are miles and miles to bike in too. The trails are long 11 miles and above to bring water and food with you since it is a National Forest and not a tourist area. If you want more tourist, go up to the Biden Lake area. There's hiking there also but with the restaurants etc. you might need.

I really wish I would of found Uwharrie 10 years ago... This forest is a great asset to central NC and the surrounding towns. We found about it through some our our 4x4 friends shortly after getting our Jeep. Since visiting the first time, we've been there at least twice a month and have participated in trail cleanups, jamborees and a veterans ride. As a member of the "Friends of Uwharrie" to help preserve this place for the future, I feel that the Uwharrie National Forest is indeed a hidden treasure and the people of NC need to really unplug and go play in the woods. Whether it's running, biking, kayaking, horse riding, driving an ATV, or driving your family 4x4, this place is beautiful.

Yates Place Camp is a free primitive area within Uwharrie National Forest that is open year round. I visited this area recently for the first time joining up with hammock enthusiasts who make an annual trip here for a group hang for the weekend. Access to Yates Place Camp is over gravel/dirt Forest Service Roads that are passable even for sedans. I enjoy the autumn scenery on the drive here. Stone fire rings are in the open area next to campsites where you drive right up, park, and pitch your tent, or place your RV. We share this place with several deer hunters and others in RVs. We hammock campers walk down into the forest and find our favorite spot. Here are so many trees that a hundred hammock campers can hang and still have plenty of space around them. Two kids, one infant, and at least one dog are part of the group. The two boys ride their bikes and run about constantly. One of the trailheads for the Uwharrie Trail is here. Some persons in our group hike a stretch. Our field kitchen is set up at the large main group area fire ring. There is enough space around the fire to keep thirty campers warm in their chairs. Someone in our group has a large load of hardwood delivered, and this is plenty to keep a real nice fire going for two days and nights. There are picnic tables. Here is no bathhouse, electricity, or potable water source. Here is one vault toilet inside a well-constructed stone building with a covered porch and a concrete slab floor. It works just fine but carry your toilet tissue with you. One trash dumpster serves the entire area. There are places close by to go eat if you want to, but our group salivates over the vittles “T & T Clayton’s Field Kitchen” provides. Here delicious eats are cooked for all of us, the best gourmet comfort food in a primitive setting. I find the entire experience pleasurable. The weather is right (no rain) and the temperature is crisp, but not freezing. Just relaxing, soaking in the view of the yellow leaves throughout the forest, and enjoying the company of other hammock enthusiasts are activities that are satisfying. Yates Place Camp is about an hour’s drive away from Charlotte bypass 485, about one half hour from Albemarle, and about fifteen minutes from Troy, North Carolina. I hope to be hanging there again this time next year.

I love camping at Badin Lake the campgrounds are far apart very roomy and the bathhouse is very clean and warm in the cold weather if your a tent camper site#1 is great right on the lake we were able to slide our kayaks right in the water from our site the fish seem to always be biting I would caution to watch for snakes in the warmer weather but mostly they stay away also if you plan on putting your boat in from shore expect a bit of mud I bring my muck boots.. enjoy!

nice local woodlands in relation to downtown charlotte. only an hour or so away.nice camping spots within the trails. interesting prehistoric history regarding the ancient indians who once lived here. would recommend a day hike or a weekend backpacking trip. plenty of streams for water and nice campsites. all for free too..

I've been going to Badin Lake nearly 20 years. In the early days, I would go with friends to the campground where at the time there was little more than a shared water faucet for facilities and nearly never a neighbor. But now there is a bathhouse and online reservations, and it is full whenever I try to get a site without planning ahead. I found that there is free camping spots all throughout the park as long as you don't need water or electric. With the kids, we plan ahead and reserve something near the bathrooms. They enjoy the campfire and the tents, but at this age, one day of enjoying the woods is about all they can take. It would probably be more enjoyable if we brought a boat or something, I saw signs for a boat ramp, and enjoy watching the boats on the lake.

You can hike, boat, fish, picnic, or just relax and soak in the view. There are some great hiking trails around the lake. We were just driving the dirt roads through the Uwharrie Forest and stumbled across the lake and decided to stretch our legs. We ended up taking a very long hike around the lake. Ticks can be a big problem so be sure to check yourself after you leave.

The Uwharrie National Forest has many trails for all level of hikers. Great place to camp and be in the quiet and calm of nature.

With the recent government shutdown literally we were on pins and needles until less then 24 hours before we left. I called the local ranger's office and was pleasantly greeted with "of course we are open". The stay was great at the local campground, and everything was exceptional. We went for an annual family trip, so glad it was ruined.

My friend and I visited this area recently. The scenery was beautiful and the area well maintained. We enjoyed walking the trails.

Looking for a relaxing place to spend Labor Day, we settled on Kings Mountain Point Day Use Area. While getting to Kings Mountain Point requires some good directions, the park is wonderful. On a Peninsula in Badin Lake, the park offers very nice picnic sites with grills. There is a paved, handicap accessible path around the park with four accessible fishing piers. Restrooms are clean and located throughout the park. Our favorite part is the defacto swimming hole/beach. On the north shore of the park is a gravel/sand swimming area. It was well used on Monday, but not too crowded. The water was warm and the kids and dog had fun.

I am a new camper - have a 17' pull behind trailer, and decided I needed to get some experience with it. My husband had camping trailers a long time ago, and he likes to fish, so we needed to find a place that fit both of our interests. We picked Uwharrie National Forest for this reason, and were not sorry that we did. Uwharrie has several campgrounds, including primitive, horse camps, and sites with electric. We picked Arrowhead Campground for the hookups. Baden Lake Campground has primitive sites for tents, but you can also put a small camper on a site, but has no electric; however, this campground is right on the lakeshore and has wonderful views. There is also a day use area with great picnic spots alongside the lake. The bathrooms and shower facilities are clean and large throughout all the campgrounds. There are no pictures of the sites, and I got one that was on an incline, but was easy to level the trailer on. The campgrounds are paved, but accessed over gravel/dirt Forest Service Roads. There is a boat launch site down the road from Arrowhead Campground that give access to Baden Lake, and if you have a kayak or small boat you can carry, you can put in at the day use area. There is also a floating dock at the day use area that is great for bass and perch fishing. There are many hiking trails through Uwharrie, as well as horse and ATV trails. The horse camps are located on paved roads and have corrals for the horses. Arrowhead Campground was extremely quiet when we were there, in the hardwood forest and all sites are shaded. There are picnic tables and fire rings at each site, trash dumpsters throughout the campground, drinking water spigots, and a dump site for RVers. All in all, my husband and I had a very good time, and would return. If you have an inter-agency park pass for National Parks, it will give you half off the campsite price, but you have to pay a bit extra for the electric service which is not discounted. There is no fee to traverse and use Uwharrie National Forest boat launch and day use areas, only for camping.

So many wonderful places to see here. There are trails for every difficulty level. This is my favorite place in the world. I come out every chance I get. I have so many memories and pictures of how wonderful this place is. In fact, I am so fond of this place that this is where my fiance proposed to me because he knows there is no other place as special to me.

Went out there to do some 4x4 and got run off by rangers and POPO. Apparently you have to know the spots. The old trails we used to run are closed. Otherwise I would say it is excellent!

The covered bridge was one of my highlights. Stop along the way and take some photos, hike or just drive through and enjoy the scenery. Uwharrie Forest is a nice unspoiled area you can enjoy.