When I think about the fact that I had to visit one hundred different locations this year, it’s hard to believe I did it. It just seems like I did a few here and there. That said, I know there were times that it was all I was doing, and it’s a good thing I…
Cleveland County
North Carolina county #100 Lake Moss Park For my final county visit, I stopped at Moss Lake Park in Cleveland County. I was glad to get some good use out of my spotting scope here, and saw several Hooded Mergansers swimming near a group of Mallards. There were also Ring-billed and Bonaparte’s Gulls flying around. …
Rutherford County
North Carolina county #99 Lake Lure Flowering Bridge and Morse Park I planned some of these trips so long ago now that I sometimes have no idea what to expect when I arrive. I have a large Google doc with links to Google maps directions for each location. As I was driving to Rutherford County,…
Richmond County
North Carolina county #98 Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge The trip to Richmond County is a continuation of the trip to Anson County. Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge is on both sides of the Pee Dee River, which is the border between the two counties. Around noon, the group of us left the refuge, got…
Anson County
North Carolina county #97 Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge This past week I went on a day trip to Pee Dee National Wildlife Refuge with Mecklenburg Audubon. Mecklenburg Audubon is my local birding organization and I occasionally go on walks with them nearby, but this yearly trip in late November I have not missed for…
Catawba County
North Carolina county #96 Riverbend Park My second stop this week was Riverbend Park in Catawba County. I was going to walk a trail, but there was a parking area down near the river that I got sidetracked by. After spending a bunch of time there I felt a bit too tired to start hiking…
Alexander County
North Carolina county #95 Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area On my latest two county trip, my first stop was Rocky Face Mountain Recreational Area in Alexander County. You can see where it gets its name. A strange thing is that you can see the rock face was blown away (the drill holes for dynamite are…
Montgomery County
North Carolina county #94 Uwharrie National Forest – Kings Mountain Point After visiting the Thornburg Tract, I headed deeper into Uwharrie National Forest to Kings Mountain Point, which is a peninsula out into Badin Lake. The road turns into a well maintained dirt and gravel road for about a mile before becoming paved again for…
Randolph County
North Carolina county #93 Uwharrie National Forest – Thornburg Tract Yesterday I went to Uwharrie Mountains National Forest. This is a smaller National Forest, at around 51,000 acres, but it still dwarfs all of the state parks. These mountains are the oldest in North America, and sit a good bit east of the western mountains…
Iredell County
North Carolina county #92 Lake Norman State Park This week I went to Lake Norman State Park in Iredell County. Lake Norman is the largest manmade lake in North Carolina and the state park is along the northernmost area of the shore. It has a 30.5 mile mountain biking trail and a number of other…