Lake James State Park
Lake James State Park is the 32nd park in our 2025 North Carolina State Park Challenge. It is a mountain lake that really seems to have the best of everything. It is a lake park that allows you to boat, swim and fish (all with beautiful mountain views), then also has gorgeous hiking trails and overlooks.
We started off hiking the two shorter trails at the Catawba River Access- The Sandy Cliff Overlook Trail and Lake Channel Overlook Trail. They both offered great lake view with sweeping mountains. After a quick lunch at the picnic area, we headed over to the Patty’s Creek Access- which is the main access of the park. There is a swim beach, concession stand, and boat rentals during peak season. We visited in Early October so they were all already closed for the season, but this meant we were able to walk down near the fishing pier and swim in the water without anyone being around. Then we stopped by the Visitor Center to grab our patch (we got our passport stamp sticker at the Catawba River Access). We took the paved path back behind the Visitor Center to the Long Arm Bridge- which offered overlooks of the lake and mountains.
There are plenty of campsites to choose from- drive up, walk-in and paddle-in campsite are available. We stayed at the Catawba River Access Campground which are walk-in sites. This unexpectedly meant taking our wagon of stuff down a couple very steep hills. We stayed in campsite #16, but turned out to be a grouping of sites (15, 16, & 17 (with 18 not far off)) that were clustered together without any privacy (more like a group campsite). We did luck out and no-one was at any of the sites around us. Although we enjoyed being right by the water, this also meant hearing boat traffic into the night and early in the morning. So if we camped here again we would probably stay at the drive-in sites at the Patty’s Creek Access or try the paddle-in sites.
I was worried this was going to be just another lake park that centered only around lake activities, but I was really happily surprised. There are 26 miles of trails that all have amazing views and it really adds to the park. You can swim, paddle, bike, or hike to spend your time and have a gorgeous campsite at the end of the day. This is definitely our favorite lake park we’ve been to!
BONUS: I try to really focus on the park themselves, but happened to stumble upon a brewery 1 mile away from the Paddy’s Creek Access that I have to mention. It’s called Fonta Flora Brewery- there are multiple locations but this is the Whippoorwill Farm location. They allow dogs inside and out with a huge yard area with plenty of picnic tables and hammocks. They have snacks for sale in the brewery and rotating food trucks. I tried multiple of their beers and really enjoyed them all! I highly recommend stopping by if you visit this park!
Park Details:
ADDRESS: 2229 Lake James State Park Road, Nebo NC 28761
HOURS: December- February: 7am-7pm
March-April & October: 7am-9pm
May-September: 7am-10pm
November: 7am-8pm
VISITOR CENTER: Open Daily 9am-5pm
PASSPORT STAMP: Located at the Visitor Center
ENTRANCE FEE: No Entrance Fee
TRAILS: 26 miles of hiking trails
ACTIVITIES: Hiking, Biking, Paddling, Swimming, & Fishing
DOG RULES: Dogs are not allowed in park buildings and must be on a leash no longer than 6 feet. Please pick up after your pet!
Check out our videos about this Park on instagram @axel.theadventurepup
