A great park to take a break from the heat on the sand. The…read moresplash-pad area is fairly new and super clean. It does close for cleaning every day from 4p to 4:30p. Nice gazebo area. There are not public restrooms, however a public shower is down the street about a block at the beach access point. Playground is very well themed. There are two food trucks stationed across the street as well and the site hosts additional special events through the summer season.

Lovely park! My kids and I really enjoyed it. It was safe & clean. Don't hesitate to visit!read more

Wow - we finally discovered this park on our third trip to Carolina Beach. It is so peaceful and…read morebeautiful. We visited the camp office ATL use the restrooms before hiking. There is a small exhibit area about some of the animals, geology, geography, and history of the area. We hiked the 3 mile Sugar Loaf trail. It was more challenging than expected due to the sand. The weather was very pleasant the day we went in the spring. We saw quite a few other people enjoying the trail and having picnics. We heard a lot of birds including woodpeckers. The variety of trees and pinecones during our hike was fascinating.

This place is beautiful and so natural. Love it. The trails are windy. Use an app because I got off…read moretrack a few times and ended up taking the scenic route. That was okay. It was a beautiful way to pass the time.

Love this place, skatepark, basketball court, tennis courts (pickleball), playground, baseball,…read moresoccer, clean restrooms, big open spaces. We have been to this park for birthday parties, sports leagues, fun days, dog park visits, and school events. I wish a few more mature trees were saved for more shade but other than that... great park.

We had some time before check-in so we took our son to this park. I have a skateboard area which…read morewas very cool. The playground was very nice. There was also access to the greenway and nice bathrooms.

Okay, Its on BHI, It is a cool place to visit, Sign up for a Turtle Release if your on the island…read moreor live nearby. Great gifts for youngsters, friendly faces and safe with Covid upgrades. Great place to check out during peak sun times, when its too hot to be at the pool or the Beach or if the flies are biting. Like the rest of the island it has personality! Enjoy!

My family and I did the scavenger hunt created by the Conservancy and had a great time exploring…read morethe island. The classes and information from the staff is a great resource and they are a great resource for keeping BHI amazing.

Lake Waccamaw State Park is located in Columbus County. The Visitor Center was a great place to…read morespend a rainy day! It is filled with history and ecology. It is on the smaller side but filled with interesting information and dedicates a lot of space to the history and artifacts of the Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe. The Lake is the largest of the Carolina Bays. The bays are multiple oval-shaped lakes that were likely formed over the last ice age. The Waccamaw Siouan Indian Tribe viewed the lake's formation as the result of a meteor that left a deep crater. The Visitor Center explores that theory, as well as others. Lake Waccamaw was a logging town, and cypress trees were used for shingles. The weather-resistant shingles were chosen for George Washington's home in Mt. Vernon. Fifty years after the Lake Waccamaw Dam was built, the state established a state park. It started at 273 acres, but over time, more land was acquired, and the park is now 2,300 acres. The park is considered a hyper-unique ecosystem because the limestone bluff keeps the water clear, and the alkaline conditions support fish and mollusk species found only here, and nowhere else in the world, such as the Waccamaw spike mussel and the Waccamaw darter fish. They have a fossilized skull of a Balaenula whale that swam through the coastal plain millions of years ago. The Lake Waccamaw State Park is home to black bears, bobcats, carnivorous plants, and American alligators. Though the rain kept me inside this time, the park also features several trails and a scenic boardwalk that I look forward to exploring on a sunny day.

Pulling into the visitor center for this park yielded a non-functioning water fountain. When I went…read moreinside, I didn't find much in the way of exhibitions, and when I asked about Venus Flytraps, the person there didn't know where to find them, which seems odd to me as I can't imagine I'm the first person to ask. The end of the road yielded a parking lot with no shade and a worn boardwalk to the lakefront. The lakefront is nice. The trails were a bit overgrown, and I quickly abandoned my search for rare carnivorous plants. For some users, the park will be quite nice, but I found plenty of room for improvement. Like all NC state parks, it is free.

Enjoyment and peace to me refers to no obsessions, no negative anticipations, a humbled amount of…read moreself-pride, emotions blending with my surroundings, and an acceptance of one's self-imposed introversion. Unlike others, I think I have found mine. It is a place (a Park) where you would feel in awe listening to "Unchained Melody." Five days a week, I take two family members to a park about a mile and a half from our home. The ride to the park is filled with sparkling eyes, hyperkinetic movements, window smears, a few gasps of air from the slightly lowered back windows, and figments of light-colored hair floating around in our truck. When I enter the main gate, one is taken back by not only the neatness but the simplicity of it all - spacious parking spots, immaculate cement sidewalks, paved pathways, well placed quasi overlooks, kempt rest areas, clean water fountains, attractive gazebos, and strategically located benches. All surrounded by a forest of 30' to 80' pines. This park was thought out well by people who knew what they were doing - "You built it and we will come." Maintenance is always ongoing and efficiently done. No sitting around here - on a morning schedule four wheelers, rakes and truck loads of different types of material are coming and going! As I get out of the truck and walk around the parking lot to the main path through the park, my two friends become more excited and look at me with wonderment. This is their "Disneyworld" and they want to get there as quickly as possible. They love not only the setting but their friends who are waiting for them. My gait hastens and my arms feel the vigor of their excitement. We acknowledge others who walk by us and on occasion a new tender bond is formed by my friends and an unexpected empathic acquaintance (a handsome Greyhound, poodle, labrador, Jack Russell, or German Shepard). The distance from our vehicle and the section of the park that is emboldened in my friends' is about a quarter of a mile; it is covered rather quickly. Our destination is in the northeast section of the parks 42 acres. It was built in 2023 - 2024 and opened in 2025. The dog runs are divided into two sections - large dogs go to the right and small dogs (under 14" at the shoulder) go to the left. There are double gates for each entrance along with a cement pad in between. The park grounds are covered with sand, and the trees are trimmed about 10' from the base. There is a multitude of young trees that have been coppiced. The trees are separated strategically by about 4 to 12 feet to allow for safe running and play. A water fountain and a doggie bag container are at the entrance. The sand base is very accommodating. When it rains, it dries quickly. There are always more people in the large dog 1-acre area. Some people come to the park based on their employment schedule. Sometimes just by the hour, other times it is by the day or days of the week. One woman takes her two dogs from park to park. No one asks or inquiries about others employment status, financial well-being, type of car that they drive, political ideation or health. The interactions here are very neutral, friendly, and unconditional. No ulterior motive, no vanity, no ego yet some self-deprecation. It is extraordinary to find such people and such a place. They are truly an egalitarian group with the common denominator being dogs. At times, an occasional slip of a personal situation or problem comes forth - "Kimberly was married while you were gone... my doctor mentioned Alzheimer's... I was unconscious for a month after the accident... my brother died - he could never get off the drugs." And we learn in a moment of spontaneous but unintentional sharing that some of the men and women are representative of different professions and lifestyles from computer operators to physicians to housewives and househusbands to engineers to accountants to college students to bartenders to public school teachers to university professors to police officers to business executives to stay at home father's and retired guys like me. See Part 2

If the main parking lot is full, there is a smaller parking lot on the backside of the park, where…read moreyou will have to access from Antietam Drive. The bathrooms were closed, but they had porta potties available. The drinking fountain was closed during my visit. There is one covered picnic shelter. There was some pretty small purple trees, and some purple flowers on the trails. There are basically two separate loops on both halves of the park. It takes about 20 minutes to walk the loop on the right side by the playground and about 13 minutes to walk the loop on the left side of where the dog parks are located. The left side loop will have more of a view of the road and cars passing by, but you won't have that on the right side of the park. You'll still hear the cars passing by no matter where you are though. Most of the trails are lined with tall trees. It was overcast on the day I went, so can't say how shaded the trail is. I'll guess that it's not very shaded. Some parts of the trails line up to houses in the neighborhood. Walking both of the loops, checking out all of the trails took about 1.5 miles total, but on the website it is 1.25 miles. Highest elevation is maybe 10 feet. The walking trail was paved, easy to navigate with my jogger stroller. The playground is targeted towards older kids. Lots of climbing structures and one slide. The dog park is separated into smaller dogs and larger dogs. There were a lot of tennis balls and benches in the dog park. Located outside of the dog parks was a drinking water station with a doggy bowl. Doggy bags are located in the park and some trash cans throughout the park. There's also an open fitness area right by the playground. Very nice and clean (although, still very new) park to walk.

So much to do at this park from walking trails, to a nice playground and the inside educational…read morearea with fun for kids. We definitely could have spend hours here and we will be back!

Great playground, activities for kids, and walking/biking trails. You can usually catch a good…read moregroup of kids from different age ranges for playtime and trees provide plenty of shade. Highly recommend for a Saturday with the kids!