Lake Norman State Park

One of the many coves in Lake Norman State Park

While Lake Norman State Park is well outside the Charlotte City Limits, it still offers relatively quick, easy access to some great trails with views of North Carolina’s Largest lake. The park offers some of the best trail running and mountain biking terrain in the immediate Charlotte area and is accessible for after-work trips if you are located in the north part of town. From downtown Charlotte, it takes about one hour, door-to-trail to access the park. While not extremely technical in nature, the trails are fast, smooth and fun. The park also offers easy access for boats, including canoes and kayaks.

Lake Norman State Park has hiking and trail running access on three main trails – The Alder Trail, the Lake Shore Trail, and the Itusi Trail. While all three offer similar scenery, the Alder Trail is just under one mile in length while the Itusi trail is the longest in the park at 13 miles and the Lake Shore Trail provides a nice middle ground at five miles. The Itusi Trail is the only area where mountain bike access is allowed, but there are several variations of the trail and a couple of laps can easily fill a morning or afternoon trip.

Montrail’s Mountain Masochist vs. La Sportiva’s Imogene

La Sportiva's Imogene

The days of lacing up a big, burly pair of leather hiking boots every time you go on a day hike are long gone. Today, there are dozens of footwear options ranging from light-hikers for those who need some extra support down to lightweight trail runners for minimalists shaving grams off of every piece of gear.

Regardless of your preferences, a good pair of all-around trail runners is a necessity for almost anyone who spends any time in the backcountry. La Sportiva’s Imogene and Montrail’s Mountain Masochist are both do-it-all performance trail runners. It doesn’t matter if you actually run or not, thee shoes can take you anywhere, from an hour-long hike on a greenway to a multi-day overnight backpacking trip.

Both shoes are described as light, highly breathable performance running shoes by their manufacturers, but in months of testing, each shoe clearly has a very different personality.

Stone Mountain State Park

A view from the Stone Mountain Loop Trail

The first time I laid eyes on Stone Mountain was when I was 16. I was there to climb The Great Arch, and I had no idea what I was doing. To make a long story short, I struggled, I scared myself silly, but I eventually made it up the route we chose, thanks to a pair of older, more experienced climbers who were kind enough to give me some much needed advice on what climbing at Stone Mountain is all about.

The Great Arch on Stone Mountain

Since then Stone Mountain has become the perfect Fall and Winter getaway destination.