May 26, 2018
The impetus for visiting every North Carolina State Park stemmed from reading a blog, Journey Through the NC State Parks. During the course of a year, they traveled to all forty (40) state parks. I was really inspired by their dedication to travel across the state, ultimately deciding to take up the same venture. Please check out their site, as they have really useful information and great pictures.
12,000 years before the European settlement of the United States, Native Americans mined the top of Morrow Mountain. Remnants of a large quarry are still evident today, where rhyodacite was gathered for production of spears, cutting tools and arrows. (*1)
So much of Morrow Mountain has a time immemorial feel. In antiquity, the peaks of Uwharrie rose 20,000 feet, but through the years they have worn down to less than 1,000. (*2) The paths feel as if they were paved; we being the latest in a history of peoples to set foot upon the trails.
Since we were in Matthews, NC for Memorial Day weekend, my father-in-law joined us for a day hike to this park in Albemarle, N.C. The weather was quite humid, rain alternating with sunny skies. We first ventured to the summit loop trail, a .8 mile, easy jaunt around Morrow Mountain filled with rocks. We then visited the local museum, former homesite of the first doctor in the southern piedmont, Francis Kron, and the shores of Lake Tillery.
I highly recommend this park for its history, views and sheer diversity.
https://www.ncparks.gov/morrow-mountain-state-park/history
https://www.ncparks.gov/morrow-mountain-state-park/ecology
sweetwilder 
It looks like you have a good start to your park visits! Let me know if you have any questions especially as you venture to the Piedmont. At William B. Umstead, someone recently carved art on a dead tree. It’s rather impressive and not far from the visitor center. I saw it this past weekend for the first time and the park staff did a good job of giving directions to it.
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I certainly will do that! I look forward to visiting Umstead this summer.
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Great photos as always!
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thank you!!
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Awesome pictures, sounds and looks like a great place to go.
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It is! I was surprised at how gorgeous and diverse it was!
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Looks like a good time was had by all. Nice to get out hiking with father-in-law as well!
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Absolutely! He loved it. It’s nice to be with family in the woods.
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Great intro to a great place. Sorry, I can’t resist sharing something I scribbled during a hike at Morrow Mountain back in 1977:
UWHARRIES
November afternoon, what’s left of it.
Upstream the dam is golden,
But you can hear the river roar
As it goes over.
Across the river
Small smooth mountains catch the sun.
Shadows are starting to climb
Over dull red and yellow flecks in the pine.
I hear a jet plane, I listen to the river.
Remembering ten centuries ago, people walked here.
The sounds of their footsteps, the undammed river.
What they said, where they slept.
The river trembles with secrets.
I’m falling silent myself,
Tapping the hornbeam and sniffing cedar.
I’ll go away to the road that
Leaves the dreams and shadows
To rest
Alone.
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That’s beautiful!! Elegant and beautiful.
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