For more than 100 years, North Carolina’s protected parks, forests, waterways and seashores have been a haven for wildlife and visitors. Our 41 state parks, 10 national park sites and 4 national forests offer a range of outdoor escapes where you can paddle, picnic, hike, bike, camp, ride, fish and swim.
Stretching from Georgia to Maine, the National Park Service (along with the US Forest Service, North Carolina officials and private groups) maintains 95.5 miles of the 2,185 mile long Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.
Tracing the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina for 469 miles, the National Park Service helps to maintain the 253 mile North Carolina portion. Among the highlights in North Carolina, access to Grandfather Mountain and to Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River.
Established in 1937, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore is the nation's first national seashore and stretches more than 70 miles along the Outer Banks from Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island. The world famous Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse on the East Coast, is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Located three miles off the coast of North Carolina on Harkers Island, Cape Lookout National Seashore is only reachable by ferry. Cape Lookout protects a 56-mile long section of the southern Outer Banks known as the Crystal Coast running from Ocracoke Inlet to Beaufort Inlet.