Record crowds visited North Carolina state parks in 2020. Which was most popular?
A record number of visitors flocked to North Carolina state parks as people sought refuge from the hardships of 2020.
Last year, 19.8 million people visited state parks and recreation areas, marking a single-year high. The total surpassed the record of 19.4 million guests in 2017, N.C. State Parks said Tuesday.
“As we came together to face the pandemic, our state parks became a comfort in a time of isolation,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a news release. “The records set in park visitation show that our outdoor spaces hold even greater value than we could have imagined before the challenges of the last year.”
With more people making trips to state parks, which was the most popular?
The honor goes to Jockey’s Ridge State Park, a hang gliding destination that’s home to “the tallest living sand dune on the Atlantic coast,” according to officials. The park, located in Nags Head and along the Roanoke Sound, welcomed 1.9 million people in 2020.
Officials said other state parks seeing more than 1 million visitors were “Carolina Beach, Pilot Mountain, William B. Umstead, Fort Macon and Eno River state parks and Falls Lake State Recreation Area.”
Across North Carolina, 28 of the 41 state parks and recreation areas had upticks in visitors. Officials credited the increases to “recognition that outdoor recreation promotes better health during the pandemic” as well as recent changes to campgrounds, trails and other amenities.
“With increased visitation also came challenges such as overflowing parking lots, litter on park grounds and damage to natural resources from heavier use of trails and popular sites,” officials said.
To combat these issues, the Division of Parks and Recreation recommends visitors come to parks in the mornings, evenings or during the week. People can also journey to less popular outdoor areas and bring their own trash bags, officials said.
Despite the crowds, not all sites experienced higher visitation in 2020.
Last year, boat ramps and other amenities were temporarily closed to help slow the spread of COVID-19. As a result, “Jordan Lake, Kerr Lake and Falls Lake welcomed fewer visitors than previous years,” according to the news release.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged people to avoid crowded indoor spaces. While outside, health officials encourage everyone to maintain social distancing and wear face masks near people who don’t live with them.
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Record crowds visited North Carolina state parks in 2020. Which was most popular?."
