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.

I had an amazing experience with The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education…read more I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to become an EMT.

We are 3 proud graduates of the NCOAE Intensive EMT course and are…read moreexcited to share that we will each be attending the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University starting this fall. The foundation we built through NCOAE has been instrumental in shaping both our clinical skills and our commitment to patient care. The hands-on experience, supportive instruction, and high standards of the program truly prepared us for the next steps in our medical careers.

This is an incredible place to go for local events, and to step away into nature. The river walk…read moreitself is beautiful and quiet, and the park offers a wonderful playground and event space. If you live anywhere in this area and haven't been here, you should go immediately.

What a beautiful spot in Leland! With plenty of paved parking, it's a perfect place to be on a nice…read moreday. We lucked out too! I was looking for a place for my daughter to get the energy out and, with good reviews, headed toward Riverwalk Park. It just so happened to be their Christmas market and fair - with face painting, vendors, special treats and games. My little one could have cared less about the aforementioned happenings. She cares about playgrounds and this park had one of the best we've seen. It was crawling with kids, so even better for entertainment! She played for hours. There was plenty of space, nooks and crannies for kids to run and do their own thing. The equipment all looked in good repair and the park was very clean. Everything is surrounded by mature trees so the playground was shaded during our visit. As lunch approached, we walked over to the water for some calm & relaxation. There are a couple of boat ramps, though I believe I was there at low-tide as one looked inaccessible. There were also a couple of swings to sit and look out over the water. I noted a walking trail as we were leaving and would certainly return to see the rest of the park. I was very impressed with my first visit here.

I can't believe I've never been to this park before! It was such a great spot for a walk around the…read morebeautiful lake and to play! The main path (1.3 miles) is paved with additional dirt trails on the sides. The playground is absolutely amazing and my kid loved it. The park was clean and there were lots of people out. The bathrooms were decent and there was picnic tables under shelter. Parking was filling up but it was a sunny day in February so I think people were out enjoying it. They have kayak launches that I'd love to come back to try!

Great.little park to take a trail around and hike. Nice for canoeing or fishing (catch and release…read moreonly) Dogs need to be leashed , and cannot go near park

Relaxing and quite a bit of a walk if you are looking for a nice time to get some steps in. I saw a…read moredolphin in the water, a crane and some other birds. The shell tree area is cute and we hung a few ourselves.

It seems to be a pretty busy place I guess it's one of the very few places where you can bring…read moredogs. I realize that along the beach is definitely not dog friendly. I brought my dog on the beach down the road and got a lot of dirty looks and apparently beaches aren't dog friendly for some reason. So a lot of people had a lot of dogs here walking around. They had two Porta potties that are not well-maintained. You can walk along the walkway, they have a few regular porch swings and a few kids swings. There wasn't any grass for dogs to go to the bathroom which would've been nice.

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.

This is a square space of Carolinian forest which is not far from the beach, but offers a different…read morevibe and plenty of tree cover. Some bridges cross over small waterways and give the opportunity to gaze over some pretty still water. Relative to the more coastal areas, the obvious advantage here is shade, and the disadvantage would be the potential for a lot of bugs in the warmer weather. There are several trails which circuit navigate the place, and it joins a historic site. It does have its own parking lot and there is no charge to get in.

Visited the new entrance today on Wednesday morning around 9 AM. Not many people were there, so…read morethere was still quite a few parking spots. there was one porta potty. It was a nice short hike. There was a sign at the parking lot of where the trail started, but not totally clear. You just head along the wooden rope fence on a grass dirt area until you'll get to a gate (about .1 miles), where you'll have an option of going either left or right. I decided to make a right and eventually came to another intersection where I I made a left and it was a loop trail, around .75 total miles starting from the gate. There are trail marker wooden sticks, but no trail names. No map either on site. There are garbage cans throughout the trail, dog poop bags at the start, and a couple of benches on the loop trail. It was an overcast day, so hard to tell if it was shady. If I had to guess, it would be semi shady because of all the trees. It was fairly flat, but lots of tree roots. Still manageable with my jogging stroller.