An Afternoon Walk at Carvers Creek State Park
In December last year, Alex and I visited Carvers Creek State Park for the first time and absolutely loved it there. Located just outside of Spring Lake, North Carolina, Carvers Creek State Park is a quick 20 minute drive from our end of Fayetteville, even quicker if you live toward the Spring Lake side. The best thing about Carvers Creek State Park, besides the scenery, is that it’s a quiet hidden gem, one of the best kept secrets of the Fayetteville/Fort Bragg surrounding area if you ask me. It seems not many people know about this place which means it’s rarely ever crowded on the trails. Now that’s my kind of park.
A few weekends ago back on Father’s Day, Alex and I finally made our way back to Carvers Creek State Park for a second hike. We packed up the car (Mogul included) and drove out to the park around 5pm. When we arrived, there were only a few other cars in the parking lot. We saw a couple people walking dogs and a few other people walking and/or jogging, but aside from that, the park was perfectly quiet.
One of the cool things about Carvers Creek State Park is that before the land became a state park, it was the vacation property of James Stillman Rockefeller (of THE Rockefeller family, yes!). The now historic Rockefeller vacation home — dubbed Long Valley Farm — still stands in the center of the park today. Overlooking the old mill pond and shaded by big magnolia and oak trees, the property is so beautiful! Someday I’d like to do one of the few tours of the house itself. I bet the view from the enclosed patio is *chef’s kiss*.
After walking around Long Valley Farm, Alex, Mogul, and I finished our walk up and around the park. I read online that Carvers Creek State Park is one of a few places where the public has access to experiencing a longleaf pine ecosystem. I also learned from reading signs at the park that Carvers Creek State Park is the home of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. How cool is that?
Carvers Creek State Park offers many different hiking trail options throughout the park (all flat and easy, not strenuous). As for our trip, we hiked the first part of the 2-mile Rockefeller Loop Trail (we didn’t do the mile loop through the pine forest, we came in and out from the sand trail field access) and Cypress Pine Loop Trail (starts after Long Valley Farm). If you’re local and thinking of heading to Carvers Creek State Park, I recommend checking out the Cypress Pine Loop Trail which takes you to my favorite spot in the park — an observation deck that overlooks a really cool part of the millpond. We saw a bunch of kayakers out and about in the millpond which looked like a lot of fun.
I love this park so much and can’t wait to go back and explore more parts of it. If you’ve never been, what are you waiting for? Grab a friend and go! You won’t be disappointed.
Enjoy!
JB