Uwharrie National Forest

In the ancient Uwharrie Mountains of North Carolina's Piedmont region -- among the oldest mountain ranges in North America, formed over 500 million years ago and worn down to modest elevations that belie their extraordinary geologic age -- this compact 51,000-acre forest offers surprising variety within a small footprint. The Uwharrie National Recreation Trail traverses 20 miles of rocky ridges and hardwood-forested hollows, following a route that passes through landscapes once home to pre-colonial Native American communities who mined the area for rhyolite to craft tools and weapons. Badin Lake, created by damming the Yadkin River, provides excellent boating, swimming, and fishing for largemouth bass, striped bass, and catfish along the forest's western boundary. Designated OHV trails attract off-road enthusiasts from across the Southeast, while mountain biking trails wind through the forest's varied terrain of mixed pine-hardwood forests. The Uwharrie's proximity to Charlotte and the Piedmont Triad makes it one of the most accessible national forests in the Southeast, yet its rugged ridges and quiet valleys retain a sense of wildness. Gold was first discovered in the United States at nearby Reed Gold Mine in 1799, and the forest's historic gold mining heritage is still visible in abandoned shafts and prospect pits scattered through the hills.