McDowell Nature Center and Preserve

A beautiful nature area with over 7600 acres of forest and grassland with numerous trails.You can hike along a lake access trail,campground or play areas. Numerous wooden overlooks with bbq grills are available. Kayak and boating is allowed. Bathrooms are available. plenty of parking. There is a Nature Center but it was not open yet when we arrived. Check the website for hours. The park is open sunrise to sunset. No admission fee to enter.

Great spot to walk easy paths and bird watch. I saw many people fishing, boating and picnicking around Lake Wylie.

This is a nice place to go for a walk. I've taken my puppy here a couple times. There's plenty of parking and restrooms. It's a good place for scenery while walking.

Not a bad spot to go for a walk, however there is not much in the way of waterfront pathways. However, It's beautiful walking in the fall amongst the leaves. The walking paths are limited between areas, so prepare to dodge cars while walking on the pavement.It also feels safe, as there was a police car patrolling the entire time we were there.

The nature preserve is a great place to walk around. We walked the Kingfisher trail and enjoyed watching the birds. Parking is easy too.

Beautiful place to walk the trails and get close to the water. They even have camping spots and RV spots I. Believe. Love anyplace that brings us closer to nature

Good place for a picnic. Went there yesterday. Pavilion was niceUsed their grill. Brought own charcoal. Plenty of parking.

Beautiful and peaceful hiking trails not far from Charlotte. Most of the trails I took were shady and all of them were well marked. I parked in the Nature Center lot. My plan was Shady Hollow (yellow circle) to Kingfisher (blue triangle) to Chestnut (red circle) to Oak Hill (orange square) to Pine Hollow (yellow square) to Four Seasons (red triangle), and finish the remaining loop of Pine Hollow back to the lot. Unfortunately, the trail between Pine Hollow and Four Seasons was closed, so I had to back track on that loop. I considered doing Creekside (blue circle) to make up for the shorter hike, but I quickly discovered that trail has a section with absolutely no shade, so I changed my mind. It's entirely possible that I missed this, but my only critique is that the website add an alerts section if any trails are closed. I would have liked to have known that in advance.

I want to give a shoutout to the staff at McDowell. After this ridiculous run of heavy storms that left a mess behind with down trees and branches and leaves everywhere they had the trails clear and useable and even back in good conditionBefore the ground was barely dry. As someone who loves the trails there 3-4 times a week with my two dogs it is greatly appreciated and did not go unnoticed. THANK YOU!!!

We had camped here only for a night but just within the night we learned that this campground is amazing. We are already planning to come back. The bathrooms are really clean, our site was easy to pull into and easy to pull out of. The workers were extremely friendly and kind. We totally recommend this campsite.